Friday 25 November 2022

Graphic novels on Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble plus


 I have gone, as the technical term has it, "wide for the win". This means that, having lost my Amazon KDP account, I am now publishing my books through other means. The main one of these being Draft2Digital, who do the same as Amazon KDP in terms of taking digital books and supplying them to devices.

While Amazon's Kindle is the brand leader, and the vast majority of people use that, there are others. So now my books are available on Kobo, Barnes & Noble's Nook, Apple books, and two things I'd not heard of Vivlio (France) and Thalia (Germany). I should also be on the library service's Borrow Box system, and in time I should appear on Hoopla, Bibliotheca, Scribd, Overdrive, Baker & Taylor and, possibly, Amazon's Kindle via a circuitous route.

Draft2Digital are not, apparently, so good for Print On Demand paperback books, so I continue investigating ways of making those happen. 

One Print On Demand system is Lulu, through which I have published Prince Of Denmark Street.  I am in the process of getting that on sale widely, let us see if it sells as many as the half dozen copies Amazon ever shifted. 

Meanwhile my graphic novels are available, as always, on Etsy. As is the Eurovision Colouring Book, thanks to me doing a short print run (of just 10 copies) through Mixam. I'll still end up making just two quid a copy, which was all I got through Amazon, the only difference being the effort I have to go to of printing and posting them. 

The publishing empire begins again.

Shakespeare ebooks


Findlay Macbeth

https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1067070063

https://shop.vivlio.com/product/9798215241233_9798215241233_10020/findlay-macbeth

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/findlay-macbeth

https://books.apple.com/us/book/id6444680158

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/findlay-macbeth-kev-f-sutherland/1136559416


Prince Of Denmark Street

https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1067070136

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/prince-of-denmark-street

https://books.apple.com/us/book/prince-of-denmark-street/id6444678694

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-prince-of-denmark-street-kev-f-sutherland/1142725192?ean=2940166650290


Midsummer Night's Dream Team

https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1067070057

https://shop.vivlio.com/product/9798215551691_9798215551691_10020/the-midsummer-nights-dream-team

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/the-midsummer-night-s-dream-team

https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-midsummer-nights-dream-team/id6444680315

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-midsummer-nights-dream-team-kev-sutherland/1142737931


Tales From The Bible

https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1067070130

https://shop.vivlio.com/product/9798215489208_9798215489208_10020/comic-tales-from-the-bible

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/comic-tales-from-the-bible

https://books.apple.com/us/book/comic-tales-from-the-bible/id6444680049

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/comic-tales-from-the-bible-kev-sutherland/1142737932




(Kev F's graphic novels)

Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy 
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon Etsy 
Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - tbc
Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy (signed)

Eurovision Colouring Vol 1 Amazon -  Lulu £10.94 - Etsy £6.99
Eurovision Colouring Vol 2 - Amazon £15.32 - Lulu £10.72 - Etsy £6.99

Eurovision Colouring Best Of British - Amazon
Doctor Who Colouring - Amazon £11.84 - Lulu £9.98 - Etsy £6.99
Punk Colouring - Amazon £15.61 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99
70s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon £10.98 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99
60s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon £12.69 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99


Monday 21 November 2022

I Hit My Bum Bum Teatray Hit My Bum Bum - comics by kids

A week of Comic Art Masterclasses in the North continued with what I'd thought, when planning it, was a really well scheduled itinerary. Yorkshire to the Lake District to Northumberland to Yorkshire and home. On screen, at first glance, these places look so far from home that, in contrast, that makes them look quite close together. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Having been in Wakefield on Monday, I then headed off for Haverigg School in Cumbria. Three hours away. Of course, how could it be any less. It's in the Lake District, and about as far west in that area as it's possible to get. Luckily the kids were a delight to work with and came up with these marvellous comic covers for me to draw (as well as each producing a comic strip, and going away with a caricature by me, as every class gets).


From as far west as you can get, to as far east, I then made my way to Seaton Sluice, near Whitley Bay in Northumberland. The last time I went there (apart from Zoom classes during lockdown) I flew there! Another three hour drive, inevitably. But the kids were great, of course, and gave me the title that inspired my favourite cover drawing of the week. I colour these in the hotel room that evening and email them back to the schools.


From Seaton Sluice, I was then down to Huddersfield, to Golcar school. Wasn't meant to be a three hour journey, but it ended up that way. But by golly, the title the kids came up with in the morning more than made up for all those miles. I Hit My Bum Bum Teatray Hit My Bum Bum? Beat that.

The journey home from Huddersfield was predicted by satnav to take another three hours. In the end, thanks to a blockage on the M5 that had us all sitting there for ages, it took over five hours to get home. You never know, sometime I might get round to finishing these damn crime novels and making my fortune, and I might cut down the classes. So schools, you'd better book me now, while you still can. (Confidently predicts he's going to be available well into the next decade.)

The celebrities these six groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Michael Jackson (twice), Johnny Depp, Bob Ross, Billie Eilish, and Nicki Minaj.



My Books and where to get them:

Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy 
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon Etsy 
Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - tbc
Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy (signed)

Eurovision Colouring Vol 1 Amazon -  Lulu £10.94 - Etsy £6.99
Eurovision Colouring Vol 2 - Amazon £15.32 - Lulu £10.72 - Etsy £6.99
Eurovision Colouring Best Of British - Amazon
Doctor Who Colouring - Amazon £11.84 - Lulu £9.98 - Etsy £6.99
Punk Colouring - Amazon £15.61 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99
70s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon £10.98 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99
60s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon £12.69 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99

Sunday 20 November 2022

Ghosts, World Cup, Twitter & other ramblings


Who else has watched the US version of Ghosts?

We watched US ep 1 last night, then watched the UK original pilot (for only the second time). It's stunning how much the US version loses. Mostly the funny bits. The UK show is laugh out loud from the start, and has the characters nailed in just a few lines, while the US version rambles, misses dozens of opportunities, over-explains, and generally dumbs down the whole mixture.
We'll be sticking with it, as we did with the US Office, sure that it'll turn into its own show. For a start, there are already more episodes of the US version than the UK original, after only two seasons, cos it's a network show, so that'll keep us going for six months.
Odd choices of ghosts from the US, prompted obviously by the fact that they have less history than us. They have no caveman, replacing him with a Viking; no medieval burnt witch or headless Tudor, replacing them with a Native American whose date is yet tbc; a War Of Independence captain replacing our WWII captain; no Georgian Kitty or Romantic Poet, replacing them with a 1920s jazz singer; and they retain only the Victorian Fanny, the scout-leader Pat, and the pant-less politician, but making him way too cool and handsome. And they add a 1960s hippy, and a 1950s headless guy, which seems way more icky than a Tudor one, I'd have thought.
It's good to be reminded just how good Ghosts, the original, is, and this remake does just that.


Oh dear, you know what this means. I have to support Wales.
I mean, I won't be going so far as to actually watch a match, obviously. But given that I now live in Wales, and that my own country (Scotland, you knew that) generously chose not to qualify, again, Wales is my country. If I knew a word of Welsh I'd say an appropriate one right here: (Insert Welsh word later).
My Welsh location now joins my Scottish nationality as something that nobody will ever quite believe, or agree is 100% true. After a lifetime of having to insist to people I'm Scottish, despite sounding like an East Midlands Bertie Wooster, I now live in Chepstow which is, literally, on the English border. And it's part of Monmouthshire which, if you look at any 19th century map, isn't even accepted as a proper part of Wales! (Maps and books refer to Wales And Monmouthshire, and draw the border one county further to the west).
I hope my half-hearted and largely disputed support helps them to whup the asses of Iran, USA, and England in their group. And I look forward to watching their bus go by the end of our road when they make their way home next week.


Watching Peter Ustinov in Arab black-face on Talking Pictures led me to Wikipedia. Who knew he was descended from the Ethiopian Royal Family?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ustinov


You know who’s going to miss Twitter? People like me who used to be Facebook friends with fellow comics, then those guys got famous on the telly.
Then one day you’re being asked to “like” their Facebook fan page, and they’ve vanished from your friends list.

Who predicted Twitter would turn out to be the new Woolworths?
Secure in the knowledge no-one will notice either way, I'll still be on Twitter and I'm also on Insta and FB.
Being one of Earth's late adopters, I doubt I'll find out what Mastodon was until it isn't any more.


Happy Birthday The Charts.
I used to love the charts, me. There was a time I could name every number one from when I was about 12 to when I was about 19.
I could have been using that brain space to learn the Periodic Table! Kids...


Watching SAS Rogue Heroes I joked that they were the sort who, 30 years later, would organise a right wing coup to try and overthrow the government.
I thought I was joking!
Who are we going to glorify with a TV docudrama next? Oswald Mosley?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Stirling


Where am I this morning, kids?


Nov 5: It's Guy Fawkes Night, and V For Vendetta is 40 years old (as Lew Stringer has noted elsewhere here).
Truly it seems to me Autumn 1982 was when the 80s began, with the birth of Channel 4 and revolutions in comic books beginning with Alan Moore in 2000AD, Warrior, and the following year DC's Swamp Thing.
It was the year that music went from the earnest monochrome of punk, new wave and two tone (all of which I loved) to the colourful plastic of new romantic pop (which I also loved, but realised was a bit less serious).
And it was also, as few people have mentioned on here, the last time Britain started a war. Does anyone else remember The Falklands? As students we were all against it, and some were fearful that it would lead to conscription and us youngsters all getting called up.
For that reason it was the year I stopped wearing a poppy on principle, a position I haven't changed since. (To reiterate, I don't want anyone to see me wearing a poppy and think it means I supported the wars in the Falklands, Northern Ireland, Iraq or Afghanistan. Or whatever comes next, if it's unjust - they usually are - and we start it again.)
On the positive side, Alan Moore's introduction to the first volume of V For Vendetta was terribly pessimistic about the state of the nation and, if I remember correctly, saw him threatening to leave the country (for where, I can't imagine).
As it turned out, we weren't a fascist state by 1985. (It took another 40 years, amIright kids? Little bit of politics, I'm Ben Elton etc)



Nov 4: This time 40 years ago Hev and I (students at the time, still together) sat in our flat which had slug trails on the carpet and watched the opening of Channel 4.
We’ve just rewatched the first episode of Cheers, which is as good now as it was then. Then on the channel’s second night was The Tube , which was great, but was always tinged with a certain disappointment.
I should have been on it.
In the spring of 1982 I was one of hundreds of hopefuls who answered the ad, above, to be The Face For The Space and become the presenter of a new pop TV show. I was lucky enough to be one of the dozens who got called to London for an audition.
There’s a group photo of us all somewhere (in the The Tube annual, in storage I guess) with me in a line up including presenters who made the cut, like Magenta Divine and the bloke who sang Life In A Northern Town. Sadly I didn’t make the show.
This was my first taste of being television presentation’s equivalent of Crème Brûlée.
Happy birthday Channel 4.


Thursday 17 November 2022

Times On The Toilet - new comics by kids


Back on the road again with the Comic Art Masterclasses, from North West to the South to the North East. Just the start of a period of burning rubber.


Stockport School was a treat, as it saw me staying in a hotel just round the corner from Strawberry Studios, legendary home of 10CC, where lots of famous music was recorded back in the day. There's a plaque there now. I was well pleased with the Booty Man cover, from their ideas which, otherwise, were trying their hardest to be risque.


Ashton Keynes near Swindon was about the shortest drive I've had to a school this season, and some fun items they came up with. Another school I'd never visited before. A fun fact I discovered, from an episode of Richard Osman's House Of Games this week, is that there are 32,000 schools in the country. So I'll have to get emailing them again, plenty of schools I've still not visited.


Hall Cliffe school in Wakefield marked the start of a four day mini tour of the North, and was a particularly challenging school for pupils with special educational needs. Their needs were certainly very special, and still we managed to do the class. Very satisfying when you can achieve a day like that.

The celebrities these six groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Boris Johnson, Olivia Rodrigo, Justin Bieber, Simon Cowell, The Queen, and Dwayne The Rock Johnson.

Tuesday 8 November 2022

Saying goodbye to the colouring books


 So it was that, on November 8th 2022, Amazon KDP closed my account and unpublished all my books.

Their reasoning, as explained in the previous blog, seems to be based on the 2020s Pop Star Colouring Book that I tried to re-publish after it had been blocked. Possibly, had I left that one alone, my books would have carried on being published. But, it seems, that once they've closed your account, all your books disappear and they're gone.

The more painful things are a) that they keep any money they haven't paid you, which would be about £120 for October's sales (and, I think, I was awaiting September's sales too, I can never work out how long the back-dating process was) and £60 for the books I'd already sold in November, and b) that November was shaping up to be a good month. I was going to do quite well out of the run up to Christmas.

So, looking at the history of my Amazon KDP publishing, and in particular those colouring books, it could be said that, overall, they weren't the most profitable way of spending time anyway.


The Eurovision Colouring Book was, yes, having sold 229 copies. That earned over £500, so justified the best-part-of-a-week it took to produce. 

But the others turn out to have been mostly labours of love. And, although I'm particularly proud of the Punk book and the 1960s book, they only sold 31 and 19 copies respectively, meaning I did all that work for sixty quid here and forty quid there. Had they stayed on sale on Amazon, they might have done the same again by the end of the year, which really doesn't amount to much.

My second best-selling book was the 1980s book, which sold just 187 copies after a year, so about £400 worth. Others sold about 20 copies each, and a couple sold less than 10.

Sadly my third best seller wasn't a colouring book, it was The Book Of Esther, which shifted 40 copies.

And my true labours of love, the works of which I'm genuinely proud, my graphic novels, sold probably poorest of all. Tales From The Bible had only sold 28 copies before the plug was pulled, Findlay Macbeth 11, Prince Of Denmark Street 6, and Midsummer Nights Dream Team 5. It turns out Amazon KDP didn't signify for sales of my "proper" work, which has sold much much more through its Kickstarter campaign, via orders from libraries (through Gardners) and at comic festivals.

As for the next big project, the crime novels, it would seem Heather will have to publish them. And she can look forward to reaping the vast fortune we're about to make (he says, very very optimistically!)

My graphic novels, the Shakespearian ones, can be found on Etsy. Tales From The Bible may see life as a self-published title again if I can find a short-run printer that compares in price to Amazon KDP. But as for the Pop Star Colouring Books? All I can say is that, if you own one, you have a very rare collectors' item classic. I hope you haven't scribbled all over it in felt tip pen!




(Kev F's graphic novels)


Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy 
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon Etsy 
Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - tbc
Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy (signed)

Eurovision Colouring Vol 1 Amazon -  Lulu £10.94 - Etsy £6.99
Eurovision Colouring Vol 2 - Amazon £15.32 - Lulu £10.72 - Etsy £6.99
Eurovision Colouring Best Of British - Amazon
Doctor Who Colouring - Amazon £11.84 - Lulu £9.98 - Etsy £6.99
Punk Colouring - Amazon £15.61 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99
70s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon £10.98 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99
60s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon £12.69 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99


 

Most terrifying sight - account closed

This is the most terrifying sight a self-publisher on Amazon can wake up to, and I just woke up to it. My account has been closed, and I can't access my bookshelf, my orders, anything.

Ironically, this month of November was turning into my most successful month for ages. As of yesterday I'd sold 32 books already in just 7 days (comparing amazingly well to October's total of just 60 books in a month, I was up from 2 a day to 5 a day). That has now stopped dead, which is dreadful news and a real gut punch.

The problem seems to be one book and one book alone: 2020s Pop Star Colouring Book.


The bulk of this book started life as "Pop Star Colouring Book", the second of the colouring books I produced at the end of 2021, following the 1970s book and before the 1990s. As the year rolled on I've ended up making about 15 such books, which have sold pretty well. By far the best seller is the Eurovision book, of which there are two volumes. 

Then in July 2022, the Kindle Content Review team blocked this book (whose full listing title was: Pop Star Colouring Book: Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, 24 top artists to color (Pop Star Colouring Books)/ B09HG6HR73) saying that "Metadata that violates our guidelines may include... Unauthorized references to a trademarked brand, term, or phrases...Unauthorized usage of a trademarked art, image, logo or monogram" 

I appealed, but they wouldn't unblock the book. So I let it lie. Then, in October, I thought I would try and repackage the content from that book, add new images, and publish a new book called 2020s Pop Star Colouring Book.


I uploaded this new book, with its new cover (above) on 30th October and, the very next day, it was Blocked. 

As in July, the email from Kindle suggested I'd used trademarked brands or content. I exchanged a few emails asking what I needed to change, because, as always, the books comprise all original images drawn by me, from photos of pop stars. 

After a couple of emails they finally mentioned that it was the band "BTS" that was a problem. So I showed them a new version of the cover with BTS removed, and offered to change the content accordingly. 

They said "Since we're unable to move the book into an editable status, If you want to resubmit this book it needs to be submitted as a new entirely book and go trough the standard review process." 

So I created a brand new cover, and additional new content including the images of Adele and Olivia Rogdrigo you can see on the new cover up top. I uploaded it on November 5th and it went into In Review, as per the screen grab.

Then this morning, Tues Nov 8th, I wake up to "This account has been closed" which is terrifying.

I have appealed, and await further notice.

UPDATE: At about 6pm, Tues Nov 8th, came the reply:

After reviewing your response, we have reevaluated the Content Guideline violations related to the titles in your account.

We found that you have uploaded material through your account for which you do not have the necessary rights.

As a result, we are upholding our previous decision to terminate your KDP account and remove all your titles from Amazon.

So, we move on to the next stage of life which is Saying Goodbye To The Colouring Books. (Continued in next blog)

PS: The place NOT to go for sympathy and support when your account gets closed is a Facebook group called Amazon KDP Books - Kindle Direct Publishing whose moderators are the most nan-splainy bunch you've ever met. As soon as they realised the nature of my Pop Star Colouring Books, they were all over me like ants for breaking copyright rules (typical comment: "Most likely, you didn't own the rights to the images in your coloring book. Even if you draw it, if it's based of a copyrighted image, it's still plagiarism." 

One moderator (and the respondents do seem to be mostly moderators) posted me a link to the Copyright Law of the US Copyright Office (many 1000s of pages thick). When I jokes about this being a bit long, she added: "It behooves you to take the time to read what is covered by copyright!" They like their exclamation marks on the KDP Group. 

The same moderator is fond of her capital letters: "self-promotion is not allowed. READ our RULES."

One guy posted "help me mom" comparing me, sarcastically, to another colouring book publisher who'd been taken down for publishing a Baby Shark book. I mean, he may be right, and I may well deserve to be cancelled. But the feeling of kicking a man when he's down pervades the group, and can be found in other comments they've left on other peoples posts. I will be leaving the group and sticking with 20Booksto50K and the new one I've found, Wide For The Win (perfect for people who can't, or don't want to, use Amazon KDP)

PPS: The denizens of "Amazon KDP" group may be right, and I may have brought this upon myself by making colouring books based on other peoples images, in which case I shall have to happily accept that.

What's less easy to accept is some of their attitude. Check out this exchange, when I replied to someone else's totally separate thread about acquiring an agent:


If it's too small to read, it goes:

Me: I try getting an agent, every few years or so. It used to be fun collecting rejection letters. Now rejection emails are a lot less satisfying. To be honest, I remain mystified as to how anyone gets an agent, and I've been a published writer and artist (in comic books and magazines) for over thirty years!

Trevor: maybe it takes a quality product? I think I remember that you had an issue with plagiarism? Agents only get paid when they sell a book. If you produce a book that they can’t sell, of course they won’t represent you. Why should they?

Me: Ha ha. The colouring books (of which you speak) are a different matter. My graphic novels are nothing to do with those. But thanks for taking the opportunity for an unwarranted back-handed insult. They always brighten up an afternoon.

Trevor: oh. That wasn’t meant to be backhanded. It was flat out insult. Sorry. Once a person engages in plagiarism, I have zero respect for anything they create. Everything is tainted.

That's a 'moderator'. Anyway, as I say, onwards and upwards.

Update: After another, different, moderator had chosen a different thread to choose to insult me on, I replied saying I'd had about enough of being called a thief. Sadly I didn't have time to screengrab that. When next I looked, I'd been ejected from the group. The Amazon doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?





(Kev F's graphic novels)


Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy 
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon Etsy 
Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - tbc
Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy (signed)

Eurovision Colouring Vol 1 Amazon -  Lulu £10.94 - Etsy £6.99
Eurovision Colouring Vol 2 - Amazon £15.32 - Lulu £10.72 - Etsy £6.99
Eurovision Colouring Best Of British - Amazon
Doctor Who Colouring - Amazon £11.84 - Lulu £9.98 - Etsy £6.99
Punk Colouring - Amazon £15.61 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99
70s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon £10.98 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99
60s Pop Star Colouring - Amazon £12.69 - Lulu £10.98 - Etsy £6.99






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