And so we come to my traditional review of the year, begun in 2010 and squeezed into the Tintermas period every year since. Sometimes I do it in incredible detail, sometimes less (see examples at foot). I also include this table, which I can't help thinking could have different categories...
For example "Books sold" would seem a sensible category these days. That 1000 figure (expanded upon in this blog post with stats) is rounded up (or possibly down) because December's online sale figures won't be in till the middle of January. But whatever the final number, there's no doubt that selling books live at book & comic festivals has become a solid, and profitable, part of what I do now.
It's also a great validation of my efforts that, not only is it my graphic novels that sell the most at live events (as opposed to those colouring books, which still sell the most online), but my latest is proving my most popular. Richard The Third was dreamed up, at the comic festival in Macclesfield, in July, and I'd drawn a dozen pages by the following weekend. The Kickstarter campaign ran through September and raised more money than any of its predecessors. Then when it launched it already had more pre-sales than any other and has gone on to out-sell them in just a couple of months. Though I still have 400 odd copies sitting here in boxes so I'd better get shifting them.
The other, biggest, achievement of Richard The Third was that it emboldened me to send it out to agents. And, with luck I still can't believe, it has led to me being taken on by Emily Talbot of United Agents. We shall have to see what that might lead to.
Not that I couldn't schedule a few bits of excessive driving when I tried. I managed to get classes arranged en route to and from The Lakes, which was another splendid bit of logistics work. But then I'd find myself doing a day in Tweedmouth and having to drive the length of the country home the next day. I went to Tweedmouth twice this year! 80 days of Comic Art Masterclasses is exactly the same figure as last year, and about the same as 2019, so let's say that's about my average. The trip to Saudi Arabia, which was essentially four days taken to do two hours actual work, was the most extreme travel-to-productivity rating. It was also the best paid, of course.
The Scottish Falsetto Socks had their quietest year yet. With no new Edinburgh show, their efforts went into the Eurovision Sock Contest tour, which saw more sellouts than any tour before. With the good old days of lockdown behind us, there was only one Zoom show - when we played live to an audience at a comedy club in Glasgow, a feat we've not attempted since. And with my efforts going more into comics work, there was no real urge for them to produce comedy videos. They've not produced so few videos since they discovered Youtube way back in 2006. That said, the series of eight adverts for Conservatory Insulation Specialists that they produced, along with Dean Friedman, in the spring were probably their most profitable productions (per minute on screen, leastways), so they left their mark on the year and did themselves proud.
Hev was very busy on the house this year, as the visitors to our parties should be able to attest. Her work with paint and wallpaper is a treat, and her garden is a marvel. She still found time to write, with a series of historically researched blogs and articles under her belt, an updating of her Sawdust and Spangles book. And, in the autumn, she spoke about the Letine Family Murder at the Music Hall Society in London, which was very well received. Our membership of the Society Of Authors has seen us attending, and throwing, events in Monmouth, Stroud, Abergavenny and Chepstow.
Tadpole's still with us, enjoying our first full year in the new house and his second year as our cat (having only been formally adopted after a decade of adopting us but belonging to our old neighbours). At which point I realise my blog really has turned into one of those Round Robins people send at Christmas. So I won't tell you how we finally got the roof fixed and the upstairs ceilings repaired and plastered. No one will ever want or need to know that.
So it is, with the final domestic mention of buying a new car, that we come to the end of Hev & Kev and their little life for 2023. As you see, I now have an agent (having managed nearly 40 years as a professional writer, artist and performer without one) so we'll see what difference that makes to my ability to get on in the world. It's been a good and satisfying year for me creatively, thanks to Richard The Third and the sales of my previous books, and I have the incentive to work on the new ones currently on my desk - a new Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Thing - so who knows what will have become of them by this time next year.
A very Happy New Year to you when it comes, and let's hope 2024 is kinder to more people than 2023 was.
My previous years' Comic Strip Reviews:
