Studio Expansion

 Check out 

Image of the Mind Studios Virtual Studio

A Dragon puppet that was redesigned and reconstructed in the 
IMS Puppet Shop

      I have posted some thoughts about the expansion of IMS and will continue the discussions on that site. Keep in mind that I also have a blog called "IMS Producing Partners", which is a membership site for our investors and vested business partners, requiring permission to view because it contains classified material.

    As it turns out, the opportunity to expand is before me and doing so seems likely. Such an expansion, will be in regard to opening up opportunities to produce the Broadway Musical, Dramatic and Cinema (which includes Episodic Television) versions of "The Gnomes of New Hope" (including The Gnomic Tales), "Nunc Licet", and " Am Alpha & Omega". Of course, these are only three of the numerous other projects that are "on-the-bench". 

   One of the projects in the studio is to set-up the green screen stage 20'w x 16'd, with upstage and wing space that closely matches (the working space of) The Bucks County Playhouse (and other small theatre houses). I have now concluded to add a fifty seat "test audience" gallery. With the expansion opportunity comes two possibilities. Of course these are contingent upon renovations to the building, but my thinking is to install a sound studio, because we will need to be recording a pit orchestra for the gnomes and to record the songs in a studio anyway. I already have an array of  recording equipment and I am running Digital Performer 3 thru 9,  along with Mach 5 and Reason, so that will serve for all mixing and digital orchestrations quite well. We only need the right sound proof environment, which is really a minor aspect of that scenario. I do have an excellent design for the recording studio, which will also serve as a rehearsal space and will basically match the size of the (green screen) stage (less the wing/upstage space. So that is basically in the drafting stage of design/budgeting.

   Another opportunity is to set-up a printing operation to meet the needs of the Illustrated Storybooks and that would give us better and more cost effective on-demand capabilities. The real issue there is that in order to bring the price down, when using a service vendor, the production quantities need to be high. Those high quantities require high outlay. For now we seek on-demand capabilities, which of course, we do have with service vendors, but using outside sources bring a plethora of issue (that can become problems). I do believe installing a printing operation is a key element to being effective. This is not only for the books sold to the public, allowing printing quantities on-demand, but also internal operations requires publishing and distributing scrips and musical scores, not to mention management documents. So that would be a practical expansion of IMS Publishing, a division of Image of the Mind Studios.

   In addition to those opportunities, such an expansion will give us more office space, where we can improve our Production Management, A/V Editing Suite and Photo Stock Library capabilities, set-up the Animation Studio, increase our metal working capabilities with a Prototype Shop and move our Puppetry and Animatronics operation into a new space and kick it up into a higher gear.

   It's a challenge and a risk, but it's worth it. Obviously the cash flow needs to increase. I expect, in one degree, to do that thru licensing. Keep that in mind if you are part of an organization that participates in producing and utilizes Licensing.

   I am certainly interested in speaking with anybody who would like to participate and add talent to what I have described here. But I will add that the people who do come to contribute, need to be self-starters, who want to be committed to Image of the Mind Studios as an operation, with an eye on the long term.  I do not want any "flash in the pan" situations to occur.  That is too distracting and counterproductive. I've seen far too many wifty, non-committal, people who don't know what they want, in my years as a Theatre and Film Artist.  I would be looking to involve dedicated, talented people who do know what they want and how to get it and how to apply that for the benefit of IMS as an organization, not just their own advancement.

IMS is a growth opportunity, not a stepping stone.

The IMS Virtual Studio will serve as the hub for other posts in this regard.

AG 🎭  🎬  🎼  🎤  📷  📺

Publishing from the Top of the Mountain

     That seems like an appropriate title. The endeavor to publish companion editions to the Stage Musical seemed like a good idea. More than that, it falls under the category of essential, in terms of building an audience. But the truth of the matter is that; these editions are stand alone Illustrated Storybooks. 

An early prototype 

of one version.

   I have described this project numerous times in this blog, so I won't do that again. Suffice it to say that publishing this collection of Seven Books, combined with the goal of producing the Stage Musical, is very much like climbing the tallest mountain you can find. Of course, when one starts out on the climb, one is energetic, enthusiastic and the task does not seem to be as daunting as it clearly is in reality. The trap is that after one passes the halfway mark it becomes "six of one and a half a dozen of the other" only one choice ends with success and the other ends with failure. With one choice you have the hope of recovering your investment while the other ends up in a write off. 

   So there really is no choice. One must endure, and endure is the right word for it, because what started out as a joyful expression of creativity has turned out to be a battle of the Will to endure the challenge of reaching the finish line.

    It's sad, really, that such an effort becomes a burden. I know that I cannot allow myself to get distracted from the mission, otherwise the effort will end up sitting there, unfinished and eventually forgotten in the ravages of time.

   I'm feeling this way because, as I near the end of the collection, publishing it only as an Industry Review document, I see how much I have yet to do. The artwork that was installed into the pages of the books are clearly unfinished, although they looked just fine, having been placed there with the intent that they were finished.

   But now, after refining the layout with certain embellishments to the artwork,  returning to the previous work, to add those embellishments, it is clear that there is still much to be done to that artwork to make it acceptable. It brings about the epitome of frustration. But one must go on. I am nearing the end of this stage, which will bring about the numerous registrations that are required to place the product lines into the hands of professionals and investors, but also posture the finished products for the marketplace.

   The other day, we were watching Disney's "Tangled". What a wonderful film that is. I don't quite imagine "The Gnomes of New Hope" in that light, but it might be nice.

  So, onward and upward, to reach the summit. It's not far away now. But I think I need to set up camp, rest awhile and regain my strength for the last leg of this massive endeavor.

AG 🎭🙏

Thoughts on Theatrical Production

 Currently producing 
The Gnomes of New Hope: Zach & Zebby's Grand Adventure
through

    From the time I began writing The Gnomes of New Hope, the intention was to produce as much as possible through Image of the Mind Studios. The writing process, which is really a development process, incorporates numerous aspects, which are known as The Ancillary Markets. In large part, these markets are revealed as the development process advances. Some of those ideas are within the realm of possibility, in terms of creating or fabricating the prototype materials,  others are not practical to develop, due to the amount of resources that are required. It's not so much that resources are not available, rather, the existing resources need to be assigned to where they will be the most effective.

   So it is that, numerous prototype materials are in various stages of completion. It has become essential that the published products be completed to the degree that they can be placed into the consumer marketplace. This has to take priority over all other production, because those products develop the audience for the show. However, in the meanwhile, a focus of attention is (and has been) to refine and develop the available work space into the tool it needs to be to, implement production at assorted "Regional Theatre" levels.

   Having served as a Technical Director on many productions, including serving in that capacity for The New Hope Arts Commission for nine years, as well as two years in the New Hope/Solebury School District, and also in other schools from time to time. I  spend years doing freelance set, lighting, production work and acting with well over 350 productions under my belt (before I stopped counting), I am well aware of what it takes to do the job.

   What I didn't count on is how extensive this Illustrated Storybook would come to be and how complex a proper layout for the publishing would become. The real dilemma comes when one realizes that the cost of publishing and distributing the material absolutely disallows mistakes in the text, artwork and the layout. For any, even the smallest, error will stand out and degrade the public's perception of the product, thus impairing your markets across-the-board. I have endured the fine-toothed-comb of refinement and the utter distress of loosing your work to failing computers, many times.

    It seems as though I am actually nearing the end of this overwhelmingly taxing mission to complete the publishing of a Seven Book Companion Edition to the Stage Musical.  You can read about my foibles in various posts herein. I suggest you use the blog archive to the left to locate other posts. Admittedly, we are still faced with a great deal of work to complete the artwork, but the publishing layout refinements, corrections to the material and the final redesign of the layout is nearing completion. However, the work is sufficiently completed that I can publish the Industry Review Package, which comprises all of the material necessary to pitch the project to Producing Partners and Investors.

    Even so, the Musical Score still needs to be addressed, as the scoring is incomplete, even though the songs are written, with only somewhere around ten numbers needing to be arranged. Time signature and Key signature need to be added, as well as Divisi and individual sheet music in parts for the Orchestra need to be refined and in some cases created. A lot of work, to be sure.

   Once the Three Volume Set of the Industry Review is published, assorted registrations will take place, and then the material can be pitched and I can focus on the music, all the while continuing to refine the Image of the Mind Studios production space at 1325 Industrial Boulevard in Southampton, Pennsylvania.  

   You may read herein about some of the other activities that are in need of attention, particularly animation and puppetry, but more on that later as we progress into those arenas.

  So, in the face of all this, be it known that I will be seeking hands-on Producing Partners and ultimately I will be looking to develop at least one Board of Directors to implement The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture which is part of the Business Plan. Another Part involves IMS Management, Inc., and yet still another involves The Gnomes of New Hope Productions. These are the primary Production Management components of this project, but they also stand as a prototype for other productions. 

   I have to say that ultimately I will be selling Image of the Mind Studios, as I am approaching that time in life where that will need to take place, sad as it sounds to say. With that in mind, I will be developing a game plan for that as well.

   So there you have it. I welcome legitimate investors and Producing Partners in this endeavor. 

Just send me an email; image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com to talk about matters.

AG

Moving Forward

 

It looks messy, but this is my workstation. Four computers, each with a different function.

     The work of preparing the Seven Book Collection is far more complex than I expected. But I am moving forward none-the-less.  We had been advancing with the artwork by creating the sketches, which are the first stage for creating the finished panels. I know Jency has been frustrated with being limited to sketches, but I need to have all the sketches finished before we move into the more refined line drawings and watercolors. Even after the watercolors are done I still need to scan and process those paintings to conform to the layout requirements. I have the procedures all down, but implementing it is time consuming, in a far greater degree than I expected.

     I'm in the throws of reorganizing numerous aspects of the studio, including setting up another art workstation in the back offices and changing the function of the front offices. I'm in the process of owning the entire 20K sq ft building and will be setting up various aspects of the Gnomes of New Hope in the front buildings, including renovating and adding office space as needed. For instance, I will be moving the Animatronics and Puppetry up to Building One along with setting up a machine shop to do the prototype work for that and for exploring other work in robotics. The machine shop will be a reduced version of RCKletzing Inc.; the company that my grandfather started and that my father built up. I will be reducing it down to the size that I need for IMS and focusing strictly on limited production for IMS purposes and prototype work for clients. I cannot compete with shops that offer production, so I am loosing all the CNC equipment. I'll discuss this further on the Image of the Mind Studios blog.

   In regard to the expansion just mentioned; I have for some time been desirous of constructing The Theatrical Development Centre.  Well, being that I am pushing 70, I'm seeing the likelihood of constructing a remote studio compound as becoming increasingly slim (based solely on my declining physical abilities and concerns about dying before I can finish it) but I expect to continue to work toward that goal, none-the-less. I have concluded that; since I am about to own the building at 1325 Industrial Boulevard in Southampton, it is best that I implement the TDC at this location. Interestingly, I conceived that even with a facility "in town" there is no reason why the other remote studio compound could not also happen. So, again, I'll discuss this on the other blog. I only wanted to add that as things are developing, I expect to install a sound studio in Building Two. We will need this anyway to record the music for The Gnomes of New Hope.  Since I am installing a stage in Building Four, and I have a developing Scene Shop in Building Three, I am making the staging area in the scene shop match the size of the stage in Building Four, and will make the sound studio match the size of the stage also. Conveniently (or planned) the stage in Building Four matched the size of the Parade Float we are going to build, but also, that stage is approximately the size of the space in an orchestra pit and a little theatre space. So the sound stage will accommodate our pit orchestra for the music of The Gnomes.  I might mention that the Parade Float will also serve as a mobile stage and be able to match the Meadow Amphitheatre that I built in Tamanend Park.

    You might wonder why we might need to record the orchestra music, since we have pretty good renditions using MIDI?  The funny thing is that: when we were discussing having The Bryn Athyn Orchestra play some of our music, the President of the Board of Director's of Bob Zecher, said "Why would you want to wreck it by having an orchestra play it?" I thought that was funny. But the truth is that one Venue of presentation is an orchestral concert, separate from the Musical Theatre presentation.

   The point being that: the sound studio can also serve as a rehearsal space if the size of it matches the stage. Understand that the size of the stage is a bit smaller than one would like, but there are a number of factors involved here. On factor that comes into play is that I would like to see The Gnomes of New Hope premiere at The Bucks County Playhouse. There are a number of reasons for this, besides the fact that I worked there, that I was the Technical Director for The New Hope Arts Commission for nine years, that it is convenient to my Southampton studio, and that the theatre has been recognized for a almost a century as a premiere Summer Stock and Tryout theatre, it just seems to make sense, since the title is The Gnomes of New Hope. But also, I can emulate the stage of the Bucks County Playhouse in my studio.

   The Playhouse has a turntable. When I worked there it was not functional. I tried to pitch the idea that we get it working again, but at the time, that did not go over well. However, since then there has been a new management group and they got the turn table going again. Yahoo!  So in that regard, the turn table is 25" in diameter. The proscenium is 29". the upstage space from the turntable is no more than 15" and the wings are about the same. Not much room for set storage. So my plan is to play the show on the apron and add a thrust if necessary. The plan is to cut the stage in half as to depth, across the centre line of the turntable. That way the upstage space can be used for set storage and positioning on the turntable. Boom, we have the play set down front on the turn table, with the next scene being staged backstage on the upstage side of the turntable, with a drop or a traveler dividing the two scenes. The beauty here is that I can match that working scenario in my scene shop. My stage space (being matched in size with the other staging and rehearsal areas, will all match the presentation space at the Bucks County Playhouse. The advantage here ia also that numerous other theatres are configured in the same way across the country.

   You might wonder about the state of the theatre in today's social climate. It's true that depending solely on the theatre going audience is no longer possible, but the beauty of the studio setup that I am building, is that it takes the other markets into account. Take for example the puppetry aspect of the show. Not only does the stage in Building Four match all the staging scenarios as to size, but it also can become a green screen for film and video production. I will discuss more of this on the IMS Blog.

  So overall things are moving forward, but I am clearly swamped and other matters are crying for attention, which is why I am anxious to finish the layout aspects of this, get busy on the watercolor degree of the artwork and cut any number of deals that will kick this into a higher gear and I might add, doing so without the onus being on me to make it happen. Frankly I'm getting old and tired, if truth be told. 

Oh well, onward and upward. AG

Update 9/22

Well, I figure I better report in, for those of you who are watching the progress.

My focus of attention on the publishing has been completion of the Industry Review Package, but the file structure for that Three Volume Set is the same for the normal Set that will be released to the public as both Volumes and Books. The difference is that the Industry Review has Business and Contract information and the fact that portions of the artwork are incomplete.

I have striven to complete preliminary sketches of all the art panels and to insert them into their proper places. Those sketches have been created for all panels, save the Gnomic Tales. 

The Gnomic Tales basically comprise the back-story for "Zach and Zebby's Grand Adventure" but the trick there is that those stories are historical and the look of the artwork needs to be distinguished from our current story. We are just beginning o embark I the Gnomic Tales, but the big problem is time. Mainly, bringing Jency in to work is difficult because she seems to be occupied with other matters. Hence the need to complete the sketches. I'm very adverse to changing boats in the middle of the river.

But truthfully, my time is divided as well. I am engaged in facility issues and I am about to buy a machine shop as well. So you can see my urgency to finished, at the very least, the publishing end of things.

I'll address this subject next time I post. Gotta run. AG 🇺🇲🎭🎨🎶🎬

Status Report

 

A puppet chassis, which is the way I'm going to look if I don't get this project finished soon !

 The previous posts remain true in the context of current activity.

    As I may have mentioned, I am merging all my files into, actually numerous, main working PSD and PDF files. I started writing this project in DOC and transitioned to DOCX. As that progressed, the basic format became a layout that accommodated the illustrations. Those illustrations were processed through TIF, JPG, PSD, PDF and PNG formats, eventually inserting the best image into the DOCX layout. Numerous changes were made along the way, some of which were tests that didn't work out. The initial prototype books were created in this way, the converted to PDF and assembled as an Acrobat document for printing. Oh yes, and I have complete books in both right and left gutters, so that adds to the number of files, but also the complexity and file size.

 This earlier methodology sort of worked, but I had issues with image degradation and big problems with file size. In fact, the file size difficulties caused me to be locked out of my files. Major, major bummer. Then, on top of needing to rebuild my files numerous times, I had hard drive failures. Four times I had hard drives fail and I lost my work because of that.

   This all forced me to rebuild my work, multiple times, and to rethink how I was doing it. I had to completel restructure, not only my main working files, but also my backup systems and my methodology. I divided the layout components into smaller segments and created multiple files, both for storage and backup. This has resulted in a numbering system that records each progression toward completion and each component carries that ID number. So, the current Revision, which is being built for the printing is REV 426. That sounds insane, but in some instances I jumped over ten numbers, just to make it easier to delineate.

   Oh yes, also these numerous files exist for both the Big People's Books and the Gnome-sized books. Right now, I am only working on the Big People Books. Unfortunately, it is not a simple matter of reducing the size to print the Gnome-sized books. The layout components are substancially different. So I'll have to either do that over again or just let the Gnome-sized books be different. I think I will let them be different. That will make it more appealing to acquire both editions. I guess it rather depends. I may do one Gnome-sized book over with the new layout, just to see if it translates better than the older layout. The new layout I am working on now really has many improvements in both the design and clarity, but also, sad to say, I found more graphic errors and typos, which I corrected. Unfortunately, those errors remain in the last edition of the Gnome-sized books.

   What it gets down to is money, really. I simply cannot ignore errors and put out the kind of money needed for a press run. Neither myself nor any of my investors would be happy about that 

   So, now I am breaking down the DOCX file into PSD layers, so I can eliminate DOCX from the system, except for the initial writing process. This is as much for security against HD failure as it is to give me more latitude in layout flexibility. 

   I would make note here that; there are five more Gnomic Tales that might be expanded upon, so this new layout methodology will make it easier if that happens.

   We are advancing with the illustration process, currently finishing the sketches for the remaining panels. I am inserting the sketches where the description panel were, and I will be replacing those sketches with the finished illustrations when we get to that point. In the mean while, I am rebuilding the entire layout in the PSD format, as I find that the easiest for me to work with for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is I may need to adjust the layout once the new finished artwork comes into play and the background elements a now locked into place, yet still editable with effecting the other components 

   The current objective is to complete the Industry Review Edition as a Three Volume Set, which would really be a Five Volume Set, if I include the Libretto, which I am think I will do. 

   I am also setting up the production line to include laser etching, for two reasons. First, to etch artwork on the outside of the box for the boxed set and second, to cut out wooden figures of our characters, maybe for a gameboard or something like that.

So that where we stand for now. I may post more on the business of this project on IMS Management, sometime soon 

AG

Why is it taking so long?

I have to say, this is driving me up a wall. It seems like everytime I'm ready to move forward, some other detail crops up that needs correcting.

(That's an image from "Trial by Jury"  Gilbert & Sullivan)

 Well, you have to realize that with a project like this, a very complex, and I have to say- extensive, Illustrated Storybooks, when it finally goes to press, meaning; printing tens of thousands of books, it better darn well be right. 

In this case; printing, say, ten thousand books, means seventy thousand books; seven books in the first series; Zach & Zebby's Grand Adventure.

I guess you can imagine that if I know there is an error, like a typo, a glitch in the artwork or an anomaly in the layout, there's no way I can let that slide. The latest issues have been with color balance. I made a mistake by converting the layout, which was created using RGB, and after conversations with a number of printers, I was led to believe I needed to convert my files to CYMK. Fine. I did that and it was ok, until I switched printers and went from Xerox to Canon for the on-demand printing.

The net result has been a difficult process to correct the color balance. That change effects the entire layout. 

(New word; aeffects, that covers both situations.)

So here is is; I found out after researching the RGB/CYMK situation, that each printing press has it's own specifications, depending on the technology employed in manufacturing to press. So, the recommendation is to leave the layout imbedded with the RGB protocols and let the printing press convert it to CYMK.

Well, that seemed to have worked. The CYMK that worked for Xerox does not work for Canon. Leaving the layout in RGB allowed the Canon to properly interpret the color balance.

Goodbye six months trying to figure that out !

So, I'm making a few adjustments for density and color. Yes, density. Each press seems to have it's own interpretation of density as well.

I am sure I will have issues of this nature when the books go to press for off-set or web printing as well. Hopefully, I won't need to address that and the printer will match the layout I have already done.

On Another Front:

We are advancing into the next level of creating the finished artwork. It is rather difficult to decide how to proceed. My initial goal was to get all the sketches done, but we need to push Book Five aside for a while. That is unfortunate, because that hangs up our release of the books. But, we need to move into line drawings and watercolors for Books Four, Six and Seven, so those books will be finished. Those books take place in our current time frame, while Book Five is historical. What that means is that the look of the art for the historical portions needs to change. Maybe add a sepiatone or leave the art as grayscale, something like that. That's an interesting prospect! I might like to have The Gnomic Tales, as told in Book Five in sepia, while each Gnomic Take, as it's brown book, will have the artwork in full color. That way I can expedite the release of the Seven Book Collection AND delineate the historical portions of the collection. Humm?

Well, that's all for now. 

AG

Thoughts on Book Publication

As I am assembling the Volume Sets for the Industry Review, it occurs to me that I only want to retain the Hand-stitched Limited Edition Books at IMS. Looking around the studio at the shear volume of work I have to do, leads me to believe that it is best if the Machine Bound books be jobbed out, both for manufacturing, marketing and distribution. Hence, I will be licensing that aspect of the project.

As I presume you have read, here and elsewhere, these books are based on a Stage Musical. That fact alone, under the assumption that my energy needs to be put in that direction, disallows me from managing book sales and distribution on a large scale. 

  Add to that the fact that I have a bid in to buy my family's 70 year old machine shop operation. That's another story, but that will require my attention, until I have a Board of Directors in place.

   So, I will continue with the Shopping Cart scenario and pursue the Hand-stitched Limited Edition Books as the initial offering. Depending on the capabilities of building inventory and implementing fulfillment in house, I am proceeding under the assumption that the larger aspect of putting these books before the public will likely be Licensed out. That being said, if you are part of a larger organization that may like to consider that, let me know. Hard Copy proposal is best, but initial email will work.

   The other option is a Marketing and Sales Manager working in-house. I have the facilities and there are service agencies who can see to fulfillment in conjunction with an in-house operation. So, if working in that capacity, on a commission basis is appealing to someone living nearby to my studio in Southampton, let me know.

   We still have a ways to go before we can implement the public release, due in most part to the finishing work on illustrations, but we can certainly begin to prepare and set-up the sales office.

Nothing is easy.  AG

A New Look For the Book

 While preparing the Printer's Layout
for the 
On-Demand Limited Edition Books

There were numerous unseen anomalies and corrections to be made. 

The end result was a shift in the overall look of the pages.

I opted to lessening the amount of ink on the page

by reducing the opacity of the outer page.

I like it better.

BOOK ONE will go to the printer today for a Limited Quantity as I start to build inventory.

If all goes well, BOOK TWO will follow shortly.

UPDATE:

   In preparing this final layout for the new On-demand printing scenario, I found that making the Industry Review Edition on BOOK ONE this edition has included portions of The Business Plan. So with that in mind, I have decided to produce the Industry Review as the Three Volume Set and include what I have of The Business Plan in Appendix to each Volume. The Preface of Volume One & Two consists of Summaries of the Objectives, while the Appendi consists of the Business Plan. I expect to follow this plan for Volume Three as well. 

   The Business Plan was a developing document and is in large part conceptual in it's greater degree, because my focus of attention still needs to be on the Core Creative Materials and not on building the Management Structure. I am progressing toward the ultimate Management Structure, having determined the Modus Operandi, but the final stages of the Creative processes must take priority. That does not mean that certain managerial elements can be ignored, for they have been pushed aside for many years for the sake of Development. However, that Development has produced sufficient results to allow for Pre-production to take place. Of course, I refer to Pre-production, mostly in the sense of theatre & cinema, but clearly that also applies to publishing, manufacturing, distribution and sales, specifically of the Book products. Other Ancillary products come into play. But those items cannot be addressed, because of the distraction doing so would cause in these final stages of completing the Core Creative Materials.

   Although I must stay primarily focused on the work of completing the Core Creative Materials, which basically only means the artwork for the Storybook and the Score for the Stage Musical, I must also seek to engage the Business Management into gear. This is the purpose behind the Industry Review Edition, which outlines the objectives and a number of options for proceed.

   So I do hope to find interested Business Partners in the form of Entrepreneurs, Producers, or Organizations that may want to buy into the Production at any number of levels. Those options are outlined in the Business Plan, but there is room for other propositions as well.

  My primary goal after I complete all the registrations is to locate the proper representation, or if a proposition comes into play before that time, we can pass it through legal representation.

I am open to discussions via email; att: Arthur Greisiger

 image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com

AG

UPDATE:

    The Industry Review Package is being published as the Three Volume Set. This package will include aspects of the Business Plan, however,  the Arthur Greisiger Bio will not be included and may be found on the IMS Management blog.  This Industry Review Edition will include multiple versions of the layout to exemplify the current status of the entire collection. That means; some books are finished and ready for distribution, while others have unfinished artwork and BOOK FIVE has not been illustrated at all, basically because it contains The Gnomic Tales, which require a different historical frame of reference from Zach & Zebby's Grand Adventure. I will discuss the Illustrations in another post.

Shopping Cart, Buy Now Buttons & Code

 I will use this page to discuss and set-up a Shopping Cart for Internet Sales. The Books are not yet released to the public, but the Industry Review will be available to Industry Professional wishing to consider becoming a Producing Partner.  A Restrictive Covenant Agreement is involved.

 Inquire via eMail: image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com

UPDATE:

I have discovered that a "Shopping Cart" is possible with eBlogger, but I need to address security Certificate Issues before I  begin to build a Shopping Cart or invite orders for the Illustrated Storybook or other products.  We are currently building inventory.

 Gnome-sized - PayPal Code

Big People - PayPal Code

This code is not usable just yet. I was trying to think of an update to give, ( being that every process I go through with this seems to be magnanimous ) and I came across this BUY IT NOW button I created. Theoretically, it should work, but I don't know that it is properly set up. So if it does take you to PayPal, don't use it yet. This is rather a test for myself. Once I get finished and have at least fifty books in inventory, I will set up a good and proper page to order books from.  Also, I just created a QR Code as a test, so that may be involved if everything works out right.

Thanks for checking in.  AG

Project Details

       An old shot of working on a puppet for the character Zach.

Details about producing activities are posted actress a multitude of sites, some of which are private. I am working to restructure the blogs to coordinate better, but also need to address Security Certificates.

You will note that the most recent posts here mostly deal with the foibles of publishing the Illustrated Storybooks and other assorted individual aspect of the overall project. Scanning the posts will give you an overview, however, The industry Review Package is being published in hard copy for persons who are serious about being involved or investing. That package includes both Summaries of activities and components of the Developing Business Plan. It also contains discussions on Licensing.

I will post links here as necessary or provide links privately via email request. I have a blog titled Producing Partners, which is private for our participants.

AG

Hard Technical Work

As you may have seen posted elsewhere, a part of the plan is to build a Parade Float. 

Well, you may know that I built a stage at Tamenend Park with the help of a long time friend, Gian.

As the construction progressed, we started up a group called "The Shakespeareans of Tamenend Park.

We did walk in The Southampton Days parade a number of times and it was very much fun for both us and the parade viewers. One year we won First Place in the parade for our presentation of "The Earl of Southampton present Queen Elizabeth".

 I just erased the photo of The Earl of Southampton standing next to the carriage, bummer. Here's another shot from a different event. We had performances set up at the stage after the parade.

Well, the point of showing these shots is this; 

The Stage at Tamenend Park was disassembled and the programs there, which included "Cinema Under the Stars" were discontinued after about six years,  due in large part, because of vandalism, but also because of a changing of management in the park.  However, the stage you see there, will be reproduced, using the Parade Float as a foundation. Doing this extends the usefulness of a parade float, but it also effects the design of the stage overall.

This leads me to discuss the nature of both the Parade Float / Stage 

as it pertains to 

The Gnomes of New Hope.

 As you can see from these photos, Southampton has the perfect set-up to develop the presentation of the Gnomes, a parade, followed by a festival.

 In my mind, the Parade Float will have it's testing grounds in The Southampton Days Parade, at the end of which, is a carnival/festival environment, whereby we can use the Parade Float as the stage for a festival presentation. That can either be a live performance or a puppetry performance, or a combination of both.

 So, this becomes an epiphany for me. It's perfect! One aspect of this that has tormented me has been the relationship between the actors and the sets, but I'll get into that later. The beauty of using the Parade Float as the stage, is that; the presentation in a park automatically provides the forest backdrop for the show. After all, the Gnomes live in the forest. (the only serious variable here is the weather).

As ugly as it looks now, this Corvair Greenbrier will become a self propelled Parade Float after the body is cut off the chassis and it is turned into a stage. 

It may become a templet for more than one parade float, but I will go into this further as work on this project progresses. I have begun setting up to implement the work of building the parade float, so keep watch for updates, which I expect will include design drawing and photographs of the progress.

UPDATE;

Here is a drawing of the Corvair FC (Forward Control) Chassis without the body. This is the fate of the sad looking Greenbrier above. It is to be the donor for our Parade Float.

 If all goes well, I will implement cutting the truck down before winter hits, here in Pennsylvania. 

My expectation is to emulate the stage that was in the park, albeit a bit higher off the ground, 

using the Parade Float for the main section.  The center section will be used as  storage for power and sound systems.  I expect it to become a Rental Stage.

AG

Some Thoughts About Cinema

Of course, this is regard to The Gnomes of New Hope. Having begun to shift the writing around so that the Libretto and the Illustrated Storybook Collection would also serve the needs of Storyboarding for a Cinema version, it now seems to me that the complexities of each arena must be address quite separately. I pretty much knew this, but a made a strong effort to craft the writing to accommodate each market. Part of that accomodation had been to craft sections of the material in such a way that it allows for expansion. Such expansion is particularly necessary in the film arena.

Film and television have a unique ability to juxtapose time and space in a way that is more difficult, if not impossible in theatre. That being the case, the cinema production need to take place after the stage show. In my estimation, the expansion is desired, whereas a contraction (or perceived consolidation) as would occur, should the theatre show occur after the Cinema or Television, is not desirable from a marketing standpoint.

Clearly, a Cinema Presentation would be quite different from a Television Series. Of course a Cinema version can be presented on Television, but there is a certain conflict between a film version of the story "Zach and Zebby's Grand Adventure" and an ongoing Television Series based on "The Gnomes of New Hope" which includes an expansion if "The Gnomic Tales".

So securing a balance of the relationship between the numerous kinds of productions is critical. As it stands now, the Illustrated Storybooks are first in line, followed by the Parade Float, which incorporates some degree of puppetry, little theatre, and festival presentation. All those arenas are simpler to implement than the full stage musical, but they do provide a degree of development activities that contribute to the stage presentation. Of course, the Feastival and Little Theatre are stage presentations, but they are non-union and therefore less costly, with the intent of moving the overall production toward a First Class presentation. In addition, the simpler productions provide resource material for the larger productions, both First and Second Class, as well as Regional and Community. More importantly, those earlier theatre arenas and publishing will begin to build an audience.

As much as I have a grip on all of this, I am increasingly becoming convinced that these production arenas need to be implemented via an assortment of Business Relationships, putting fulfillment into the hands of persons or organizations with whom Image of the Mind Studios has partnered. The truth is that there are other projects that need my attention, and those projects are becoming increasingly urgent and distracting from the work on The Gnomes of New Hope.

I say this to make my position know to those potential partners. I none-the-less continue on the path, but the truth is that for this to succeed to it's fullest potential, it needs to shift into high gear and for that to happen, we need the right team of people. It's clear to me that there are organizations that already have those people in place and function as a well oiled machine. Such an organization is required for "The Gnomes of New Hope; Zach and Zebby's Grand Adventure" to reach it's fullest potential. 

I am almost finished on my end; Development and I hope to be passing the project into Representation in the not-too-distant future. Keep that in mind, if this is your specialty.

AG

Final Aesthetics

After all the twists and turns of this journey to publish these books we definitely have arrived at the finished look. While I have been adjusting the CYMK to most accurately emulate the RGB layout I have had to made certain unexpected changes. Although I thought the series would be finished as to the look, when I submitted Book One to the printer, while conforming Book Two to those standards, I found anomalies. Egads! 

Anyway, those anomalies required some addition graphic design to amelliate. Ok fine. You see, the difficulty is that, although I matched my monitor to this new digital Canon press, visually, it is still a guess as to how the printer will respond to those changes.

Now, I want to say here, that although I have been advancing nicely with this new printer, I still intend to work with the other printers who have put time and energy into this project. As it turns out, there are at least four different methods of printing and binding. And, there are the two versions of the books. It now seems apparent to me that the look of the Gnome-sized and Big People books will be different. The reason here is that the backdrop on the Big People Books has changed in this process to adjust the books for the new Canon presses.

I am uncertain about the Gnome-sized books at this point. My concern is getting the Big People books locked in and begin to build inventory. This, of course, will put the remaining books in a position to do the same. It is Providential that all this back and forth adjusting has taken place, because when I thought it was finished (for the twentieth time) we began doing the artwork again. So my juggling the layout around and search for a new digital printer had allowed the illustration process to advance toward completion.

In terms of the illustrations, the sketches for all but book five al nearing completion. They are only sketches at this point, but hey, that's part of the process. It's a bit of a bummer that we had to skip over Book Five, in terms of the artwork, but much of Book Five is The Gnomic Tales, which take place in times past from our present story "Zach and Zebby's Grand Adventure". So that means that the perspective of the art must be aesthetically different and we need to address that after we finish we the present time frame. So the bummer is that The Gnomic Tales are in the middle of the Book Series. Eventually The Gnomic Tales will get their own Storybook treatment, but for now they exist as an assortment of synopsis' within Scene Ten, which comprise Book Five.

I am attempting to time the release of the books, so that buy the time we get to Book Five, that artwork will be completely finished. That is a big task and part of that is building inventory of the Hand-stitched books. 

For the time being, all the book will be Hand-stitched. I'm not keen on Perfect-bind for this project. I do have the files set up for Perfect-bind I want the Hand-stitching because it feels far superior and has the sense that the books have been stiched by the Gnomes. But, it is more costly to produce and takes longer. Although, I am working out a production line that may very well compete with machine bound books and will very likely combine the two processes.

That's enough for now.  AG

More focus on Unfinished Studio Work

As you can see from my last post, the intricate adjustments of the Book Layout have (as far as I can tell) been completed for the numerous press variations I have run into. I'm confident that we will be moving forward to inventory at least half of the collection, in preparation for sales. I will need to be setting up the "Shopping Cart" for both Wholesale and Retail on that issue.

I'm just throwing this in there for the heck of it. Back when I was younger than I am now and playing the flute every day, numerous times a day, for forty plus years. I quit playing for the past few years, for various reasons, but I bought a new African Blackwood Bohem System flute to try to get back to it. I'm also working with an Akai EWI 4000s and a Tenor Sax... as well as a new MIDI keyboard that has drum pads! 

But... I think this a cool shot... Not many of them, you know!

The artwork is progressing, with a few hundred new sketches in place, albeit in need of refinement, coloring and digital processing. Looking forward, I realize that someday, I will need to embellish The Gnomic Tales, which are briefly exponded upon in BookFive of the Series. I am uncertain how that will pan out, but that is not important right now.

So, having gained some degree of freedom, I am taking the opportunity to attend to other studio matters, particularly the vehicles that are in the process of being rebuilt. 

It is a delicate balance, because the publishing work must be continued on a regular basis. If I do not tend to the layout matters pertaining to the rest of the collection, at the least, every other day, then it becomes difficult to implement. It sounds strange to say that, but there is a flow to the process that is hard to describe. The number of components involved in the layouts are hard to keep straight and even more difficult to assure that they are not mismatched, if not tended to regularly. So, overall it is best to stay on it. But there are many other matters which must be tended to. So it's a delicate juggling act.

I acquired another engine for the International Loadstar CO1600, which needs to be rebuilt and installed, and the crane arm on the truck needs to be made operational. One of the purposes of this truck is to move sets and other supplies.

I'm also prepairing to move a trailer filled in with theatre supplies to the studio as well as tending to a shipping container used for storage and another storage trailer as well.

There are other matters with the facilities that are underway and once that is resolved, I expect that I can tend to renovations to the building that are required. 

I may have mentioned that I secured a set of stage curtains, which will be used in setting up the sound stage. It won't be a large stage, with a working area of 16' deep and 20' wide. If need be it could be expanded to 20'x30', but that would cut into upstage and wing space. There's no fly space and the ceiling height is only 14'. But it is sufficient to develop a number of dramas (Nunc Licet) television, puppetry, etc. It also matches the size of the Parade Float. I expect to to bring in an orchestra to rehearse the show and record the score for The Gnomes, although the score is already being produced using MIDI.

I expect that; once the book publishing files are locked in for the entire collection, I will be turning to scoring the music. I actually spoke again with someone from The Bucks County Symphony about that, saying I was looking for a Maestro who could work with me to assure that the scoring is up to par. Plus, it would be good to work it out with a Maestro.

Onward and upward. AG

Done?

BookOne is being printed. It's a very limited run, for the Industry Review and the assorted registrations that are required (before release to the public) and to begin building inventory. Also the run is limited in order to allow the resources to be put towards publishing BookTwo and BookThree. The remaining books have more work to be done on the artwork, although BookFour is very close to being ready to publish. 

Multiple files have been created which accommodate a variety of adjustments for the different presses I have used, to make the numerous prototype runs of these books. In addition, I was able to adjust for the differences between RGB, which I used to create the books, and the CYMK used to print the books. 

You might wonder; why the difference between RGB and CMYK? The RGB mode allows for a wider range of editing functions when processing the image, whereas the CYMK is much more limited. In part, the wider range gives functions necessary to shape the art in broad terms, allowing for things like density and a whole array of special effects not available in the CYMK mode. But the real issue there is; a significant color shift between the two exists. So it took a great deal of effort to counteract that color shift and make adjustments to achieve the desired effect. Specifically, because of the subtleties that needed to be retained to achieve the desired overall look of the finished product. In fact, in the effort to retain those subtle effects, other ones were created that turned out to be a nice addition to the look of the layout.. 

It all becomes rather frustrating, watching one's carefully created balance be destroyed when shifting to a different printing mode, but, luckily I endured and went back and forth numerous times, making needed adjustments, until I achieved an acceptable variance on my original theme. I think the end result is quite fine. I am, literally, up to Revision 415 of this layout.

So, all in all, the book series is ready to run. Still, only BookOne is conformed for printing under the present conditions. But conforming the remains books should not be too difficult in comparison. 

In that regard; as I mentioned previously, I am converting the multiple layout files, created in different programs, over to be merged into one layered GFX file, divided up into layers that keep the text and artwork separated and much more editable, given the size of the overall files. This simplifies integrating the new artwork and keeping the original text configuration, which making changes easier, should that be required. 

I won't go into why multiple programs were used, other than to say it was part of the progression into creating an Illustrated Storybook from the Stage Play while separately developing the artwork. Suffice it to say it was unavoidable. Having finally finished the Storybooks (in essence), in hindsight, I might have done it differently, but not knowing what I know now, as I said, it was unavoidable.

So, I will address this further after I finish binding this run of books. 

AG

Just to Touch Base

As you can see from the last few posts, I am conforming the layout to the new digital printer specs. While doing this the layout took another step up in terms of the graphic design. I never imagined it would, but while trying to achieve the color balance I was seeking, I thought I'd try some effects, well one in particular. I was completely taken by surprise when an oil paint effect on the background page brought about the kind of change I had in mind. Well, it wasn't exact what I had in mind for the page itself, but rather it changed the relationship between the background page and the text/art, something I wanted, but was unable to achieve until now. I had settled for what I was able to create in that regard, because it was the best I could come up with. But adding this oil paint effect brought about the effect of parchment. Well you might ask why not just use parchment? Well, the background page was essentially built from scratch. I started with a sketch of the shape of the page and built it through many generations of alterations to achieve the look. Unfortunately, the page I am working with now is fixed, because my original working files were lost to failing hard discs. But that's ok. What I have now is what we need.

   So Book One is ready to print and I have determined to build the inventory for Book One while I move onto confirming Book Two. Jency is moving forward at a good pace to complete the artwork. I will need to focus on building the art/drafting work-station. It's underway, but I stopped working on it for other things. That workstation will have a computer built-in so that it can serve both still artwork and animation and link to my main workstation.

   Well, it's be all moving forward, but now that spring is here, I have other outdoor work to do on my vehicles and building maintenance.

   That being said, I can take orders for Book One (via email). The production line is up and running for small quantities, under 500. But turn around time is commensurate to the quantity. A few books at a time, say up to 25, can be delivered within 14 days. It will take longer for larger quantities. Of course, once I build my inventory up to 500, then delivery will be quicker.

Well, that's today's report 

AG

More Design Variations

It's insane how many times I've changed the layout on the books. Well, I have been working.to publish the fourth prototype run. As I said below, the new printer for the Digital On-Demand books is using a Canon Printer, which is printing differently than the Xerox machines that I've used.i won't go into it here, only to say that it might be due to different color profiles. I'll need to check on that.

In any event, I printed two sample copies of Book One and, as a result, have made more adjustments to the layout . They have been made and once again the layout has been improved ad a result.

I'll come back to this. 

Time to sleep. 

AG

Here I go again !

Here's a letter I prepared some time ago, when I thought I would be moving forward more quickly in the theatre and film production arenas. I think it still applies. 

So, in regard to publishing the Storybook Collection; the printer I was using for the Prototype/On-demand books has relocated to another state and I have been required to develop a new relationship to fulfill that need. Yes, I have a number of printers I have been discussing this project with, for an assortment of things and to provide backup options, but Limited Edition and Hand-stitched Books are contingent upon the fixed budget, based on the maximum possible MSRP.  So it is that my pricing structure must be met.

As it turns out, my new printer is using Canon instead of Xerox. There is quite a difference in the color resolution and density balance. That means I must adapt my layout for his digital press, which I have begun to do. This bring another delay, because it is a huge amount of work to isolate the artwork from the background. As it turned out, when preparing the last layout I merged the components, not realizing that different presses would require adjustments of the primary components individually, due to density and saturation issues. So I am recovering the components and building new files from my original design programs. I have found new methods that greatly reduce the processing burden, but in addition, I went from a Quad Core Mac to a Twelve Core Mac with more the four times the RAM. So my previous computer issues are somewhat surmounted.

As I mentioned elsewhere, hard disc failures have cause me to loose virtually all of my original scans. Fortunately, I do have the insert copies, which were already processed, so I can rebuild another editable Layer file from those. In fact, I am doing just that anyway, since I will have to address an assortment of digital, off-set and web printing presses, all of which will likely require  adjustment to each layout.

The recent work of adjusting for this new press has brought about some quite stunning changes. I would not have believed it, but these changes have greatly improved the graphic design of the layout, all because of the need to control density and color balance for a different press. 

So even the samples provided in other posts here are now outdated. Mind you, they are a good example of the overall design, but they pale in comparison to this latest revision. I'm amazed that this is true.

On another front; I have ascertained the type and volume of inventory quantities of the book collection. I will only be inventorying the Hand-stitched Books, not the Machine-bound Editions. So I am working on building the inventory, in conjunction with setting up and perfecting the production line. 

 For the time being, I am be focusing on Book One, since that book will stand on it's own and will be released first. I anticipate that the remaining books will be released after 1) the artwork is finished, and; 2) a predetermined number of Book One copies have been sold, basically using Book One to refine our production and sales activity and fund the other books.

As I said in the last post, I will be taking orders for Book One. Those orders are for Custom Made, Hand-stitched Books, some of which will be Signed & Numbered Limited Editions. Those orders will be released after the ISBNs are registered, which will take place after this next prototype run of the full collection is published.

 Larger quantity orders from resellers will be taken, but a full keystone should only expected on the Machine-bound books, and is contingent upon either; purchasing the entire production run, or waiting until enough resellers provide purchase orders to do so.

At this stage, I will not be inventorying Machine-bound books for resellers, because the expected margin and required production volume is too high for me to do that. My inventory is only for Hand-stitched books and the turnaround time on those books is longer, due to production methods.

Hand-stitched books may be sold by resellers, but the wholesale cost of the books and the MSRP is higher. I did make accomodation for differences between Hand-stitched vs Machine-bound in the MSRP, but nonetheless, any purchase order for both Hand-stitched and Machine-bound books must be accompanied by either full prepayment or a letter of Credit from the buyer's bank for the entire amount of the purchase order.  

Said purchase order for Machine-bound books must be for the entire production run, or delivery will be pending sufficient other resellers joining in on the required minimum quantity of 25k units. In all cases, all sales are final, no returns and, as I said, the order must be prepaid, either by check or accompanied by a Letter of Credit. No product will be shipped until the check is cleared, or payment is received from the Letter of Credit

Specific details beyond what has just been said will be finalized via email.

image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com

Attention; Arthur Greisiger

Pending Orders are Being Accepted

Volume Two prototype prior to hand-stitching the spine. This Volume consists of Books Two, Three and Four. For now, only individual books are being produced. Volumes will come into play after a demand arises.

As I've discussed numerous times before, Book Publication is under way. It's more complex than you might think, because completion of the artwork effects the ability to release the books into the public eye. If there is a positive reaction to the first book, a person may want the next book after they finish reading that book. Likewise, there may be a circumstance where a person may want to buy the entire collection of seven books at the same time, because they happen to be into that at the moment. If the books are unavailable, that might well result in a negative effect, either by attitude or by loosing the buyer entirely. Such a circumstance, if it translated into the entire marketplace would be disasterous. So I must delay release of the books until we have completed the artwork. We are moving ahead with that.

However, in the meanwhile, I am building inventory of the finished books. Basically Books One, Two and Three are completely finished. Book Four, Six and Seven are almost finished and have been filled out with black & white sketches. While Book Five now has a number of sketches. None of the sketches will be refined and colored until all the missing art is first sketched out.

The fact that I am building inventory means that I will accept pending orders for any of the collection. Issuing a pending order does not require a deposit, unless the buyer wants a guarantee that they will receive that order. Pending Orders only give me an idea of quantity and allow me to set aside those book for a buyer, but without a 50% deposit, the books are first come, first served to the buyer who pays for the books. All books must be prepaid before they are shipped, in all cases, no exceptions, regardless of the quantity purchased. There are no returns, except in the case of faulty product, which will be replace after it is returned for inspection.

I will provide samples to buyers after I finish the necessary registrations, but those sample must be purchased at MSRP, unless we are talking orders of 5k or more.

As it stands now, IMS Publishing is producing the Hand-stitched Limited Edition Books. Larger scale runs may take place in another manufacturing scenario, in particular the Perfect Bind books, but that is yet to be seen. 

I am looking into puchasing Perfect Bind equipment for limited in-house binding  of on-demand Machine-bound versions of the books as well. This will allow for smaller production runs 

 The ISBN's will not be registered until the entire collection is able to be released at the same time, as doing so makes the books available worldwide via Bowker's catalogues and fulfillment under that circumstance may be best handled by a large Distributor.

Distribution via outside agencies may occur, but that will not take place until after the ISBN registration and the terms of sale in that regard are up to the Distributor.

So, all in all, IMS Publishing will be accepting Pending and Prepaid Orders while we are building inventory, with the Official Release remaining still in the future, after the artwork for the illustrations is completed.

ORDERS can be taken by way of email

image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com

Spring has arrived! Update

Well, as I've spoken about before, we have moved into filling out the missing artwork for the remaining illustrations. We art doing sketches, guided by the description panels. My work of steering up the files to accommodate insertion of New art had paid off and inserting the sketches is quite easy. Of course, I am modifying the sketches as needed to adjust the position, size and sometimes the shape of the components. 

The current approach is to move into the illustration panels one small step at a time. I am attempting to advance all the illustrations required to complete the collection simultaneously. I have described the status of the books (in regard to illustrations) below, so I won't do it again.

I am preparing to print the entire collection and right now I am constructing and inventorying the book covers for the Hand-stitched version of the books. I am striving to (ultimately) inventory 500-1k books, since constructing the Hand-stitched books is laborious enough as to cause delays in shipping.

I am uncertain as to whether or not the entire collection, meaning those books being sold by retailers, will need to be Hand-stitched or Machine- bound. Theoretically, the market will absorb both versions, but I personally feel the Hand-stitched is a superior presentation. That version simple has a more excellent feel to it. It is more costly, so that may be a factor, but also the limitations because hand-stiching books is more time-consuming. For now, I am Hand-stiching. When a distributor place a large order for Machine-bound books, well, then they will be mass produced in that fashion. All the technical layouts are finished for both Hand-stitched and Machine-bound books in both Gnome-sized and Big People books.

So I am moving forward to publish the book for the purpose of inventory. When the illustrations are complete, the books will be released to the public.

AG

Most Recent work on the Storybooks

Well, Covid has interjected itself and brought about more delays, so running an end game around that, I have been preparing another version of the files with trim-lines that are different then the cut-guides that I have been using.

 My cut-guides work perfectly, and I might say better than trim-lines, but I got grief from one of the printers because they are not accustomed to the cut-guides I designed and want things different than I have it. I don't need grief. That may have an effect on my decisions as to who ultimately prints the end product, but just to avoid other run-ins, I'm doing another version of the print layouts.

With all that in mind, I also am beginning to return to Book One. Since, after I finish this trim-lines variation on the layout, all the books will be ready to print (sans finished art) I can return to publishing Book One.

Book One is the introduction and the Gnome-sized books are what I will use for promotional purposes. Of course, in the more important instances, the Big People books will be used, but basically Book One, being the introduction, is perfect for pitching the project within the industry.

I have not done much of that directly, because of legal details and the fact that the entire series of seven books has needed to be postured for publication and distribution. The books are not quite there, but they are getting closer. As I said elsewhere; Books One thru Three are finished, Book Four is short about fifteen finished illustrations, Book Five is not illustrated at all yet (although sketches are underway), Books Six and Seven are mostly done, but together are missing (I'd guess) about forty illustrations.

So with the illustrations moving forward (as well as some activity with sculpting, 3D CGI, and music) and having the print files ready to submit, I can develop a schedule for the release of the books.

I am not yet ready to approach the public release, but I can do an Industry release. I need to develop the on-line sales of the hard copy books and in order to implement that, we need to have inventory of the finished book up to an acceptable level. So publication and binding of Book One will proceed in order to reach appropriate inventory levels in order to meet possible demand.

It's hard to say what that might be, but that will likely be affected by what kind of external marketing and distribution may take place. That will most likely involve a distribution contract and pre-sales. I'm setting up a two tiered system of distribution. Internal, being Limited Editions and External being Unlimited Editions.

All books are sold on a prepaid basis only, irregardless as to the quantities. There are two basic editions; Hand-stitched (Limited Editions) and machine bound (Unlimited Editions). 

Both editions can be purchased at the Wholesale level from IMS by resellers.

Only the Limited Editions can be purchased at Retail from IMS. The Unlimited Edition purchases require bulk quantity, with a Purchase Order and either prepaid or a Letter of Credit from the buyers bank, depending on the quantity. Minimum order at this stage of operations is 5k units per book. This will not provide a full keystone, a full keystone in this instance is offset by 10% in favor of the distributor. I have set the MSRP to accommodate a full keystone, but I need to hit minimum of 25k to achieve that. Distribution costs come into play in calculating the margins and some of that is presumed at this point. The larger quantities required for full margins could come from one or more distributors. There are quantity discounts, but it bottoms out at a full keystone at the retail level.

Limited Editions involve IMS Hand-stitched books inventoried in lower quantities and provided exclusively by special order via on-line sales.

I'll continue this in another post.

AG

Publishing Update

As you can see below, we started moving forward with completing the artwork for the illustrations. It is my intention to set up my new workstation to use Poser for creating CGI, animation and expedite the illustration process. If we continue using only our previous methods of illustrating it will take at least another five years, time I cannot afford.

Here is one of my other projects, a ground up restoration of this antique Star Trailerized Home. I have numerous projects which await my attention and will distract me away from The Gnomes. It is because of this that I advise potential participants to act on any desire to be involved.

There is the possibility that the first four books can be released on a schedule, but I'm not keen on that, since doing so would risk loosing our audience. You know, once someone gets excited by a story, they don't want to wait, at least, not for too long. So distribution will be held back until we at least have the sketches finished. Once they are done, it will be easier to see the finish line.

A chassis for our puppets, at least one version in the works.

In the mean while, I am currently changing the borders on the layout to accommodate the off-set printer's expectations. The on-demand layouts are finished, but the specs for the off-set are different. I suppose I need to hook up with a web printer to evaluate the layout for that method of printing as well. But, of course, that will only come into play if there is sufficient demand.

There are other products that need to be printed as well, but for the most part, I can handle those items with my in-house printers, since quantity will be lower. I'm speaking about the Libretto and the score.

On the music front; I have been working to acquire additional components for the new workstation, a third Raid Array, a wonderful keyboard with drum pads to link to Digital Performer, a MOTU MIDI interface and new cables for the EWI. These thing will round off our tools nicely. I want to be certain that once we settle in to redress the music, we have everything we need to finish the job. So I expect to be working on music while the artwork is being finished. It would be very nice, if not essential, if the publication and distribution of the books could be timed to sync with the production of the stage show. We need to capture the momentum once it kicks into gear. As they say; "timing is everything".

On another note; I'm becoming very inclined to move the studio to another location, what I expect would be the final location. I thought the current location would be the final location, but circumstances are not desirable to me. Truth be told, even though I have 10k sq ft of interior space and a back lot, it's not enough. I can work with it, but I need more control over the studio space.

I say this because, right now things are set up. So right now is the time to act. If I start to build another space and begin to tear down, move and set up again, it will be at least two-three years before that space if functional, maybe more. I would rather not contend with this distraction, but it may be inevitable.

So if you are a professional who has been watching and waiting, I would not wait too long, not only because of the potential move, but for other reasons as well.

That's all for now. AG