I've been kept busy with advance orders for MYTEK THE MIGHTY, which is going pretty well. I'm not measuring like for like precisely, but I think it will do better than PHANTOM PATROL but won't hit the dizzying heights of my COUNTDOWN index, which took off like a rocket. But it's going to wipe its face.
Which is a relief, because with these licensed titles you have to pay the fees up front, there have been proofs to pay for and then a print run, which will be my sales stock for the next few months. Most of this is paid for before I see a penny, and I'm also going to be carrying quite a bit of stock because print prices are to rise in about three weeks. I'll absorb the increases where I can, but I might have to charge a little more for one or two of my books... I still need to sit down with a pen and the back of a fag packet to get my head around the implications.
The launch of MYTEK was a bit of a mad dash. I usually do a small printing of maybe 10 copies to make sure the books print consistently, and these had just arrived when my friend Jules Burt asked for some cover scans as he was launching a video review on Wednesday. I was thinking that I had until Friday and could amble through a few jobs that needed doing; this was not to be and I had to bring everything forward a day, writing up a column for the Bear Alley Books page, making sure I let people know through Facebook's Bear Alley Book page, and setting up various links from one to the other. It might not sound like much, but it all takes time — and I do have other things to do, too. (Write this blog being one of them.)
Once the news was let loose on the world, I had some fun filming a little video. I don't know if I'm getting any better at these, but I think the 13 minute video only took 20 minutes to film. I tend to do these off the cuff with only a broad idea of what I want to say. This time I got most of it right first time, remembered to have copies of the book next to me so I could show them on camera, made sure I could wear that t-shirt without causing the camera to go crazy. I had problems once during an interview and since then I've always worn a colour t-shirt for Comic Cuts videos and other video recordings.
Many years ago, I was asked to be part of a show called For Love or Money on, I think, Channel 4, to talk about old gangster paperbacks. I took up a hold-all full of them and hung around the office where we were to film but nobody was answering the door. After about 15 minutes of panic, someone arrived—I'll call her the runner as I can't recall her actual position—and said that the crew was running late, so we trotted around the corner to the pub.
While I was relaxing into a pint, this girl asked: "Do you have a change of shirt?" This was unexpected, so I told her "No." My pale blue shirt might be a problem, she explained, because they wanted to blue-screen images of books behind me while I talked. "But don't worry, we'll sort something out."
The crew arrived and set up in the office, so there was now a couple of blokes (cameraman, sound engineer) and a couple of girls (the producer/director and the runner I'd been to the pub with). The shirt thing was still an issue as the only suitable clothing I could wear belonged to the director... but she had nothing on underneath (it was a warm summer evening). Some clothes juggling later, I'm in her t-shirt, she is in the blouse belonging to the runner, which was quite a tight fit, and the runner was in her bra, sat just to one side of the producer.
I'm surprised I managed to answer any of their questions. Also, the t-shirt had a small, circular logo, which was cut out by the blue-screen effects, so it looked like I had been shot in the chest. That was my first ever TV interview. I don't think any since have matched it!
I'm sixty pages into the AIR ACE COMPANION and it's turning into a bit of a monster. I was aiming for under 100 pages, but it might creep over that. There are just too many brilliant artists who need illustrating! I've already increased the number of biographies from 10 to 15. The full list now includes F. Solano Lopez, Nino Caroselli, George Stokes, Aldo Di Gennaro, Ian Kennedy, Fernando Fernandez, Juan Zanotto, Pino Dell'Orco, Victor Hugo Arias, E.L. Blandford, Juan Abellan, Graham Coton, Marcello Ralli, Alan Willow, Luis Martinez Mira, Leopoldo Ortiz and Leopoldo Sanchez.
If you're wondering why Giorgio Di Gaspari or Alessandro Biffignandi, two of the chief cover artists, are missing... there will be plenty of room for them when I get around to the WAR AND BATTLE COMPANION. Oh, boy... I've just committed myself to yet another book!
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