Contacting bookshops - free caricatures and a book?

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.

My Books And Where To Find Them...

Richard  The Third 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  

Richard The Third at £47 a pop anyone? Tales From Bible much cheaper.

Richard The Third in hardback for £46.99 anyone? I thought not.

One of the ridiculous vagiaries of trying to get my books on sale on Amazon is that not all roads lead there. So recently I've discovered the most reliable way of getting my books on sale on Amazon, at a good price, and to get author copies at a good price too, is D2D. Here's the latest one...

Through D2D I've managed to get a black and white version of my Comic Tales From The Bible on sale at a very reasonable £9.99. This goes alongside the even more reasonable Shakespeare Omnibus which is 365 pages for just £14.99. But there's the rub. D2D only do black and white books. And I've got a new colour version of Richard.

So, I've produced the new colour Richard through Lulu, and I'm getting very reasonable priced author copies from them that I sell at live events. But the paperback version of Richard in colour was "rejected from Global distribution" (see blogs passim), and I'm betting the hardback will too.

So I go to Blurb. The good news, Blurb's hardback edition has made it onto Amazon. The less good news, it's on there at Blurb prices, which are always silly prices. I'm currently tweaking the Blurb paperbcak version to see if I can get it onto Amazon, but if I do it'll still cost twice or three times what a Lulu edition would.

Onwards and upwards, we do what we can do.

My Books And Where To Find Them...

Richard  The Third 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 April - live and online

Me in action at Plymouth UKCGF giving my new multi-book point of sale unit its first outing. Not a big book sales day. Was that because of the display? Don’t know yet. 

April won’t compare with March’s World Book Month sales, but I do what I can. It got to a poor start with my first classes being at a school that bought no books and my second (Phoenix Bordon) being cancelled, we got into our stride by learning I have a new best seller: the colour edition of Richard, and also the Shakespeare Omnibus (NB my first sales day, in Guildford, may not be typical of every audience). Update; Final school of the month was also no sales, so a disappointing total.

April sales:

Live events / classes et al - £984.62 (inc 48 Richards, colour and b&w) = 123 books

Lulu (Amazon) - £9.89 (7 books)

Etsy - £8.98 (1 Euro Vol 1, 1 digital download)

D2D - $5.67 (8 books)

Blurb - $0 (3 books apparently)

April 2025 Live Sales = 123 books

Weds April 9 - Yvonne Arnaud Guildford = 11 books £133.93

4 x Richard The Third colour edition
1 x Richard b&w edition
4 x Shakespeare Omnibus 
1 x Findlay Macbeth
1 x Midsummer Nights Dream Team

Fri April 11 - Chipping Barnet Library = 9 books

 £89.91

6 x Richard colour

3 x Space Elain

Two days in and Richard The Third in colour is the one they want, forget the old black and white edition. Next we’ll see what happens with a comicon audience  

Sun April 13 - Swansea Comic Con = 49 books

 £501.78*

6 x Richard colour (sold out)

6 x Richard b&w

8 x FM (sold out)

4 x PODS

8 x MNDT (sold out)

5 x Space Elain

1 x Esther (sold out)

11 x Colouring books:

(4 x Dr Who, 2 x Punk sold out. 2 x 20s Pop, 1 x Bowie, Euro vol 2, 90s)

+ lots of caricatures @ £2

Richard in colour is the big hit. I’d sold out of all 6 before midday ( at £10.99 each) and only then did anyone buy the black and white version (£7.99). And is that a record taking for a one day con? Could be. 

Not a real item. But, oh, imagine if it was. It is generated by ChatGPT AI, and I realise how problematic that is.

Fri April 25 - Chacombe Primary = £77

11 x Richards (b&w @£7, schools rates)

Sat April 26 - Plymouth UKCGF = 17 books

 £257*

3 x Richard b&w

3 x Richard colour

3 x FM

1x PODS

1x MNDT

3x Doctors Who col

1 x Bowie, 2020s, Xmas colouring

+ lots of caricatures. 

Half the takings of Swansea, not good. Very low by my standards, not very many book buyers, half of my takings came from caricatures. Worse were the frustrating punters who let me keep the caricatures. I only charge £2 each, but I give them the option to leave them if they don’t want them. Today’s “Couldn’t Afford Two Quid” Club was a record breaking fifteen punters. The tightness of money on the punters behalf is also shown by the fact that three chose the cheaper b&w Richard rather than the pricier colour version.

Mon April 28 - Cumnor House School, Sussex = 26 books

£182

14 x Richard b&w

4 x FM

7 x PODS

1 x MNDT

All at £7 each, school rates

An unusual set up gave the chance for the kids to choose the book of their fancy, on the day. And being a prep school it included older pupils, so a wider range chosen. 

* card and cash

Total Live Sales = £984.62

123 books

19 x Richard The Third Colour edition

35 x Richard The Third Black & White

16 x Findlay Macbeth

11 x Prince Of Denmark Street

11 x Midsummer Night's Dream Team

8 x Space Elain

4 x Shakespeare Omnibus

17 x Colouring Books

D2D April sales = $5.67, 8 books

5 x Midsummer Nights Dream Team

1 x Shakespeare Omnibus, Richard, Esther

Lulu April sales = £9.89, 7 books

1 x Royalty, 60s, 70s, 80s Superstars, Captain Clevedon, PODS

1 x Tales From Bible

My Books And Where To Find Them...

Richard  The Third 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