With any luck I'm close to finally announcing the title of the four-volume set that I have been hinting at for the past few months. All four books are almost done. The internal pages are now with the copyright holder to be checked over to make sure they're happy and we're not accidentally using something that is not theirs to license.
I'm working on the covers. I had volume one ready to go, but I wasn't happy with what I'd done with the rear cover. I had a chance to play around with it on Wednesday and came up with something that works with the various logos that have to be included. Selling direct to customers, even through eBay and Amazon, means that I don't have to worry about a barcode. And it saves a pound per book because to buy a single ISBN costs almost £100 and I can only license books in limited numbers.
To take Phantom Patrol as an example of this perilous form of publishing, say (for ease of the maths) I make £10 per book and license 100 copies. The license plus the cover cost me £550. So you have to write off the first 55 copies, after which you make your profit. I've sold about 70 copies, so for the six weeks or so that it took to scan, clean and retouch, write introductions, design, and negotiate a price that was affordable to readers, I've made £150.... but that's not quite the case as I had to supply the copyright holder with a number of printed copies and sent some to Chris, who did the beautiful cover, and there are a couple of proof copies sitting on my shelf that can't be sold, so my profit on the book is closer to £100 to date and I'm looking at a total of £400 by the time the license runs out.
Anyway, expect an announcement in the next week or two.
We had a cheerier week this week, with friends over from Canada and a trip out to the Colchester Arts Centre to see Andy Zaltzman (The Bugle, The News Quiz), who I have wanted to see for years. It topped off what had been a little bit of a miserable week (funeral, low levels of enthusiasm) with a bit of political satire, pun-filled gags and general silliness of a kind that hit just the right note. Oh, and there was a stuffed penguin sitting on a suitcase on stage for over half the set. A penguin in a tinfoil hat. This is why I love Andy Zaltzman. And should he stumble across this (I don't know if he Googles his own name), please send Alice Fraser.
Mel is away at a convention, so I'm thinking of doing a binge watch of something or try to catch up on some movies. The calm before the storm. Hopefully I'll have some news next week.
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