6-7 - the first kids comics of term

Do you know what 6-7 means? Of course you don't. If you're a grown up, in this the Autumn school term of 2025, you're hearing kids saying it all the time, and you've no idea what they mean when they say "6-7". Neither, it seems most of the time, do they. But say it they do. And write it on the front cover of their class comics, in my Comic Art Masterclasses, they also do. It first cropped up as a suggested title for a comic in the first class of term, and has been a constant since. If you're reading this in the future, of course, you'll have no idea what "6-7" ever was, and if you're a historian you'll start making up some spurious nonsense to explain it, like you do with most things.

The school where I first heard 6-7 was Lady Eleanor Holles in Twickenham. A posh girls school, I was teaching the equivalent of Year 8, though they call themselves the Upper and Lower Fourth. Of course they do. Anyway, they introduced me to, but couldn't adequately define, 6-7.

I then did two days of classes, across four primary schools, in the Isle Of Wight where you can see from the second cover title they came up with that 6-7 is part of their vernacular too. Also Bob Ate My Bum, which was refreshingly childish.

Two more Isle of Wight primary schools, and actually no visible mentions of 6-7 here, just the usual nonsense from kids. I'm grateful to the Isle Of Wight Literary Festival for having me back for the umpteenth year, putting me up in a sterling hotel, and organising a smashing Authors Meal where I got to meet and chat with quite the assortment of top writers (none of whom, I'll be honest, I'd heard of before, but all of whom are way more famous than me!)

Another return booking, this time the Clevedon Literary Festival, where I did a lovely if slightly poorly attended class. There were only eight of them, but they came up with a fine comic.

The celebrities these 6 groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Billie Eilish, David Attenborough, and one I failed to make a note of.

My Books And Where To Find Them...

Romeo & Juliet (Colour)	Romeo & Juliet (bw)	Richard The Third (Colour)	Richard  The Third (bw)
Shakespeare Omnibus	Findlay  Macbeth	Prince of  Denmark Street	Midsummer Night's  Dream Team
Tales From Bible (Col)	Tales From Bible (bw)	Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories	Space Elain
Book Of Esther	Who Notes	Doctors Who? Colouring	Sweet Smell Of Sockcess
Kids Comics Annual 2026	Kids Comics Annual 2025	Socks Do Shakespeare	Colouring Books

Colouring Books: Doctors Who, Hollywood Legends, Punk, Cult TV, Eurovision Vol 1, Eurovision Vol 2, Eurovision Best Of British & Irish, 1960s Pop, 1970s Pop, 1980s Pop,  1990s Pop, 2020s Pop, Bowie, Scottish Pop, Royalty, Rom Coms 

Book sales at cons and book fairs Jan-Oct 2025, a graph

Just because I fancied a snapshot of how well books were selling so far this year, I made this graph (using this free graph making site). It shows how much I've been selling at comic cons and book fairs so far this year. 

We can see that Swansea Stars Of Time con in April was the biggest seller for me, up until Showmasters Cardiff at the end of October just pipped it, (and followed it with a Sunday which was pretty good in itself). Third place is Day One of the Lakes (which was packed with Phoenix reading kids), then the Creed cons in Gloucester, Plymouth, and Bristol. 

No real washouts so far this year, with a much higher average than 2024 so far. As last year's end-of-year graph shows, I only took fifty quid at an event in Bedford that summer, and had half a dozen events in the £100-£200 zone. Whereas this year we have only three shows dipping below £200 and five that have gone over the £400 mark, which we didn't reach once last year. 

I've not included schools and classes, where I have been doing particularly well. Indeed this graph I made earlier in the year shows that at one school in March I made more in book sales than at any comicon. But that's the exception that proves the rule. As we go into the Autumn, I'll have a mix of schools and live shows to take me up to the end of the year. Let's see where I fare best.

My Books And Where To Find Them...

Richard The Third (Colour) Paperback • signed	Doctors Who? Colouring Paperback • signed	Socks Do Shakespeare Paperback	Kids Comics Annual 2026 Paperback
Richard  The Third (bw) Paperback • signed	Findlay  Macbeth Paperback • signed	Prince of  Denmark Street Paperback • signed	Midsummer Night's  Dream Team Paperback • signed
Shakespeare Omnibus Paperback • signed	Comic Tales From The Bible Paperback • signed	Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories Paperback • signed	Space Elain Paperback • signed
Book Of Esther	Who Notes	Sweet Smell Of Sockcess	Attack Of The Sausages
My 1975 Diary Calendar	Colouring Books Paperback • signed	Scottish Falsetto Socks Annual	Tales Of Nambygate

Colouring Books: Doctors Who, Hollywood Legends, Punk, Cult TV, Eurovision Vol 1, Eurovision Vol 2, Eurovision Best Of British & Irish, 1960s Pop, 1970s Pop, 1980s Pop,  1990s Pop, 2020s Pop, Bowie, Scottish Pop, Royalty, Rom Coms

Book sales October - live and online

Live events / classes et al - 310 books (£3083.17)

Etsy - 4 books (£25.62)

D2D - 12 books  ($19.69)

Lulu - 5 books  (£14.82)

Blurb - $0 (0 books)

Live Sales October 2025 = 310 books (£3083.17)

Saturday October 4th - Worcester Indy Book fair (above)  - 21 books (£205.82)

 

3 x Richard col

2 x Richard bw 

3 x FM

1 x PODS

3 x MNDT

1 x Esther col (sold out)

8 x Colouring books:

- 2 x Cult TV (so), Rom Com (so)

- 1 x Dr Who, 90s, 20s, Xmas

Sunday Oct 5 - Plymouth Creed Comicon -  39 books (£434.73)

6 x Richard col

2 x Richard bw 

3 x FM (sold out)

2 x PODS

2 x MNDT

3 x Space Elain col

2 x Joseph col

19 x Colouring books:

- 4 x Dr Who (sold out)

-  3 x Euro vol 2 (so), 80s (so)

- 2 x Euro vol 1 (so)

- 1 x Bowie, Hollywood, 60s, 80s Superstar (so), 90s (so), 20s (so), Xmas (so)

Thurs Oct 9 - Nettlestone Primary Isle of Wight - 7 books (£56)

7 x Richard bw 

Thurs Oct 9 - St Helens Primary Isle of Wight - 7 books (£56)

7 x Richard bw 

Schools are back, baby. When did I last sell books to pupils in a school? (He asks, rhetorically. It was, check notes, July 10th at Arden Academy in Solihull). Three months, blimey. Well, the schools are back, and with them the sales of my black and white Richard The Thirds. I'm really hoping to start selling them Romeo and Juliets next month, but I've got some book-finishing to do before that happens. Still, very satisfying, especially because I was only doing half a day in each of these schools, and they were booked by the Isle of Wight Literary Festival. I'm doing more classes tomorrow, let's see if they're also the book buying type. 

Sat Oct 11 - Clevedon Lit Fest - 15 books (£150.88)

Very quiet event. If I hadn’t done a class, for which I got paid though there were only 8 kids there, and sold books to the parents afterwards, this would have been quite the washout.  Most poorly attended event of the year so far. 

3 x Richard col

3 x MNDT

2 x Space Elain col

2 x Tales From Bible col

2 x Attack of Sausages

3 x Colouring books:

- Cult TV, 60s, Xmas

Sun Oct 12 - Bristol Creed con - 43 books (£406)

9 x Richard col

3 x FM

4 x PODS

4 x MNDT

3 x Space Elain col (sold out)

2 x Tales from Bible col (sold out)

1 x Esther col

1 x Sausages

16 x Colouring books:

- 10 x Doctors (so)

- 3 x Cult TV (so)

- 2 x Bowie

- 1 x Punk

Weds Oct 15 - Ysgol Y Lawnt, Rhymney - 14 books (£112)

14 x Richard bw

Thurs Oct 16 - Herbert Thompson Primary, Cardiff - 2 books (£16)

2 x Richard bw

Sat Oct 18 - Cardiff Showmasters Day 1 - 46 books (£515.66)

Happy birthday to me, another record day. Constantly busy with families and kids. A lot of those sales are caricatures at two quid.  

7 x Richard col

2 x FM

4 x PODS

4 x MNDT (sold out)

3 x Space Elain col

2 x Joseph col (sold out)

1 x Esther col

3 x kids comics ( 2 Sausage 1 Humpty, sold out)

20 x Colouring books:

- 10 x Doctors Who (sold out)

- 4 x Cult TV (sold out)

- 1 x 20s (so), 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, Xmas

Sun Oct 19 - Cardiff day 2 - 19 books (£318.86)

Clearly half my money was caricatures on the quiet second day

6 x Richard col

1 x Richard bw

1 x FM

1 x PODS

1 x Space Elain col (sold out)

1 x Space Elain bw

2 x Tales from Bible col

6 x Colouring books:

- 2 x Bowie (so)

- 1 x Euro vol 2, 80s (so), Rom Com (so), Xmas (so)

Sun Oct 26 - Malvern Festival of Stories - 21 books (£181.84)

7 x Richard col

1 x Richard bw 

4 x FM

3 x PODS

3 x MNDT

1 x Space Elain col

1 x Esther col

1 x Attack of Sausages 

Today I took payments direct through my new phone for the first time, but not after having a bit of a panic when I found I couldn’t connect the iZettle card reader. Now, if I get the card reader connected, I’ll have a choice of methods… I realise how boring this is, sorry. 

Mon Oct 27 - Library of Birmingham- 14 books (£129.86)

3 x Richard col

2 x FM

3 x PODS

1 x Space Elain col (sold out)

3 x Space Elain bw

1 x Esther col

1 x Sausages (so)

Tuesday Oct 28 - Neath Libraries - 11 books (£102.89)

3 x Richard col

1 x Richard bw

1 x FM

2 x PODS

1 x MNDT

1 x Space Elain bw

1 x Esther col

1 x Humpty

Weds Oct 29 - Wakefield Libraries - 9 books (£56.94)

2 x Richard col

1 x PODS

1 x MNDT

3 x Space Elain bw

1 x Esther col (so)

1 x Humpty (so)

Thurs Oct 29 - Woolwich & Greenwich Libraries - 17 books (£162.88)

Woolwich 10 books, Greenwich 7 books 

5 x Richard col (sold out)

3 x Richard bw

1 x FM

1 x PODS

3 x MNDT

1 x Space Elain bw

1 x Joseph col (so)

1 x Tales from Bible

1 x Esther

Fri Oct 31 - Watersmeet Rickmansworth - 23 books (£176.81)

Am 8 books £63.92, pm 15 books £112.99

7 x Richard bw 

5 x FM

5 x PODS

4 x MNDT

1 x Joseph col (so)

1 x Tales from Bible col

The month ended with a satisfying week of Comic Art Masterclasses, and a talk in Malvern, where as well as getting paid to work, I sold a delightful £806 worth of books. This included exhausting my supplies of colour Richard The Thirds (hence me selling 10 of the black and white version, which otherwise hardly sell, except as a special offer to schools). 

This will be the last big sales month of the year as there are fewer events left to sell at. 

Live Sales October 2025 Total = 310 books (+ caricatures) (£3083.17)

54 x Richard col

47 x Richard bw 

34 x Findlay Macbeth

27 x Prince Of Denmark Street

28 x Midsummer Night's Dream Team

0 x Omnibus

14 x Space Elain col 

9 x Space Elain bw

8 xTales From Bible col

0 x Tales From Bible bw

7 x Attack Of The Sausages 

3 x Humpty Dumpty

8 x Esther col

6 x Joseph col

72 x Colouring books

D2D Sales October - 12 books ($19.69)

1 x Richard bw

2 x PODS

2 x MNDT

3 x Omnibus

3 x Space Elain

1 x Bible bw

Etsy Sales October - 4 books (£25.62)

1 x FM

1 x PODS

1 x 70s Colouring

1 x Xmas colouring (digital)

Lulu Sales October - 5 books (£14.82)

3 x 60s pop colouring (US, GB, Zaire? “ZA”)

1 x Tales from Bible col

1 x 80s Superstars

My Books And Where To Find Them...

Richard The Third (Colour) Paperback • signed	Doctors Who? Colouring Paperback • signed	Socks Do Shakespeare Paperback	Kids Comics Annual 2026 Paperback
Richard  The Third (bw) Paperback • signed	Findlay  Macbeth Paperback • signed	Prince of  Denmark Street Paperback • signed	Midsummer Night's  Dream Team Paperback • signed
Shakespeare Omnibus Paperback • signed	Comic Tales From The Bible Paperback • signed	Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories Paperback • signed	Space Elain Paperback • signed
Book Of Esther	Who Notes	Sweet Smell Of Sockcess	Attack Of The Sausages
My 1975 Diary Calendar	Colouring Books Paperback • signed	Scottish Falsetto Socks Annual	Tales Of Nambygate

Colouring Books: Doctors Who, Hollywood Legends, Punk, Cult TV, Eurovision Vol 1, Eurovision Vol 2, Eurovision Best Of British & Irish, 1960s Pop, 1970s Pop, 1980s Pop,  1990s Pop, 2020s Pop, Bowie, Scottish Pop, Royalty, Rom Coms