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

A sample of The Illustration Process

Here is a page requiring an illustration.

In this sample, 

you can see the page 

with a description panel 

telling the artist 

what the illustration needs to be.

This is the first stage of illustration:

This illustration guide 

is printed on 11x17 paper

 to give the artist the largest working area I can provide with my 

scanning/printing equipment. 

Here is 

the first draft illustration sketch

 inserted in the area after scanning, processing it for exposure & contrast and trimming it to size.

 In this instance 

the sketch was not 

made using the guide.

As you can see, 

this illustration represents

 a portion of the description.

 Since it varies from the description, Zach will be added, 

probably shown eating the eggs.

 In the next sample, 

a background and a fire 

taken from a different illustration 

has been added.

Here, the preliminary sketch 

has been place in the page.

The next stage in the process

is to go through to refine the image 

to properly match the description. 

Then the sketch is turned into a proper line drawing, with stong and clear lines. Once this is achieved, then the line drawing is printed on watercolor paper, which is then colored using watercolor. Once that is achieved, the colored image is scanned back into the computer. 

Now the main file is processed in an assortment of ways to improve it's lines and colors, but also to reshape or enhance the image as necessary.

Portions of the finished illustration might be used in any number of other ways. Enlargement or reduction may be part of that. In any event, the "now finished illustration" can be placed back onto the page, replacing the sketches, and that finished page can then join the rest of the Print Files, which are ready 

to be published as finished books. 

This process is the only thing left to do. All other layout work has been done.

The entire collection of 800+ pages is essentially finished, and ready for publication, except that 348 illustrations are yet to be completed following the process described in this fashion.

In general, I am beginning to look for more artists to work on this project, because ;

1) we need to finish this more quickly than has been the case this far.

2) we will be moving into animation 

3) we need to sculpt our characters 

4) we need to begin building sets for both the parade float and the assorted versions of the Stage Musical.

All of this is contingent upon budget, so that is another aspect of the work needing to be attended to.

Those of you who are professional can see where we stand (from what has been posted on this blog) and I invite dialogue regarding production management essentials.

AG

Illustration, Animation and Music Update

  

Here's the crazy 

Master Gnome

 Well, as I said elsewhere, we started working on the artwork for the remaining illustrations. There is a lot to do. Years ago I determined that every page of the Storybook would have an illustration. That was before I knew that the Storybook would end up to be a collection of seven books, amounting to more than 850 pages.

   As you may have seen in other posts, I have been focusing on getting the technical layout finished, meaning; done, done. You know, I had major difficulties getting these books finished. Computer deficiencies have caused me untold troubles with the layout, in numerous cases causing me to have to rebuild my files multiple times to accommodate, repair and take into account computer and hard disc crashes, which caused me to loose my work. I mention this because that has been a great cause of delay. 

I'll be using the above image as an etching on the Boxed Set

Now, having upgraded again, I expect to be in a position to move into 3D CGI and animation. I wasn't going to do that until all the illustrations we're finished and the books were in distribution, however the plans need to change. The simple fact of the matter is that there are a lot of illustrations remaining to be done and we are all slowing down as life brings us twists and turns. In this instance, I must depend on other people, artists, to provide me with the raw artwork, which I then process to make it suitable for use in these books. 

     It seems that finishing this artwork will take some time. Some time indeed, probably years, at the rate we are going. I have been printing out canvas sheets, for use in creating the raw sketches that give a rough idea of what the finished art will be. The stack of pages is already an inch and a half thick, and that represents the bulk of Book Five. Book Four needs around fifteen panels and Books Six And Seven are, in fact, mostly done too. But none the less, we need 348 more illustration panels.

   That being said, I expect to move into 3D CGI while the other watercolor art is being generated. With luck, I can get the characters built using Poser. I know there are other programs, but this is what I have. My thinking is to build some animated scenes, possibly for publicity. Really, the other use of the Poser platform is to layout the scenes and send them to the illustration workstation, where the digital rendering can be brought up on a screen built into the drafting table, which serves as a lightbox and tracing guide. Part of my reasoning is that we need to keep the watercolor motif. As much as I would like that texture to remain in the animations, unfortunately, the reality is that the variations present in watercolor will likely not work when merged with motion. However, by using the CGI as a guide for building the illustrations, the animations will more closely represent the artwork in the books. I think that is a great advantage. It will help maintain the overall consistency.

   Being that completion of the illustrations will take a significant amount of time, and that the technical publishing work is finally done, it is most appropriate to move back to the music, while also building and exploring the animation. So that is what will be happening.

    I'm still open to Options for the Cinema and I will continue the work of securing Representation, with a focus on advancing both theatre and film production.

   On another front; I have acquired a Plasma Cutter for the purpose of cutting the body off the Corvair truck, which is being used for a parade float.

It gets down to the fact that I have two Corvair trucks (actually three) and I could conceivably build two or more parade floats. There is a market for renting parade floats, although I don't want to get distracted from the Gnomes, unless I have to, when the weather permits, I will advance into cutting this body off and fabricating the mobile stage (Parade Float).

This depicts the truck without the body. So you can imagine the Parade Float sitting atop this frame.

This Flyer was made when the stage was just begun. It shows eleven 4x8 platforms were used.

 I expect this mobile stage to also serve the festival market and one of the Ancillaries of The Gnomes of New Hope is producing Gnome Fest. But without the festival presentation ready to go, that is I'll advised. So, not only the mobile stage, but the puppet, and the festival version of the stage show needs to be up and running before Gnome Fest can occur. I could produce Gnome Fest at Tamanend Park in Southampton. It's a very good locale, albeit, a bit distant from New Hope. 

This was the stage I built in Tamanend Park where we performed as The Shakespeareans of Tamanend Park.

Here's Shawn, my partner in composing the music for The Gnomes of New Hope when we were doing The Shakespeareans.

   Having worked out of New Hope for many years, I moved my studio down to Southampton for practical reasons. Unfortunately, New Hope does not have a park facility as nice as Tamanend Park. But of course, Tamanend Park is two miles from my studio and Southampton has a pretty significant parade on the Fourth of July, as does Northampton as well. I'll discuss the area parades after I get the mobile stage built.

Here we are one year, when our theme was Robin Hood.

That's all for now, AG

Working on Music, with other notes.

Here's the cover from the Second Prototype of the Storybook. I'm up to the Forth and final prototype. We are working out a printing run of the entire collection, which consists of 847 pages in Seven Books or Three Volumes.

We are moving forward to finish the remaining Illustrations and I'm setting up another workstation to do 3D CGI Animation and 3D printing (for figurines and puppetry). I'm also getting ready to set-up the next updated music workstation, because once the publishing layouts are locked in to the production standards (as opposed to the limited edition prototype layout), then I will be moving over to the music again.

I was doing some research on Digital Performer 9, the next upgrade to our music workstation. It seems very clear that when I move over from publishing to music, I will not have the time or mental capacity to tend to manufacturing, marketing and distribution of the books. So, I'm posting this as a heads up. There is no doubt that both the continuing work on Illustrations and Music will be taking up the Lion's Share of the time available. Add to that; the work with building the Parade Float and synchronizing the set construction between the different variation of the show.

So this being said, I expect that handing-off the fulfillment for the books is the best approach. If you are engaged in that end of the industry, feel free to discuss that with me. The best approach is to use E-mail. Telephone only works after we reach an ongoing degree of dialogue. Cold calls via telephone don't work for me, because I get so many unsolicited calls, I often ignore answering unless your number is in my contact list.

A Promotional PowerPoint

I made this some time ago and posted it to my YouTube page, which sadly, I barely use. I suppose I should change that and start to post more often. Truthfully, I was testing it to see if it would upload, and it did. Well, this promo is designed as a sample of how the e-Storybook will look. Of course, it will be more refined than this sample and it will include other thing, like animations and GIFs, but for now this sample is posted for your review. (I may have posted this before, but since we are getting closer to releasing the books, here it is again;

 

The Gnomes of New Hope; 

Zach and Zebby's Grand Adventure"

 I should warn you that this entire video presentation is 39 minutes long. I have to admit that it moves along slowly, as I narrate it methodically, in an attempt to make sure it comes across clearly. Like I said, it was a test. But all-in-all, I think it's pretty nice in it's presentation and it is informative, as it was intended to be. I might be more excited by if I hadn't seen it a thousand times as I wrote, designed and narrated it.  I suggest that you might like to digest it in chunks and return to it from time to time, picking up where you left off. 

As I said before, I am seeking Representation for this project, thus the reason for posting this here, plus we're getting closer to publishing the books.

Enought of me. I hope you enjoy the video.

AG

Pricing the Books

I have tried an assortment of prices as the MSRP for the collection of Illustrated Storybooks.

 I started out trying to produce the Gnome-sized Books for a retail price of $4.95. Nice thought but no way. So I raised the price to $5.95. Again, no way. Ok I tried $6.95, $7.95, and then $8.95. Again, it couldn't be done. Not and provide enought profit to pay the expenses and profit margins required by the industry. So finally, I seem to have settled in at $9.95. I dare not go any higher than that. The budget balances out at that price, but there is one cavet. Quantity. In order to bring it in at that MSRP, the quantity has bto be high enough.

So, using one Gnome-sized book as the Standard (in terms of pricing) a minimum quantity, likely 25k, will be required. And that is only on one book. There are seven that make up the whole story of "Zach and Zebby's Grand Adventure". The other stories of "The Gnomic Tales" make up five more stories, which are ultimately connected to "Zach and Zebby..." and may or may not be published.

  The end price of $9.95 MSRP is of course at the discretion of the retailer and their determination to discount or not. At the Wholesale level, there is no room for price reduction unless the Distributor is committing to significantly higher quantities, but that won't change the MSRP. If anything, that will only increase the discount they choose to offer. But the increase in quantity needs to be substantial.

That leads us to the Big People Books. initially I had hoped for $14.94, quickly that went to $16.95. After a short time it went to $18.95, then $19.95, and then $21.95, followed by $24.95. Based on the Hand-stitched Binding it was clear that none of those MSRP numbers worked. Dare I increase the price to $29.95? I had no choice. Advisors told me the thought even $34.95 wasn't too high a price for books of this quality.

  I felt that going over $29.95 was just too much to ask of people for one book of, more-or-less 110 pages. But then the other books in the series, that were upwards of 150 pages had to be amortized into the cost as a whole. And so the MSRP of the Hand-stitched books settled in at $29.95 and completion of the publishing layout advanced under that assumption.

   Introduce into the mix two types of book-bindings; Hand-stitched and machine binding. Well, all the test marketing that has been done indicates very high approval of the hand-stitched books and a strong opinion that the books must be hand-stitched. That was a dilemma. The cost of binding the books by hand is half again as much as printing the books, even more.

   So that introduces new challenges. What if the price is too high for a significant portion of the potential buyers of the books? How do you solve that. Well, one way is to offer the Gnome-sized books as a less expensive alternative. But what if a person doesn't want the Gnome-sized book? What then? A less expensive version of the Big People books. Well that would be a book bound by a machine. But the machine cannot reproduce the aesthetics of the hand stitched version. 

So, the machine bound books become The Standard Edition, with a squared off spine that is glued as so many paperback books are these days. Doing that reduces the price of the book by a significant factor. Then the MSRP can become $24.95 . That number was derived after $19.95 did not quite make enough to cover all the costs.  Again, moving into Machine Bound books also increases the required quantity in order to setup and publish those books, not to mention a different aesthetic appearance.

   Well, in order to retain the preferred aesthetic appearance, the hand-stitched books now have become The Custom Edition with an MSRP of $34.95, which is sufficient to cover on-demand publishing. 

   An additional series of Signed and Numbered Limited Editions is also being published with  price of $49.95 per book.

   Further, the book series is being published in Three Volumes (with prices to be announced in the future) as well as Boxed Sets of both the Gnome-sized and Big People Books.

   All of this is being planned and will be offered via a Shopping Cart page, once the releas schedule is confirmed.

   I offer this analysis for your reference, whether you are an individual, a distributor, or a retailer. 

The budget numbers on don't lie, as they say. And so, these are the anticipated MSRP of the books (as it stands now). If that changes I'll certainly post that info here or... It will be reflected on the shopping cart/order form page 

That's all for now.

AG

Other Forums

I manage a number of blog and social media sites that deal with an assortment of aspects regarding The Gnomes of New Hope. 

Here is a link to a recent Facebook post, which you can follow if you like.

The Gnomes of New Hope, 

Facebook Page

In addition to eBlogger, I also post on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr and I'm beginning to post on Gettr 

So what's going on ?

Ok, as I said in the last post, ISBN#s. I'm working to properly order the Barcodes on the ISBNs so they be serve both the Shopping Cart (when it gets built) and the Sales Office, Manufacturing and Inventory, not to mention the numerous registrations and book categories. 

As it stands now, there are thirty products which have numbers assigned to them and there are still another six or so needing to be included. For now, we will be concentrating on the Gnome-sized books. I'm trying to balance the budget and determine the margins, but it looks like it will be very difficult to offer a full margin, unless a buyer wants to purchase and entire press run of 25k or more books. We'll see how it goes after all the covers are locked in with the new barcodes. I'm guessing at the cost elements, based on previous quotes.

Although I have some of the production line set up, there's more to do. I'm building tooling for the Hand-stitched binding, but I have come to the conclusion that the cost of the hand-stitched will just have to be added on, no matter what that is. So the hand-stitched edition is being defined as the Custom Edition, while the machine bound books are referred to as the Standard Edition. As I said before, the Custom Edition is only being offered direct from IMS Publishing. If a retailer is willing to pay the higher price, the Custom Edition may be available to them for resale, but I rather doubt that they will pay the extra money for hand-stitched binding. The Custom Editions are limited, mostly because of how long it takes to make them. So, one at a time, or 25-50 is no problem as to turn-around within a week or so, but larger quantities have a longer wait time for delivery. If you are a buyer, keep that in mind. I will take orders for the first book via email at any time, however, there are still registrations that need to take place before the items can be shipped. I can begin making books as soon as I get a prepaid order. So a larger order of Custom Books will need lead time to complete manufacturing.

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

That's all for now.

AG

p.s. we are working on more art and have been discussing work on the music.

Barcodes

Here's a funny graphic I came up with to imply what the show might look like onstage.

 Regarding publishing the Companion Editions of the Storybooks

     It didn't occur to me that the numbering of the ISBNs would throw me off with my book covers. So now that I have created new barcodes for the books, using the IBSNs in their numerical order, I need to replace the barcodes on the books. Well, this has caused me to rethink how it is that I update the pages. I have concluded that it is easier to do it using the final flattened graphic files, as opposed to upgrading the original layered working files. Mostly the reason for this is the absolute massive number of files doing this layout has generated and the variations between those files.  The reason is that I save new work (most of the time) under a new Revision. That way I have the last file as a backup. It really is just incredibly difficult to find the most recent set of files which do not always contain the elements I am looking for.  I say this because, if I walk away from the layout for even a week, I have to spend the better part of a day acclimating myself to the files again. You wouldn't think that to be the case, after all I was the one who ordered the files, but none-the-less I still have trouble finding the correct files. In the past, I have moved forward with a Revision that I thought to be the most recent, only to find I was working with an old file, thus negating the work done on the previous work session. Don't get me wrong, I have methods of working around this, but I am very cautious. Because strangely enough the "last modified" data does not alway record properly, thus giving me a date that sometimes reflects when the file was created, not when it was last worked on. You would think that the file data would be updated every time you save, but that's not always the case. I don't know why that is, I've only observed it to be true. And my search function is practically useless, because it doesn't follow the criteria that you set for it. Mainly because it searches the entire computer and all the hard discs connected to it and no matter what you tell, it to search for, it searches the content not just the filename. That seems to be the case, I have no real good explanation. I only know that for the most part,  45 minutes later it give me squat and a thousand files. it's easier to just do it manually.  I guess I just need to move all the files that I know are outdated to another disc. Except, sometimes I need that old revision to recover a design element that I am looking for. By that I mean a design element that will allow me to work with it for my purposes. I've even taken to modifying the graphic to give me a working document, more often than not that is quicker and easier than trying to locate the file I want. It' crazy.

    Anyway, that's what I'm up to. Still jerking around with this stuff. Well... you gotta do, what you gotta do.  It's almost done. ( I keep saying that, one of these days it will be true.) Thanks for reading my posts.

AG

Music Thoughts

  I recently bought a CD/DVD publisher. I know that CD's are somewhat passe', but for the price it was worth it. When I figure out how to run it, I'll be able to produce CD/DVDs more efficently and in bulk. (I should be so lucky!) This is good, because, at the least, I can distribute production materials to the crew and others via this method. You know, script, libretto, music score, etc.

  Well, I'm still playing around with the publishing layout. A few days ago I bought another batch of ISBN's because I didn't have enough. So now I have 30, but I still need more. By the time I'm done, I'll have a couple of grand tied up in ISBN's. So as it turns out, right now the published product line amounts to 29 products. I still need to add in the boxed sets, the libretto, and anything else that ends up being published, which can happen later. 

   So, in getting more numbers, I now need to replace all the barcodes on the books. As I was coordinating the numbers and creating a spreadsheet for inventory and sales, I discovered that the numbers I had assigned to the books were somewhat arbitrary. Well, that won't due. So letting Excel put the ISBN's in order, and making a new batch of barcodes, I needed to reorder the books so that they are easy to manage for inventory and identify for sales. I'm assigning an inventory IMS number to each ISBN. That results in needing to replace the barcodes on all the covers. Ugh. 

Better to do it now, than run into problem after things start moving. Well, it does get down to the fact that when the books become listed in the categories, the ISBN's will be a significant factor there. So, being that the collection is a set, it's best that they are in order. I guess now I need a scanner.

. These discs were my way to present the materials. I'm not sure that will work because the size of my file exceeds the capacity of the DVDs. I made these sample discs, only to discover that the graphics covered over an area in the center hole that was needed to write the discs. So I need to rethink that. I know that the entire music score is pretty large. It might fit on a disc if they were all PDFs. So there are a lot of issues with all of this and preparing it properly for it's ultimate use... and people ask me "when will it be done" (which means to say; Why is it taking so long? ) I can't imagine why they would say that. It's only been 23 years. Ha!

  The cover letter above is part of the Industry Review Package, which I some ways is out of date. Those materials still apply, but need review. I expect to post that package on IMS Producing Partners, which is a closed blog, requiring a request to view. If you are an Industry professional or investor, you are welcome to contact me in that regard. I expect that I will refine that package on the blog and address the business structure, so it is pertinent.

  I am looking to develop relationships that pertain to Licensing, Options, Marketing and Sales. Once these product lines have moved into Inventory, I will need a Sales Manager and I need to develop the Online Shopping Cart scenario. I have tools available to me, but frankly the volume of work involved needs a team. It's a reality that is becoming ever more poignant. You can see that if you've been reading this blog.  So if anyone is interested, talk to me. 

   Beyond that, as I've mentioned before, I'm looking for a Registered Literary Agent to pitch this. There are contractual limitations that cannot be surmounted without that, in order to reach another level of operations. We can do it at IMS, if we have to, but I'd rather not.

   The Business Plan accommodates internal operations, but to be honest about it, I'm rather tired and need a break. But I don't want the momentum to be interupted. So... I need to pitch it to external operations.  

Onward and upward.

AG

Release of the Storybooks

 I know, I've been talking about this for years. Well I needs to be happening soon, for various reasons. We have begun working on the remaining art and although we are starting out slow, things will pick up there. The fact that we are moving forward with more artwork gives us a clearer picture of what is possible with releasing the books.

A very early shot of the puppet shop being set-up. 

More recent puppet activity is focused the Parade Float requirements

and constructing Stop-Action Puppets for some old-world filmmaking.

The skin to fit over the skull on the three foot chassis.
I think this is Zebby.

Our Constable Warren Garden Gnome

We inventory about a half a dozen or so of these concrete Garden Gnomes.

Well, release of the books has taken a new turn. The Hand-Stitched Books will initially only be available through IMS and in the Boxed Set Collections. The reason is primarily due to the quantity limitations placed on distributing the Hand-Stitched Books. I love the hand-stitching, everybody loves the hand-stitching, but they take a lot more time and cost quite a bit more to implement.  So I've decided that the Hand-Stitched Books will be Limited Editions, by special order. This may change if I can get production quantities up to speed. If we have booksellers who request the Hand-Stitched Books, we will meet those orders, but delivery times will not be committed to, unless we are pulling those Hand-Stitched Books from inventory.  I have been setting up the production line, but the tooling is not yet finished, so I cannot determine an absolute minimum assembly time yet. I do expect to inventory about 500 of each book with the Hand-Stitched Covers, depending upon the demand. The cost of the hand-stitched books is about one third higher than the machine bound books.

The Initial Flyer that was developed to market the product line.
A new plan for manufacturing and distribution is being developed
with the machine bound books being widely distributed, while
 the Hand-Stitched Book will remain Limited Editions and custom orders.

The Pricing on this order form is for the Hand-Stitched Limited Edition Books
These prices are subject to change.
 A new pricing schedule is under development for the Machine Bound Books
although the MSRP will remain the same for the Hand-Stitched Books.

So, as the Printer's Layout is locked in for the entire collection, we will begin to inventory the books. The previous discussions regarding the publication of Book One, gave a good overview of the process, but after Book One was completed, it became necessary to conform the entire collection of Seven Books and Three Volumes, in both Hand-Stitched and Machine Bound Books. This was far more complicated than I ever imagined. But it is literally days away from completion and once that it absolutely finished then production line details can be confirmed, giving us accurate delivery times and other details. I say all this to inform those who have been "watching and waiting". I won't go into the design alterations that have taken place in this effort to conform all the books one to another, but I will say that they are significant.

I'm looking forward to getting the new artwork finished and installed.

That's all for now.  AG

Access via a new Hot Spot

 Zach Finds himself in a real pickle.

 I'm experimenting with a new method of accessing this blog, so here is a shot from Book Two, We have begun working on the remaining illustrations, since the publishing layouts are very nearly finished.

I do hope we open up new channels for distributing these books and I invite business people involved in marketing and distribution to touch base in that regard. For my part, I hope to be moving more actively into constructing the Parade Float and the Little Theatre Puppetry components, as I need a break from the work that I have been doing for many years in regard to publishing. I have many other Studio items that need tending to, so I am most interested in handing the ball off to some degree. I will, however, be building inventory of the book products, for obvious reasons.

AG