Promotional materials

  I've decided to concentrate on publishing the promotional materials before taking The Big People's Edition of Volume One to press.

  I had an epiphany regarding the presentation of the materials. When I published The Gnome-sized Edition, it was  (essentially) because it was cheaper to do so. But, it was also in order to provide an alternative to the person who wants to buy a book. There is The Big People's Book, with an MSRP of $19.95 and the Gnome-sized Book, with MSRP of $7.95.

  I wish I could sell the books for less, but there is so much artwork on every page, that it is more expensive to produce the books. The only way I can possibly bring the price down is is my initial printing quantities are over 100k units. That means I need to presell those quantities before we go to press. I haven't yet priced those quantities, because at those numbers, the books need to go to a web printer. That also means significant more pre-press layout work. As it stands now, the layout has been set-up for digital printing, but can also be used for off-set.

    I've decided to reserve the digital editions for the Signed & Numbered Limited Editions, while the off-set & web are for the unlimited books. Now there is a difference in the look of the books, between digital and press. The saturation and resolution is crisper with digital, but it is too expensive to produce for general release. I'd have to get fifty bucks per book. So, the Signed & Numbered Editions are priced higher, because they are used to fund the remaining artwork for the rest of the book series.

   So, the promotional materials contain an abrieviated sample of the book, along with other sample materials and pricing for other products that are being manufactured.

    I will be selectively sending those materials out in an attempt to secure pre-press orders. If we can kick the production numbers over 100k we may be able to bring the MSRP down, but that has to happen before printing, otherwise the barcodes will be set.

   If you are a distributor and you'd like to talk, let me know.

You can use my email; image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com or send a communique via mail to; Image of the Mind Studios, 1325 Industrial Boulevard, Building #3, Southampton PA 18966

If you're on the road, stop in (m-f 9-5).

Release of Volume One

The book is at the printer's. This First Edition is going to be the digital version and will comprise the Signed & Numbered Limited Edition.

The Limited Editions are intended to fund the remaining artwork and the subsequent publishing costs. Therefore, the pricing for the First Edition is higher than the general release edition.

There are three categories of Limited Edition, priced at $75, $150 and $250. The total number of Limited Editions is 250 units.

A collector or investor may purchase a series number so that their boxed set will have matching numbers.

There are seven books in the set, which comprise three volumes. It is uncertain whether or not the series will be bound into one volume, since there are approximately eight hundred pages in this collection.

In the future, I will post the Preface for your review, but I believe that those pages may have already been posted, both here and on Facebook.

As it stands now, the Release of the mass produced book will be contingent upon IMS Publishing receiving one or more orders equalling no less than five thousand books.

If you are a buyer for books of this nature, do contact me. The digital product is reserved for Limited Editions and a few binding samples. The off-set product will be released to the book stores and online outlets.

We are prepared to deliver the finished product, both at wholesale and retail pricing.

Individual books may be purchased directly from Image of the Mind Studios, at MSRP using PayPal once our web page is set-up.

Wholesale purchases will use the same method, priced at a full keystone when the price bottoms out. Smaller quantities are available.

All sales are prepaid.

No credit is offered because we are attempting to both fund and engage in our production activities and we do not want to incur the distraction and expense of maintaining billing and collection activities.

I think you will agree that completing the remaining books in the series and producing the support materials for this project is an important activity to focus on.

Exclusive distribution is available given minimum quantity guarantees.

More information to follow.

Contact Arthur Greisiger at image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com for detail or to request a sales package.

Release of Volume One

I have, all too often, thought the book was about to be released, but now, after, still another, edit and proof review, it is actually on the brink of publication. The book was, in fact, given to the printer, when I discovered a few errors. Of course, I put a hold on publication until I made those corrections. As it turned out, I made discoveries about the layout and the limitations I was faced with in terms of computer processing. You see, this series of books are heavily laden with artwork (on every page) which requires working with uncompressed files in order to retain high resolution and the most accurate color redition. Well, this has caused extremely frustrating delays, but that all seems to be in the past now. I'm currently rebuilding the covers of the book. All of the work being done on Book One applies directly to the remaining six books and beyond.

There is much more to be done in regard to distribution and sales, but that is another discussion.

So that's it for this report.

AG

Puppetry and the Parade Float

  This time of the year I am engaged in a Pageant for the celebration of New Church Day. The Pageant honors the founding of the church by conveying theatrically portions of the Book of Revelations. In particular we have a 30' seven headed dragon puppet, which I am in charge of and I also perform the role of the disciple John who was exiled to the Isle of Patmos and there had visions which were written down and became the Book of Revelations. It's becoming quite an event and the dragon puppet is awesome.

My point being that puppetry is an ongoing activity. As you may have seen in other posts (that contain photos) I have a puppet shop where I am developing a series of puppets for use with The Gnomes of New Hope.

Although those activities are on again off again because of publishing efforts, the intention is to create a generic chassis for the puppets, which can be used for Marionettes, stick puppets, and animatronic characters.

I am proceeding to set up two staging areas, one for the "little theatre" production work, which includes the parade float scenario, and the other for set construction, configured for an assortment of larger stages, most particularly for the 25' turntable present in the Bucks County Playhouse.

But the work on the parade float will be the first order of business in terms of performance venues.

In terms of the actual puppets, we are developing the first three puppets; Constable Warren (who has become the mascot) Zach, and Zebby. With these three puppets completed, we will be able to film a few scenes up against a green screen and use the artwork from the storybooks as the backdrops.

On another front; I am building a Raid Array so I can finally set up the editing station with Final Cut Pro, but along with that, once the array is functioning and the new (old) storage and processor is up and running, then work will begin on 3D rendering of the characters. The primary purpose of 3D at this point is figurines, for which there are numerous applications, one of which is claymation.

So, even mentioning these few arenas, you can see how extensive this project has become.

It is somewhat unclear how everything will turn out, but my focus of attention is refining the studio to accommodate all the necessary components of various production activities and to continue to produce as much product in-house as possible. It is my estimation that utilizing the facilities and resources to produce the primary support items before attempting to take the show to outside venues is the most practical approach to developing a long term operation and achieving stability in a highly speculative market.

Of course, other options are always on the table, under the right circumstances, but for now, release and distribution of Volume One of the Storybook is the first order of business.