Roadmap, Spring 2024

It has been a few months since we communicated and since Spring is at our door, it is always a good opportunity to talk about the perpetual evolutions. The site is still on a cruising regime, favoring quality over quantity, the last two articles being (among other articles!) a perfect demonstration of this. As in all things, the number of publications (and authors!) depends on our means and, consequently, on the number of subscribers. But we’re not going to ramble again in a long demonstration of the “why” ; supporting LAI Publications by subscribing also means offering absolutely unrivalled content for a modest fee… Similarly, we’re not going to re-explain the hostility of social media towards our passion.

No, today, let’s dive a little into the detailed program for the coming months. Many of you have asked (and in fact, more and more of you) for a paper version of the book “Small Guide for Firearms”. Yielding to your entreaties, I undertook the editing of the paper version at the end of last fall, which is no small feat. Indeed, paper edition is much more restrictive than digital publication. But this work is also a wonderful opportunity to update the book with a “fresh” look: I wrote it more than three years ago, enough to take a step back and have a critical look at my own work. Therefore, it will not be a “first edition”, but a “second edition, first print run”. Obviously, this second edition will also be digitally available on the LAI Publications website. In fact, it will be online on the site well before the print publication… I refrain from announcing a specific date, although I am doing what is necessary for this project to be finalized (including delivery), before the end of 2024. Therefore, the following weeks will be punctuated by the “update” of the book, which will be detailed in our update log (linked here). While the update on the site will be available in French and English, the paper version will be printed (at least, initially), only in French. The paper edition will probably be finalized in the form of a crowdfunding (on a platform not yet determined). This one will only be launched the moment all settings are finalized (mock-up, printing quote, shipping solution, and all the other things that I probably forget…). I will communicate about this project on the usual media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and of course, the LAI Publications website. And I’m not forgetting our subscribers here: they will be offered, depending on their subscription formula and their seniority, a preferential formula for the acquisition of this paper edition!

In another project, the forthcoming publication of an article on the Soviet PPD-40 submachine gunSubMachine Gun More (7.62×25 mm) is an opportunity to update and group the articles on Soviet submachine guns of WWII in a collection of articles  in the “book” section of the site.

For French-speaking people who have an easier time with audio than with reading (especially because their disponibility does not allow them to read, but much more to listen while working), I now regularly participate in YouTube shows on the “Le Feu aux Poudres” and Ian Schroder channels. A different kind of work than writing… and paradoxically much more complex for me, who has the habit of reformulating my ideas many times before publishing them! And it’s making me like the writing process more and more!

Finally, the usual announcements (I end up speaking like a YouTuber…):

Again, the best way to support us is to subscribe! Don’t be spectators, become a part of the show!

This appeal to your generosity does not only concern LAI Publications, but all content creators on weapons: we are probably one of the most reprobated and repressed apolitical subjects (when treated as such…) by decision-makers from all walks of life… and for purely ideological and political reasons. So, if you want to defend your passion, you have to fund those who promote it. I know there are many of us, so I fully understand that you can’t support all creators. But if you can, support your favorites!

Also, if you like our content: share it! Here too, numbers will be a strength, a strength that will allow us to offer you more and more qualitative content.

Remember, you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, where we have to be present to spread the word about our work. But this is not the core of our book, which remains, our publications on this site.

Finally, a big thank you to all our readers and followers with a special thank you to the subscribers of LAI Publications!

And so, enough talking: here are as usual, some pictures published on Instagram for those who don’t use this social network.

Arnaud Lamothe