As I celebrate a year since I wised up and stopped drawing caricatures for free at comic cons - how mad was I, giving away my goods for nothing? - I've just started offering my caricatures for nothing again.
Hear me out. My latest initiative, inspired by a conversation with Stuart Gould last week, who is doing live appearances at bookshops with his kids book Nuts, is to do live appearances at bookshops. It may not work, no shops may want me sullying their premises, but the notion is that I can offer the same attraction that I use to get people to stop at my comic con tables, the free caricatures, and use it to drag people into bookshops.
I know I got smart and realised I could charge just two quid per caricature at live events and make myself more money (it stopped people taking advantage, and nets me a good hundred quid per event), and maybe that is something I might reintroduce to this arrangement, if indeed it even takes off. But for now, as an enticement to get people through the door, I'm starting off by offering my wares for free in the hope that they then take a fancy to the books.
So many unknowns here. Like: will bookshops be interested in self published books? Will they be happy getting them direct from me, or me selling them and giving them a slice? I honestly don't know. But I've designed the flyer for them, and today emailed about 60 independent bookshops in South Wales, Bristol, and a 50 mile radius around. Because it's Easter Monday there'll be no replies, either way, until at least tomorrow.
Watch this space for results, if any.
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Richard The Third | Findlay Macbeth | Prince of Denmark Street | Midsummer Night's Dream Team |
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Shakespeare Omnibus | Comic Tales From The Bible | Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories | Space Elain |
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