The Family With The Big Gyatt - yet more comics by kids

From Derby to Shoreham, three days worth of comic art masterclasses here. And a contrast between how many and how few books I can sell after a class.

I began the week at St Benedicts in Derby, doing a series of summer school classes, with kids who will be coming into Year 7 next term. They came up with the usual teenage stuff, and of course there was no scope for flogging books to them afterwards. Jolly good fun.

On Wednesday I was back again at the same school, and this time they reached peak teenage, with Skibidi, Ohio, Sigma, Rizlers, and Chad Daddies all in one title. And I came away having learned the word Gyatt, of which I was previously oblivious. I means your arse, apparently.

Then Thursday saw Hev & I travelling all the way down to Shoreham for a day of classes at Ropetackle Arts. Two sellout groups and, talk about going from famine to feast, I sold more books after these two classes than I have at any previous day of classes. Over two hundred quids worth of books sold? That'll do nicely squire. Having all the parents in the room throughout the class is the perfect formula for selling signed books afterwards.

The celebrities these six groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Drake, Tom Holland, Dwayne The Rock Johnson (twice), Mr Beast, and Boris Johnson.

My Books and where to get them:

Richard The Third - Amazon - Etsy - Barnes & Noble - Waterstones

Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy - Kindle
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon - Etsy 

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Paperback

Sweet Smell Of Sockcess - Putting A Show On At The Edinburgh Fringe - Amazon - ebook

Who Notes - Doctor Who Reviews - Amazon - Lulu - ebook

Space Elain - Amazon - Lulu - iBooks - Barnes & Noble 

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy - Webtoons

The Book Of Esther - Lulu  - Amazon - Webtoons

Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories - Amazon

Captain Clevedon - Amazon

Tales Of Nambygate - Amazon  

2023's Comics By Kids, 2022's Comics By Kids

Colouring Books: 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, Doctors Who  

Unicorn Who Pooped Bums - comics by kids

This week's batch of comics by kids in my Comic Art Masterclasses takes me from North Yorkshire to Kent to Cambridgeshire. As I believe I've mentioned before, distance is no object.

I'd only just flown back from Glasgow, where I'd played a stonking Socks show at Worldcon as well as squeezing in two short gigs at the Edinburgh Fringe, when I found myself back on the road, up to Bradford for an overnight stay before doing two libraries in a day. Shipley in the morning, Keighley in the afternoon. And having repacked the car for my travels I realised too late that I'd forgotten to being my flipchart pad which meant Keighley's class had to be delivered on A3 sheets stuck together with sellotape. Sorry, was that too much boring detail for youse?

If it's Thursday, it must be Bexleyheath library in the morning and Erith library in the afternoon. Two smashing sellout classes and Hev, who accompanied me for this mini road trip, enjoyed a day out at Bluewater shopping centre, which does seem to be quite the place. "Too ys era scere" was one of those titles where a young kid had tried to write something that none of us could decipher which, as soon as it's read out, become the funniest thing anyone has ever heard. This a cruel thing that I honestly have yet to find a way round. I hope I'm not scarring these poor young illiterates.

Friday saw a lovely pair of classes at The Cresset Theatre and arts centre in Peterborough, with probably my favourite titles of the week.

The celebrities these six groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Michael Jackson, Mr Beast, George Washington and, for the first time and definitely my favourite suggestion, Nigel Parkinson, our good friend and star artist of Dennis The Menace and many more.

My Books and where to get them:

Richard The Third - Amazon - Etsy - Barnes & Noble - Waterstones

Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy - Kindle
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon - Etsy 

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Paperback

Sweet Smell Of Sockcess - Putting A Show On At The Edinburgh Fringe - Amazon - ebook

Who Notes - Doctor Who Reviews - Amazon - Lulu - ebook

Space Elain - Amazon - Lulu - iBooks - Barnes & Noble 

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy - Webtoons

The Book Of Esther - Lulu  - Amazon - Webtoons

Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories - Amazon

Captain Clevedon - Amazon

Tales Of Nambygate - Amazon  

2023's Comics By Kids, 2022's Comics By Kids

Colouring Books: 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, Doctors Who  

This year's Fringe programme, thoughts

 I know I’m a little late to the party, but I just saw the Fringe programme for the first time today. (Had to send off for it, having not seen one in my brief visit to Edinburgh on Friday, and there being none to be found in Glasgow).

And one thing immediately struck me: where are the ads for comedy shows? Was it my imagination or are there way fewer than there used to be?

So I went back through my collection (on that shelf you can see behind me) and the stats really do suggest something of a collapse in Edfringe comedy advertising.

This year, 2024, comedy takes up 127 pages of the programme, of which 55 quarter-page spaces are ads for comedy shows.

In 2022 comedy took up 111 pages, of which 73 quarter-pages were ads. And 2019 (the last time I bought an ad myself) comedy took up 145 pages, of which 82 quarter-pages were ads.

I go back to the 2016 prog and it has 131 pages of comedy, almost the same as this year, but there’s a whopping 123 quarter-pages of ads. Two and a half times as many adverts as this year. That’s a lot of ad revenue to lose in 8 years.

So it’s a slow dwindling, but it seems pretty inexorable. Is it that the printed programme doesn’t matter so much? Is it that the size of act and agent that used to splash out on ads comes up in smaller numbers? Any ideas?

Elise replies: The bottom has fallen out of print advertising in general without taking into account cost versus benefit of Edinburgh marketing budgeting.

Fats: Probably stating the obvious, but many acts/agents may see print as superfluous and dispensable, given they can target potential customers more directly and economically online. Younger generations ('digital natives') may perceive print as quaint or, being unaccustomed to the medium, simply not contemplate or even think of it as a vehicle.

Matt: That would be my thought. As a basic cost/benefit analysis, does it bring in more in sales than it costs? And does it let the industry people know of your existence better than a well-placed billboard or a viral Reel?

If the answer to both is no, then what's the point?

Dave Gorman: If you didn’t see a programme when you were in Edinburgh and there were none to be found in Glasgow either, doesn’t that sort of answer the question?

My Books and where to get them:

Richard The Third - Amazon - Etsy - Barnes & Noble - Waterstones

Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy - Kindle
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon - Etsy 

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Paperback

Sweet Smell Of Sockcess - Putting A Show On At The Edinburgh Fringe - Amazon - ebook

Who Notes - Doctor Who Reviews - Amazon - Lulu - ebook

Space Elain - Amazon - Lulu - iBooks - Barnes & Noble 

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy - Webtoons

The Book Of Esther - Lulu  - Amazon - Webtoons

Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories - Amazon

Captain Clevedon - Amazon

Tales Of Nambygate - Amazon  

2023's Comics By Kids, 2022's Comics By Kids

Colouring Books: 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, Doctors Who  

Edinburgh & Glasgow surprise gigs for the Scottish Falsetto Socks

I know it's absurdly short notice, but here's a fun announcement - The Scottish Falsetto Socks are appearing at Edinburgh Fringe 2024 after all. Oh, and they're at Worldcon in Glasgow.

The Socks have been booked to play on Saturday night at the prestigious sci fi event Worldcon, in Glasgow on Saturday 10th August. There seemed little point in telling you all because, unless you've already got tickets to be there, you won't be able to get in. But the lucky old attendees, who are there for such things as the presenting of the Hugo Awards and other such hi-faluting goings-on, will be able to watch us doing a new updated version of our Superheroes show, at 7.30pm.

And, since we already had to fly up, and the best available flight was on the Friday, we've taken advantage of the opportunity to make a couple of little guest appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe. Blink and you'll miss them, and I wouldn't suggest going far out of your way to make it to them, but if you happen to be around, the Socks will be doing 12 minute long guest appearances at Dazzling Cabaret at The Three Sisters at 8pm, and at Late Bite at The Pear Tree at 9.45pm, both Friday 9th August.

See you all there (or, most likely, not)

Update: all three gigs went marvellously. I wasn't able to Facebook post about it at the time, having been given a three day Facebook ban (for sharing avideo of Raygun from the Olympics, I'll never know why). But my two slots in Edinburgh followed by my hour at WorldCon were a delight and a triumph.

I doubt you'll be able to see it without a ticket or access code to World Con itself, but here's the whole streamed video of the Socks performance of Superheroes. I hope to get a copy of it, but can't be sure I will.

Yes, we were projected on the big screen at Worldcon and the show went marvellously to an audience of what looked and sounded like about 500 people. 

Friday night's two gigs at Edinburgh were organised courtesy of Jimi Longmuir, who last year had us "phone it in" by performing our slot via Zoom. This year we definitely went one better.

Here's the Socks photographed by Jimi, who is a professional photographer with a proper camera and everything. This was from our slot as part of the variety bill at the Three Sisters.

Here's me and the rest of the cast from the variety show, with Jimi leading the selfie. Apart from a magician, I was the only act that kept all their clothes on.

The following show was a comedy bill at Te Pear Tree, where again the Socks killed in their 10 minute slot. It was good for me to see the inside of these venues that I never even get a whiff of when I'm up there for a month normally. I really ought to get out more. There are so many shows taking place all at once, and you forget how stuck in your own bubble you become.

I got a good shot of Edinburgh buzz, including Edinburgh smell into the bargain. The one thing I didn't manage to find was an Edinburgh Fringe programme (so I've sent off for one).

*****

Just bookmarking this, a report of atrocious box office situation at The Pleasance as reported by David Chapple: 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/KxRE9u77hXwNRwVW/?mibextid=WC7FNe

My Books and where to get them:

Richard The Third - Amazon - Etsy - Barnes & Noble - Waterstones

Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy - Kindle
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon - Etsy 

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Paperback

Sweet Smell Of Sockcess - Putting A Show On At The Edinburgh Fringe - Amazon - ebook

Who Notes - Doctor Who Reviews - Amazon - Lulu - ebook

Space Elain - Amazon - Lulu - iBooks - Barnes & Noble 

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy - Webtoons

The Book Of Esther - Lulu  - Amazon - Webtoons

Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories - Amazon

Captain Clevedon - Amazon

Tales Of Nambygate - Amazon  

2023's Comics By Kids, 2022's Comics By Kids

Colouring Books: 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, Doctors Who  

Cat On The Loo - the first kids comics of August

The first three days of classes took me to libraries in Chipping Barnet, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire, taking in five libraries in total, and a lovely collection of comics by kids.

Chipping Barnet library is one that I've been to a few times now, and a couple of sellout classes came up with the goods as ever.

An early morning start on Monday saw Hev and me arriving at Coalville Library well ahead of time, at the start of a two day Midlands sojourn. After I'd finished my morning class, and flogged books to the parents (totals logged elsewhere) I sped off to Hinckley and did more of the same. The second poo-or-bottom related title of this batch came up with some kind of inevitability.

 An overnight stay in Nottingham and I got an early start at Wollaton library, one I've been to a few times now. The one novelty of the morning was a kid getting his leg stuck in the table. I know, it does sound improbable. Hard to describe, it's easier to show you...

The tables had quite a dodgy design, it turns out. Though an accident like this had never happened before, and will probably never happen again, the table leg is designed as a pair of vertical metal railings, just the perfect size for an 11 year old's leg, when clad in shorts, to slip through in one direction and have the greatest difficulty slipping back out the way it went in. I did my best to carry on with the class while staff and parents administered soap and water to lubricate and extract the limb in question. It all ended happily and the lad, who had been to my class before, was adamant he'll be back next time.

In the afternoon I was at the brand newly built Nottingham Central Library, and an impressive new place it is. These two classes were an experiment in me handling the ticket sales myself, and keeping all the takings. The result wasn't bad - 18 sales at Wollaton, 20 at Central - but it earned me less than if I'd taken a flat fee (which wasn't a possibility this time because of lack of funding). So it was definitely a risk worth taking. It would only have taken eight more sales for me to have made more than my flat fee. So I'll do it again.

The celebrities these six classes chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Taylor Swift (twice), King Charles, Kai Cenat (a Youtuber), Harry Styles, and David Attenborough.

My Books and where to get them:

Richard The Third - Amazon - Etsy - Barnes & Noble - Waterstones

Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy - Kindle
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon - Etsy 

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Paperback

Sweet Smell Of Sockcess - Putting A Show On At The Edinburgh Fringe - Amazon - ebook

Who Notes - Doctor Who Reviews - Amazon - Lulu - ebook

Space Elain - Amazon - Lulu - iBooks - Barnes & Noble 

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy - Webtoons

The Book Of Esther - Lulu  - Amazon - Webtoons

Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories - Amazon

Captain Clevedon - Amazon

Tales Of Nambygate - Amazon  

2023's Comics By Kids, 2022's Comics By Kids

Colouring Books: 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, Doctors Who  

Live book sales for August

Since I started selling books at my classes in 2023 then really ramped things up with Richard The Third and selling books in schools this Spring, it starts to feel like this is a significant part of my business. Standing behind tables at comic events has lost out to school events, in volume of book sales, for most of the last six months. Profit wise, I have the new challenge of having sold out the print runs of my three original books, which means I now have to order FM, PODS, and MNDT in batches of 10 from Lulu. These cost £44 inc postage, meaning my unit price is £4.40 a book. I've bumped up the cover price to £6.99 (from £5.99) but they are still less profitable than they were. Richard remains the best seller and the most profitable (a second print run of 500 cost £1200, so £2.40 each).

Chipping Barnet Library (photo above) Aug 2 - £127.84

8 x Richard The Third 

3 x Space Elain

2 x MNDT

2 x Joseph & Ruth

1 x Any 3 Shakespeares (@£18, was £15)

1 x PODS

Coalville & Hinckley Libraries, Aug 5 - £122.82

13 x Richard The Third

2x MNDT

2 x Esther

1 x Joseph & Ruth

Wollaton & Notts Central Libraries, Aug 6 - £109.92

8 x Richard The Third
3 x Any 3 Shakespeare

Shipley & Keighley Libraries, Aug 12 - £52.95

2 x Richard The Third

1 x Omnibus

1 x MNDT, FM, Space Elain

Bexleyheath & Erith Libraries, Aug 15 - £101.90

4 x Joseph & Ruth

2 x Omnibus

2 x PODS

2 x Space Elain

1 x FM

1 x Richard The Third

The Cresset, Peterborough, Aug 16 - £80.91

4 x Richard The Third

3 x Space Elain

3 x MNDT

1 x FM

1 x PODS

St Benedicts Derby Aug 19 & 21 (my prediction: no sales - and I was right. It's a summer school for next year's Year Sevens, so no opportunity to flog books to parents)

Ropetackle Shoreham Aug 22 - £214.73

Best post-class book sales yet, I think. Two sellout classes, with lots of parents in the room. The perfect arrangement for flogging books. Actually, having more stock might have been even better (I had no FMs and sold out of Space Elains)

20 x Richard The Third

5 x Joseph

4 x Space Elain

1 x MNDT

3 x Socks Superheroes 

1 x Nativity 

Coventry Comic Con Aug 25 - £314

Is this a one day record for a comics event, with no original art forming part of that total? Probably. A certain thing is that about two thirds of that was people paying for their caricatures, at two quid a time, but not buying any books  I had a constant through-flow of families with kids, so busy that I didn’t even break for lunch and was working solidly from 9.30 to 4. Very few said no to their caricatures and let me keep them, half a dozen at most. God, can you imagine before the Bristol event this spring I used to give the caricatures away for free?

115 x Caricature only

8 x Richard The Third

3 x Space Elain

2 x Omnibus

3 x Colouring Books

4 x Socks Superheroes

1 x FM

1 x PODS

1 x MNDT

St Ives Book Festival Aug 31 - £19.99

The two smallest classes of the month. We worked out that last year my classes had been part of September Fest and had been listed in a programme, so they sold out. This year they weren't so they weren't so they didn't. 5 people in the morning, 7 in the afternoon, including the parents/grandparents as part of each class, so very few paying punters to choose from.

2 x Space Elain

2 x Richard The Third

TOTAL (up to St Ives) = £1138.99

66 x Richard The Third

18 x Space Elain

14 x Midsummer Nights Dream Team

12 x Joseph & Ruth

8 x Findlay Macbeth 

8 x Prince of Denmark Street

5 x Omnibus

3 x Colouring Books

My Books and where to get them:

Richard The Third - Amazon - Etsy - Barnes & Noble - Waterstones

Findlay Macbeth - Amazon  - Etsy 
Prince Of Denmark Street - Amazon - Etsy - Kindle
Midsummer Nights Dream Team  - Amazon - Etsy 

Shakespeare Omnibus Collection (all 3 books) - Paperback

Sweet Smell Of Sockcess - Putting A Show On At The Edinburgh Fringe - Amazon - ebook

Who Notes - Doctor Who Reviews - Amazon - Lulu - ebook

Space Elain - Amazon - Lulu - iBooks - Barnes & Noble 

Tales From The Bible - Amazon -  Etsy - Webtoons

The Book Of Esther - Lulu  - Amazon - Webtoons

Joseph, Ruth & Other Stories - Amazon

Captain Clevedon - Amazon

Tales Of Nambygate - Amazon  

2023's Comics By Kids, 2022's Comics By Kids

Colouring Books: 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, Doctors Who