His management style was criticized; his on-the-record comments about policy raised eyebrows.

Some of the issues were petty: the injection of ceremonial Navy traditions to a gritty command never before headed by an admiral, including the designation of the command’s main stairwell as off limits to all but generals and admirals, and the creation of a private dining room where office space had been.

Thanks to the efforts of Google software engineer Jarkko Hietaniemi, we’ve gathered the records from both sources, massaged them a bit for easier parsing, and combined them into a single XML file available for download here.

So where’s the search engine?




1. What is a “nimble book”? – briefly, it is 32-120 pp, 8.5 x 10, color interior, 7,000 to 40,000 words with >= 10 full-page images.
2. The Nimble Books Standard Contract,
3. Books in Print & Forthcoming Books.
4. The Nimble Books Marketing Playbook v 3.0.

The business model is nimble, too: no inventory, no advances, no returns, better royalties. It’s the wave of the future because it fixes a lot of things that are broken with traditional publishing. HarperCollins recently started testing something similar.

Proposals for “Nimble” format books should be submitted via the form on that page.

Once you are writing a book for us, don’t forget to consult the Nimble Books Style Manual.

Questions?

Please use this form for routine correspondence and everything except book proposals.

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This new format for “nimble” books is color interior, 32 to 120 pages long, 8 x 10. For examples, visit the Nimble Books store. (I should add that we are entirely willing to entertain proposals for “traditional” format books.)

The price to the customer varies with page length, but we use a pricing algorithm that results in author compensation of about $3 per book. (Here is our standard contract).  Of course, sales vary from book to book, so  royalties do too.

The manuscript should be 7,000 to 40,000 words long minus approximately 400 words for each image. Excluding the front and back matter, that works out to 23 to 111 pages for the body of the manuscript (including images, which are typically presented in full-page format). The sad truth is that many (if not) most full-length books today are padded. Sometimes it can be more artistically effective to work within constraints.

Images must be 72dpi resolution or greater; color, if at all possible; and provided with either explicit permission to use from the owner or with a strong “no copyright” rationale.

To be clear, the availability of color images is not a requirement; it’s a nice-to-have. This format does work with straight text or with B&W illustrations, but color helps differentiate the book and add value for the customer.

The “content package” that seems to motivate purchase best is a substantial number of beautiful images plus pointed, insightful commentary on a topic that is attractive to enthusiasts.

These are some of our series and titles (current and planned):

• COOL AIRCRAFT — the X-47
• COOL MAPS — Afghanistan, Baghdad, Cuba, France, France’s Overseas Territories, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq …
• COOL SCIENCE — Our Colorful Moon, Our Splendid Sun
• COOL SHIPS — CVN-68 Nimitz, CVN-69 Dwight D. Eisenhower, CVN-70 Carl Vinson, CVN-76 Ronald Reagan, CVN-77 George H.W. Bush, CVN-78 Gerald R. Ford, DDG-81 Winston S. Churchill, SSN-23 Jimmy Carter
• CURRENT AFFAIRS – Sovereign Wealth Funds, Should Barack Obama Be President?
• MILITARY HISTORY — Borodino: Why It Matters Today; BB-67 MONTANA, U.S. Navy Battleship: Why She Matters Today
• POPULAR CULTURE– The Solomon Key and Beyond, Reread THE DEATHLY HALLOWS Today, The New Harry Potter Quiz Book
• TECH FUN — Cool Web Graphics

Ideas for other topics are quite welcome.

The important thing to understand about the financial side is that this is micropublishing. I will be quite happy with a book that sells 10 copies a month. This is not a way to get rich; I would suggest that you think about it more like adding a revenue stream to your blog. By that measure this approach stacks up pretty well. Each book purchased (anywhere in the world) is like a $3 ad click. There are no fees to the author, ever, and we bear all costs of publication.

Incidentally, I have no objection if you wish to compose your book as a series of blog entries, then turn a manuscript over to me for “nimble” publication. Our standard contract gives Nimble exclusive rights to publication in book form, but all other rights are reserved to the author.

This format should work for you if:

• You have pointed, interesting text in hand that you want to “repurpose” or try out in print, or
• You have beautiful color photos or art in hand, or
• You pick a topic that is easily illustrated with high-quality public domain images (e.g. space, navy ships, history before 1922)

and …

• You have a blog or some sort of platform that gives you the ability to drive traffic or…
• You pick a topic that is keyword-friendly or …
• You pick a topic that is beloved by enthusiasts.

Our Nimble Books Marketing Playbook provides advice on how to maximize your online sales.

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For larger orders, we sell books wholesale on the following terms:

• Minimum order: 10 copies per title to a single location.
• Discount for resellers: 35%. For independent bookstores and specialty suppliers, this discount rises to 40% for 20 copies or more of a single title to a single location; and 50% for 50 copies or more. For schools and libraries, the discount for any quantity not meant for resale is 20%.
• Shipping and handling: We will provide you this cost information as part of your invoice.
• Payment: All orders must be prepaid. After sending your order, you will receive a request for payment through PayPal that you can make by credit card or bank transfer. (PayPal does not require an account with them for payment by credit card.) Or if you wish, you can send your order with a check in USD to the address below.
• Returns: No returns allowed. But we will replace or refund for copies that are defective or damaged on arrival.
• Our books are “print on demand,” meaning the copies you order probably aren’t printed yet. Even so, they can normally be drop shipped from the U.S. East Coast or the London area within two or three days. If you give us a required delivery date, we’ll check feasibility before accepting your order.
• Please note that all our books have standard bar codes but no price either in the bar code or elsewhere on the cover. Also, spine text is omitted on books shorter than 80 pages. Dimensions, print quality, and other physical traits may vary slightly among copies of the same title, depending on the print run.