Questions about The Beatles Bible | Page 2 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

skye said:

Ok, what's this about?

WARNING: The New Post Queue contains 276 Posts which require removal

I thought it was just me that's seeing the message. Does anyone else get it, or is it just a moderator thing? My message says 612 messages require removal, which I think is the number posted since I last logged on (my, you've all been busy).

I think the cookies to do with this site might be awry. I didn't set them myself – they're probably part of the forum plugin, to help remember what you've read. I'll see what I can find out about them. Apologies if you're seeing weirdness.

MrBig said:

A physical book version of the Beatles Bible would be awesome…

Wouldn't it! I have mixed feelings though. Some thoughts:

1. I like owning and publishing my own stuff, and having control over what happens to it. I don't want to hand over copyright to a third-party publisher.

2. I like the idea of a website being free to use but advertising-funded. It means I get paid a certain amount each month regardless of whether I work on it or not, though it's nowhere near enough to give up the day job. However, if I turned it into a book a) someone else would get a cut, and b) I'd get paid only for book sales in the short term, and if it went out of print I wouldn't make any more money.

3. I've quoted fairly extensively from some sources. This is allowed under fair use laws, but if presented in a single printed volume it might look somewhat questionable. See also the photos in the gallery. Clearing all that would be a bloody nightmare.

4. I'm not sure this site is distinctive enough from the various day-by-day or song-by-song Beatles books already out there. As a site I think it works well, whereas I'm not sure we need another printed guide to The Beatles' lives and times.

5. I can update the site when new stuff happens or I have corrections to make. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen careless things written in Beatles books that the author should have checked and changed before it went to print. Afterwards there's no way back.

6. You couldn't have a forum in a book.

7. I'd rather keep The Beatles Bible as it is, but write a book on a separate, unique angle on The Beatles if I'm able (time, ideas, sanity are the normal limits). I have some ideas.

8. Including the writing I'm preparing offline, this site has around 750,000 words. That's just the content of my articles; it doesn't include any of the user-generated comments and forum posts. Now, if an average book has 400 words per page, The Beatles Bible would run to 1,875 pages. And I'm not finished yet. If Bill Harry hadn't already written a book with the same title, a multi-volume leather-bound Beatles Encyclopedia (Encyclopedia Beatlica?) might work. Maybe I should look into self-publication.

That said, if any publishers happen to be reading, let's talk.

She's got the keys to the site in case I meet a sticky end. You never know.

skye said:

I don't suppose you know why the site is saying I'm logged off on the main page but logged on when I'm viewing a thread? It normally clears up on its own, but it's been like this since Friday. Very frustrating.

Yes, it is. Happens to me too. If I knew what was causing it I'd fix it.