Wednesday, 18 May 2022

Eurovision Volume 2 - and other business


As Eurovision itself was coming up on May 12th, and my Eurovision Colouring Book was proving far and away my biggest seller to date (81 copies sold so far this month), I felt inspired (and sufficiently distracted from ever writing that bloody crime novel which is supposed to make my fortune) to make another.

So it was that Eurovision Volume 2: The Winners came into being, with 33 brand new drawings, his time showing every single winning country and every single one of their entries. My plan was to get it published a week before Eurovision so people would buy it in the excitement of the competition.

Here is the newly tweaked Ukraine page, can you spot the massive change?

The brand new Unofficial Eurovision Colouring Book: Volume 2 The Winners is available in paperback here and in hardback here.


Graphic novels:

Comic Tales From The Bible - 90 pages, colour, only £8.99 paperback

Findlay Macbeth

Prince of Denmark Street

The Midsummer Nights Dream Team

The Comic Book Of Esther


Colouring books:

Pop Star Colouring Annual with 50 images from 70s to now

Top 20 David Bowie

Top 20 Scottish Pop

Top 20 Rom Coms

Top 20 80s Pop Superstars

Top 20 Christmas Movies

Queens Of Pop


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Saturday, 30 April 2022

Book sales April - Amazon & Etsy


Spot the difference? There's not a lot in it*, but anyone who buys a Eurovision Colouring Book since April 15th gets the cover on the right, which has replaced the cover on the left. This follows an amend I made last month, where a mis-captioned Bucks Fizz illustration had them labelled as Brotherhood Of Man. Anyone who has that version has a rare collectors item.

The Eurovision Colouring Book is far and away my best seller at the moment. Its Tik Tok video got 12.5K views, ten times more than any other post I've done, and it's selling a signed copy every other day on Etsy at the moment. Here are my sales stats for the past month.

Amazon (+Etsy) sales Mar 31 - Apr 30 2022

Eurovision Colouring Book        27 (+8 on Etsy) *

Book Of Esther                         13 (inc one order of 12)

Comic Tales From Bible             10

70s old                                       4

80s                                            4

2020s Pop Star                          4

70s new                                      3

90s                                             3

Punk                                           3

Queens                                       2

Scottish                                       1

60s                                             1


UPDATE: As of May 10th I've sold 43 Eurovision books on Amazon and another 4 on Etsy since May 1st. And I've drawn a 2nd Volume, which is still processing.


So, let's be honest, I'm not setting the world on fire with my publishing empire. I'm now a member of the Facebook group 20BooksTo50K, where successful writers share their stories of making tens of thousands of pounds a month, and make it sound deceptively easy. I just have to finish writing that bloody crime novel, don't I? In the meantime, the colouring books sell at a trickle, while I try and get my writing head back on, two months after the house move.


* If you're interested, on the main figure's arm, just behind Annafrid's hair, I've removed a small head and hand; and between Agnetha and Annafrid there's now a white area where previously you could see the blue background. 



Graphic novels:

Comic Tales From The Bible - 90 pages, colour, only £8.99 paperback

Findlay Macbeth

Prince of Denmark Street

The Midsummer Nights Dream Team

The Comic Book Of Esther


Colouring books:

Pop Star Colouring Annual with 50 images from 70s to now

Top 20 David Bowie

Top 20 Scottish Pop

Top 20 Rom Coms

Top 20 80s Pop Superstars

Top 20 Christmas Movies

Queens Of Pop

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Tuesday, 26 April 2022

Teaching puppetry in Aberdeen

One of the less likely days spent recently was this Monday, the 25th, when I went all the way to Aberdeen to teach some kids how to do puppetry.

The librarians at Dyce Academy in Aberdeen had seen the Socks at the Edinburgh Fringe a few years ago, found us online, and thought it would be a good idea for me to teach a small group of kids how to do puppetry. It probably was, I have no way of measuring it. 

I can tell you it involved setting the alarm for 3.30, leaving the house at 4.30, flying at 7, driving for two and a half hours from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, the working with the kids for just two hours before doing he whole return journey again which, with delayed flight, saw me getting back home around midnight.

I gave the kids, 2nd year high school pupils, some of whom had a few educational needs, a 20 minute Socks show, then got them, in 5 groups of 4 or 5, to performe bits of The Sneetches by Dr Suess, which they'd chosen. I think it went well.

They are the only kids, or people of any sort, to have been allowed to perform behind my actual Socks set, see above. My thanks to the school for a learning experience for all involved.


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Wednesday, 20 April 2022

Eurovision Sock Contest - Preview dates


You can catch the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's brand new hour-long musical comedy extravaganza The Eurovision Sock Contest live on stage in a series of previews, in the run up to their return to the Edinburgh Fringe in August.

See them now at:

Sun 22 May 12.30 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe


June 18 7pm - Ludlow Fringe


June 23 - Grassington Festival


Sun July 3 6.15pm - Derby Bar One 


Fri July 15 7pm - Beverley Puppet Fest


Sun July 17 3.25pm - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern


Sat July 23 - Bedford Fringe 


August 3 - 13 - Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe, for 11 nights only, 4.30pm. Tickets on sale NOW!



Scottish Falsetto Socks on Facebook

Scottish Falsetto Socks on Twitter

Scottish Falsetto Socks on Instagram

Scottish Falsetto Socks on TikTok

Scottish Falsetto Socks on Youtube




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Socks on BGT (or not, as the matter may be)


Here we see the socks, taking pride of place on the promo article for Britain's Got Talent's opening weekend in this week's TV Times. We're the only act pictured apart from the presenters. Does promo get better than that? Well, it's the best we've had for a while. "On the right foot: The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppets". There's a very similar prominent slot for us in TV & Satellite Week, as this TikTok video celebrates...

@scottishfalsettosocks The Scottish Falsetto Socks all over the telly papers #BGT ♬ original sound - Scottish Falsetto Socks
So we prepared to watch Saturday and Sunday's launch episodes of BGT with some excitement. About to be seen by 5 million people? That's got to do something for the image, wouldn't you think? I'd duly set a regular flow of Socks videos going on Twitter, all with the #BGT hashtag, so that any curious viewers would be able to search for us and some of our good stuff would pop up. (In contrast to the bit we do on the show which, spoiler alert, is a story I'll be boring a lot of people with when it gets transmitted).

And then, well, nothing. We weren't on Saturday's show, we weren't on Sunday's show and, as far as any trailer clips that have come up so far are concerned, we're not on this coming weekend's shows either. 

I mean, I know patience is a virtue, but I thought the use of our publicity photo suggested we'd be coming up sooner rather than later. Of course now my paranoid fear is that we're not in the show at all. That they put out that publicity material, inc our photo, before they'd finished editing the episodes, and we've ended up on the cutting room floor in the meantime. 

It'll sure make a mockery of the shows I've tried publicising off the back of it. I've redesigned the ads for our forthcoming Edinburgh Preview show to include a BGT logo. I look forward to having to strip all those out when the auditions finish and we haven't appeared yet!


What Edinburgh Preview shows, you ask? Let me tell you. Here are the dates for your diary, get booking fast...

Sun 22 May 12.30 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe


June 18 7pm - Ludlow Fringe


June 23 - Grassington Festival


Sun July 3 6.15pm - Derby Bar One 


Fri July 15 7pm - Beverley Puppet Fest


Sun July 17 3.25pm - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern


Sat July 23 - Bedford Fringe 

With more dates to be added. Including our Edinburgh Fringe run itself, Stay tuned.

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Tuesday, 19 April 2022

Comic Tales From The Bible - The Hardback


I sounded out people in the 20BooksTo50K group (which I must tell you about, it's fascinating) because my Amazon ad for Tales From The Bible had been banned.

The short of it is that I redesigned the cover for the hardback and the ad got approved. The long is that I got some interesting feedback on my original cover:

Here was the story:
Bible Banned Shock!
Amazon won’t allow the ad for Kev F’s Comic Tales From The Bible cos: “Your ad contains an image of children shown in an unsafe way, such as around drugs or in adult or other situations that may be dangerous to them”
It’s a cartoon of the story of Jael in the Bible! She’s holding a tent peg and threatening to stab a guy who looks like a Roman* soldier with it. (Am I allowed to attach images? I haven’t, in case it breaks the rules).
(*not Roman. He’s Sisera, a Canaanite)

Comments included:

Amazon Ads are strict. Advertise elsewhere with that cover or change it.

Yeah, your centurion looks about 12 years old, which is probably why you’re having issues. ðŸ™‚
You appealed, they still said no. Best bet now is to move on. Use other promo methods like FB ads and BB ads, or change the cover.

Yeah, definitely the image. It looks like a kid about to be attacked.

Another vote for the one being attacked looking like a jug-eared, bucktoothed child.

Your logo looks like “Tales from the Crypt” a lot. Probably that was the reason.

I'd say it's a VERY direct homage. Too direct, IMO. There's a TON of good advice here. Basically, if you want to use your largest marketing tool (and perhaps garner better sales all-around by not messing up the message), then you should change it. If you don't care about marketing, then leave it.

I'm not convinced Amazon is your biggest problem with this cover. Have you put this out for just generally input on the cover? Asked Christians how they react? If they would buy this for their child? Does this cover reflect the tone and style of the content? If yes, will this cover appeal to the gatekeeper (parent/grandparent) or even get by the gatekeeper?

Even though someone here had a "laugh" reaction, your callout here is exactly why Amazon has these strict rules: on behalf of customers who complain about this kind of stuff all the time. "This stuff" is not just related to religion, but also the stringent rules they have around violence and nudity. Folks talk about Zon being prudish but a lot of this is based on customer feedback (complaints).

Jael didn't kill a Roman with a tent peg. It was Sisera, a Canaanite king. The Roman Empire didn't even exist yet when that happened.

What's more important to you, the cover or the content? I'd just change the cover because why piss off the biggest sales tool you have?

You will not get that cover approved. If you don’t read the words, it looks almost like a horror comic. He looks like he is bound in place and she is about to torture him with a mallet and spike. I know it says ”Humorous” but the cover doesn’t present that way.

Is it a comic or a graphic novel? The cats say graphic novel and might deter your buyers.

That cover will never get approved due to the violence against a child. It's best to re-do the cover if you want to do AMS ads. And possibly even stay on Amazon, for that matter because there might be enough people that report the book due to the cover and your book might be taken down. It's always a possibility.

It definitely looks intimidating.

Change it.
I don’t know what Bible banned shock means, but it sounds hysterical.

They won't let anyone advertise a cover with someone being stabbed, any blood, a gun pointed at a person or at the reader, etc. Read the guidelines for covers. You aren't being singled out.

OK, I have a thorough knowledge of the Bible and found your sample cartoon above quite hilarious. I did a 'zon search to find it and the one bit that stood out for me as a red flag was in the descriptive blurb; 'Rahab is the story of a prostitute - target audience age 8 to 12.' I found that thoroughly confusing. I would have thought that adults with a religious background AND a sense of humour (very important) would be your ideal reader. Not sure many parents would feel comfortable ordering a book for 8 to 12 year olds that had prostitution in it. I'd consider making the online description clearer. It's a tricky one, good luck!

Amazon has strict codes on Ads with respect to covers - that tend to exclude depictions of blood, guns or weapons or too much exposed flesh. Maybe check their guidelines.
Btw, surely not a Roman soldier in a Old Testament story.

Hey Kev Sutherland from the sitcom trials!


Kev F's Comic Tales From The Bible is available as a full colour graphic novel in paperback and now in hardback

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Monday, 18 April 2022

The Doughnut Who Stole My Mum - latest comics by kids


Among the house-building (that is the flatpack-furniture building and box unpacking that has filled the last 6 weeks of our existence) I've done a few Comic Art Masterclasses. 


Surrey Explorers in Putney Methodists Church. This is a class I last did three years ago, before lockdown. We'd hoped to give the kids a photocopied comic to take away, using a copier at the shop down the road, but it had closed in the intervening time. It was one of those Mailboxes businesses that, I fear, are among the many feeling the pinch of late.


The marvellous librarian Shirley Everall of Hertfordshire libraries has been employing me for classes in libraries all over the county for the last decade. Very sadly she's retiring soon, so I really hope her successors will want to keep using me. These comics are from Watford library, an easter holiday group, and the next pair...


...is from Hatfield library. Well attended and well run classes, long may they continue.

The celebrities these five groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Dwayne Johnson, Michael Jackson (twice), Jeff Bezos and Boris Johnson.

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