Monday, 10 February 2025

Colouring Richard and other art


Blimey, was it back in October I started to complete the colouring of Richard The Third? I didn't get very far. As my blog at the time recorded, I'd coloured up to page 35.

Today I picked up where I'd left off, and have now coloured up to Page 49, plus retouched a few pages, and done the logos of the title pages.

In the meantime, I've only been and published the book, even though it's unfinished! It's not been approved for Global Distribution (as this blog mentioned) but I'll keep updating it as I have more pages coloured, and meanwhile I have it available to print as a dummy. So far I have one partly finished dummy copy in y hand and I must say it looks great even only partly coloured. The backgrounds, you will recall, have been coloured from the start, which is how I do it so we can put out a monochrome edition.

Tues Feb 11: Up to page 67 

Work in progress.

Graphic novels have "insufficient content"

 

Here is one of the biggest thorns in my side when it comes to self publishing my graphic novels: being called "insufficient content" or "low content".

This latest notification comes from Lulu.com, via whom I try and get my books onto Amazon. In recent months they only seem to find their way there via Draft2Digital, with Lulu having a consistent fail rate.

Because I don't have an Amazon KDP account (long story, but once they close your account, you're not allowed to open another for the rest of your life), this is my only way of getting books on sale online, and increasingly it's a non starter. 

The most galling thing is the "insufficient content" tag. we're talking about a 130 page graphic novel here, and in this instance it's the new (coming soon kids) full colour edition of Richard The Third. I honestly don't know how you can get more sufficient content than that. But "insufficient" is how they brand it.

In the past year my hit rate has been:
Richard The Third Colour edition - failed for insufficient content
Hollywood Colouring Book - failed for low content
Attack Of The Sausages colour version - Approved For Global Distribution
Attack Of The Sausages black & white version - failed for low content
Sweet Smell Of Sockcess - Approved For Global Distribution
Who Notes - Approved For Global Distribution
Space Elain (hardback & paperback) - both failed for low content

Then I see a string of titles all failed for low content:
Joseph and Ruth, 60s Colouring Book, Cult TV Colouring Book, Poopy Doo Doo Heads, and Punk.

The last graphic novel to get approved was Richard The Third hardback edition in Oct 23. The paperback version was rejected. Before that Tales Of Nambygate, Book Of Esther, and Captain Clevedon all get approved. So it seems October 2023 was the last time I was able to get a graphic novel accepted for Global Distribution through Lulu.

I wonder if anyone else is trying to do this and having similar problems?


Sunday, 9 February 2025

Book sales Feb, live and online


Here’s something you don’t see every day, a Polaroid photo taken by one of the punters at the Royal Bath and West showground, Feb 8th. It may not have developed fully because it was so bloody cold!

Live sales Feb 2025 - schools and events

UKCGF Somerset Feb 8 - £368.30

A freezing day in the big hall at the Royal Bath and West Showground near Shepton Mallet, which clearly doesn’t warm up. Lots of families and kids so I did well. These sales are all books or caricatures (@£2) with no original art. Card and cash.

10 x Richard The Third
7 x Space Elain
3 x MNDT
2 x PODS
2 x FM
1 x Omnibus 
1 x Tales From Bible
1 x Esther 
1 x Joseph
10 x Colouring Books:
2 x Doctors Who (sold out in first hour), Euro vol 2
1x Bowie, 60s, 70s (all sold out)
1 x 80s, 90s, Christmas 

Exhall Grange school Feb 12 - £161

23 x Richards @ £7

Long Sutton primary Feb 13 - £112

16 x Richards @ £7


More Feb sales to come


My Books And Where To Find Them...
Richard 
The Third
Findlay 
Macbeth
Prince of 
Denmark Street
Midsummer Night's 
Dream Team
Shakespeare
Omnibus

Comic Tales
From The Bible

Joseph, Ruth
& Other Stories

Space
Elain



Friday, 31 January 2025

Book sales + stuff on eBay January


Above: A page of my original art from the Beano Christmas issue 2005. One of a number of things that I sold on eBay this month.

I'll be honest, January is not a big book sales month. There are no comic events to stand behind a table at, and most of my schools weren't big buyers. So, though I may not do this every month, I'm including in this blog all the stuff I flogged on eBay. Some is my work (comic art pages) but most is magazines and junk I'm clearing out. Normal service (of selling my own self published books) will resume next month.

eBay - £658.84 (not my books)
Live events / classes et al - £490 (70 Richards)
Etsy - £23.48 (3 orders inc postage)
Lulu (Amazon) - £27.05 (reported Feb 11th)
D2D - $9.30 (10 orders)
Blurb - £0


eBay sales - January 2025 (all prices exclude postage)

Red Dwarf Smegazine art (colour page) - £135
Gladiators No 4 cover art + 2 samples pages - £122.75
Mark Buckingham + me Apocalypse 2099 page - £112
Red Dwarf Smegazine art (bw page + overlay) - £75
Beano Christmas page - £72
Gladiators t shirt art - £37
3 x Aardman Creature Comfort t shirts - £19
15 x NME tapes - £15.20
Aardman t shirt - £10.27
Major Matt Mason toy - £10
Weird City 1996 fanzine - £10
Aardman t shirt - £8.67
SFX Jon Pertwee cassette - £5.99
My 1975 Diary Calendar - £4.99
Empire VHS - £4
4 x Private Eyes - £4
Glen Baxter 86 Calendar - £3.99
Sex Pistols 1996 Calendar - £3.50
BBC Light Ents Tape - £3.50
Beyblade No 2 - £2.50
Stan Lee t shirt - £2.50
3 x Transformers comics - £2.50
2 x Private Eyes - £2.50
Empire VHS - 99p
4 x Private Eyes - 99p

Total = £658.84

Live Book Sales - Jan 2025

Croughton All Saints, Northants Jan 14 - £7 = 1 Richard The Third
Bruntsfield School, Edinburgh Jan 20-22 - £378 = 54 Richard The Thirds
Our Lady Of The Assumption, Coventry Jan 28 = £105 = 15 Richard The Thirds

Total  = £490
= 70 Richard The Thirds

Lulu Sales - Jan 2025 

4 x 80s Colouring Book
3 x Attack of the Sausages
2 x Royalty Colouring 
1 x Tales From The Bible, Nambygate, 80s Superstar, 60s, 70s, Euro Best Of, Captain Clevedon, Book of Esther
1 x Doctors Who (direct from Lulu, all others via Amazon)

Total = £27.05

D2D Sales - Jan 2025

2 x Joseph, Space Elain, MNDT
1 x PODS, Richard, Esther, Who Notes

Total = $9.30



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