PowerPoint

UPDATE

8/20

OK, I've decided to split up the PowerPoint presentations. The first one is a pitch for the project and book sales, with some samples of the e-Storybook, Audio Book, Libretto and Music. The second is a full Narration if the e-Storybook from which an Audio Book will be derived. The third is a comparison between the Storybook and the Libretto. The fourth is the Music Score with recordings. The fifth will be The Business Plan. PowerPoint is a very effective tool. I can clearly see how advantageous it is in numerous circumstances. I especially like the way it will advance the singers ability to learn the music. So I am continuing to build a collection of Powerpoint presentations for different applications. Expect to see one posted here in the future. AG

8/1

So I'm laying down a narration for an audio track to go with the e-Storybook. Why not go all the way?

I've put together an introductory presentation that uses the Preface, some sample materials (book pages, music, video), and the Appendix. I left the book pages out of that, because the e-Storybook, with the narration, music, and animated videos, will be accessible only via a subscription. I've concluded that is the best approach. Gnomes in a Gnutshell as a complete e-Storybook cannot be made available for outright purchase until all seven books are fully illustrated and therefore, complete. So, the only way to share the e-Storybook is to do so as it is being completed. That means making it a accessible for viewing only, on-line. So that is the direction we will need to go.

The promotional presentation, which exemplifies how the e-Storybook is laid out, can be posted here when it's finished, presuming I can make sure the size of the file is correct for an upload.

I guess I need to consider that too. I know that I'm about halfway finished with the narration and the file size is approaching 400 MB. I'll have to see what happens with compression.

To be continued...

ARCHIVE

Awesome! I took the HDTV layout and created a PowerPoint presentation. I'm utterly amazed at how cool it is. Besides looking great, the file sizes are small enough that it can be delivered on-line!

So now I'm trying to decided how to make that available... Direct, as "Gnomes in a Gnutshell", on-line as a download, or on-line as a subscription.

If it's a subscription, then the subscribers would have access to all the updates and changes, at any time, as I make upgrades to presentation. The advantage here is that the people who subscribe will be participating in the growth of the project.

Bear with me as I think this through.

If the e-Storybooks are posted on a subscription page, then I will have better control over providing the updates to that page. I have some very interesting ideas about integrating animations I to the e-Storybooks. The main difficulty here is that each book has about 150 illustrations in it. Basically, since there are almost 800 pages in "Zach and Zebby's Grand Adventure", that means there are at least 800 illustrations, because there are illustrations on every page.

I'm beginning to think that I want to animate the illustrations, even the smallest of them. Initially, I wanted to create larger animations of the scenes, now I'm thinking of animating individual components of the illustrations. Small animations, gifs, if you will. Doing this will, collectively, lead into the larger animated film.

So I'll be looking into that.

One more point, a subscription approach will help pay for the work that needs to be done, a little at a time.

I'm believing that this approach may also offer better DRM across the board. I guess we'll see what happens after I get into discussions with distributors.

AG

HDTV

I have been preparing the entire collection for an assortment of submissions, which need to occur. One of the realities is that all the material needs to be included in one refined package. For certain submissions, I cannot present portions, it must be complete. That in itself poses a difficulty.

The first story is composed of a collection of seven books, which are represented in the e-Storybook "Gnomes in a Gnutshell". You can see the packaging of that product line below in a previous post.

But now that I discovered that the e-book must be filed along with the published edition of the hard-copy, at the same time, I find I'm faced with a dilemma. Once the material is filed, it all becomes public, which means that the classified material is accessible and revealed to the public.

I have been very careful not to reveal the Core Creative Materials to anyone other than our Producing Partners, which includes investors, contributors, and service vendors. Now that this first story from "The Gnomic Tales" is fully developed, it's time to begin releasing it. The first book is going out to Booksellers.

Well, the e-Storybook contains the entire seven book series. It has been my plan to release the books over a span of time (evenly spaced out) because we are still working on the art needed for some of the books and I need capital influx to pay my artists to come in and finish the work. It's going to cost me $90k to finish the work. (in case you want to invest).

Thinking about the e-Storybook, I realized (actually some time ago) that it needs to be accessible across all devises. That includes one's television, hence, HDTV. The e-Storybook is intended as a multi-media product, where the illustrations can come alive with gifs and/or short films. But I also intend to install the music from the stage show, so that the e-Storybook is the forum for a complete presentation of the entire product line (in terms of media product).

So I've redesigned the e-book for the HDTV aspect ratio. It looks great and it utilizes the e-book layout that has already been produced in the book format. So I'm very happy about that. I may submit both formats.

More later. AG

Sponsorship Program

There will be numerous opportunities for sponsorship in this production process. The one we are focusing on now is for the Storytelling sessions in the library. Our goal is to conduct the readings in any number of libraries in the immediate area. One aspect of those readings will be giving out The Gnome-sized books to the kids that attend the readings. The Big People books will be available for purchase, but the Gnome-sized Books (in this instance) are being used for promotion of the project as a whole. Therefore, we will be looking for sponsors, who will receive due credit, in exchange for funding a production run of books, as well as other expenses to conduct the readings. A budget is in process for those readings, but the items in the budget will include; 1) the books to give as gifts  2) the cost of labor to set-up, conduct the reading, tear-down, and return the supplies to the studio. 3) Per Diem for the participants for food and housing (if needed), 4) additional promotional materials (such as order forms, flyers, posters, and stand up cutouts of the characters)  5) funding to complete the puppets to be used in the readings (in addition to puppeteers)  6) paid Two-fers for the show (to add support for other work, such as continuing with illustrations and artwork needing to complete the series).

If you would like to discuss being a sponsor contact Arthur Greisiger at; image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com

There will be other benefits offered to our sponsors

beyond the advertising value.

AG

More Thoughts on GnomeFest

Yesterday I went to the Summer Solstice Faerie Festival at Marshy Point Nature Center in Maryland. It was delightful, a lot of fun, and had so much going on. The setting was perfect! It was a rush to see so many people into Cosplay.

So on the way down there, I  was thinking about GnomeFest. I realized that it needs to take place in close proximity to New Hope and it needs to take place in conjunction with the Premiere of the stage show.

Nothing has been discussed yet regarding using The Bucks County Playhouse as the venue for the Premiere, so if that doesn't come into play, we will need to build our parade float as a mobile stage, from which we can present versions of the show in a festival environment.

The subject of presenting The Gnomes of New Hope at Faerie Festivals, of which there are a few, came up. I know there are other outdoor venues where a show can be presented as well.

Which leads me to think about the kind of show that needs to be presented in that fashion. Clearly the whole Musical Theatre piece cannot be presented at a fair. At most, the environment can tolerate a 20 minute show. Even if we broke the show into a few 20 minute segments and presented them over the course of the day, at best we could squeeze in four shows. The Full Musical runs 3 hours. Of course I have numerous versions, to fit different time slots and circumstances, including the parade. So I need to give that more thought. I need to finish with the publication work on the book series before we can really get down to it. I can say that building the mobile stage us going to be a priority, before we even begin planning presenting the show.

I can say that most of the forest folk at the Faerie Fest I spoke to about the Gnomes were, on the whole, very excited. A lot of excellent ideas and suggestions we're exchanged. A bunch of people said "you've got to talk to the Gnomes" well, we caught up with them and had a lengthy and excited conversation with a Gnome couple from Reading PA. After we left them we had an epiphany about presenting the Story-telling sessions. Maybe that should be combined with the stage presentation? In fact, in that context, we don't even need a stage!

Mostly, I suggested to folks that they keep watch here and follow what is going on and, of course, stay in touch via email.

So it seems that the GnomeFest scenario needs to be at least as important as the parade and the stage show. That's a lot of producing that needs to be done. It's a good thing I have many years of experience doing just that. It's amazing how little by little we end up in our destiny. AG

Book Two, preparing the remaining books for press.

Update 6/26/19

   I was working to conform the remaining books to the current (and final) layout, mostly to find out how long it would take to do so. I wanted to get a grip on this before making a concerted push to release the first book in the series. As it turned out, I have been able to conform the first five scenes of Act One, which represent at least half of Volume Two, Books Two thru Four, within two weeks. The Libretto consists of twenty scenes. I have divided the Storybook into seven books Book One is the Introduction to the Gnomes of New Hope. Books Two thru Four comprise Act One of the Musical Stage Play, while Books Five thru Seven comprise Act Two of the stage play.

I'm considering publishing the books in three volumes for the Big People Books and Seven books for the Gnome-sized Books. Clearly, I cannot publish the Gnome-sized books in three volumes. There are too many pages to fit into the smaller books, but I think that with the Big People Book we can publish all nine scene in one book. The big problem there lies in the fact that a fully illustrated book is costly to produce. Not only the cost of printing the full color pages, but the cost of the artwork. As it stands, there are 348 illustrations that are needed for the remaining books. Those illustrations cost me a minimum of 300 dollars a piece, probably.  more. So do the math and you and see what I have,  and will have, invested in this project. Add to that that a Portion of that money is Front Money, which involves a three hundred percent return to the investors. So you can see that it is no small investment to complete this project.

 As it stands now, I have begun distributing the books to bookstores. You may or may not be aware of this, but the MSRP of the Big People's Book has been set at the maximum I believe is tolerable, $29.95. Do you relaise that Booksellers expect me to sell them the books at a wholesale price of $11.95? There's no way that is going to happen!  All business endeavors in this capitalistic system expect a profit. How dare they demand such a degree of profit! There are at least four other participants that need to make a profit from their involvement. As far as I am concerned, the profit in the product needs to be evenly divided between the participants. I won't lay out the budget here for you, but for the booksellers to demand such a profit is insulting. Therefore I will most certainly be selling the books directly from this web site. You will be able to search this site for a link to purchasing the books. It is not entirely set-up yet, but I will attend to it in the near future and make sure it operates properly. If you want to talk about buying books, send me an email to image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com. That's all for now. AG

ARCHIVE

I started off looking for the lyrics to "The Gnomen of The Yard", because of my last post. That song is in Scene Twelve.  But as I was opening the files, I decided to see what was involved in conforming the remaining books to the final publishing layout. Well, how stupid would that be to start with Book Five! So I opened Book Two, being that Book One is now finished and represents the finished design.

Well, the entire collection was conformed to the layout that I used for the first prototype run. So for that layout, all the books have been finished. But that layout was rejected after I started serious proof-reading and making improvements to the design. Those aesthetic design changes, combined with technical logistic adjustments, resulted in a process that took literally more than five years to refine.

Now that I have started to address manufacturing and distribution of Book One, my real concern became "can I deliver the rest of the story if demand increases and how long would that take?" You know, once I initiate the books into the marketplace, if I can't deliver the story within a tolerable time frame, well, I'll loose my audience. People's span of attention is limited. If you have to wait too long to get satisfaction, after your interest has been perked, frankly, you loose interest, or it's taken away by something else.

So I needed to get a grip on how long each book would taken to be ready for press, before I push too hard on Book One.

It took a few tries to get the layout from Version 9.1 to conform to Revision A112, but after less than a week, Book Two is well over 50% finished!  I think I can safely conclude that I can prep a book in about a month. But that assumes I have all the artwork finished, which I don't.

Those revision numbers above are real, although in a few instances I had to jump up in blocks of ten after the numbers got too confusing. Sometimes I had Rev numbers like Rev 89a too.

But I do have Books One thru Four fully illustrated. Well, I'm short (about) fifteen panels on Book Four. The rest of the books are spattered with illustrations. As I've said before, I still need 348 illustrations for the remaining books.

I'm developing a plan for expediting the Illustration process. So that we can produce the art with the time frame that matches a release schedule. As it stands now, if the first three books are released, say three to six months apart, and create sufficient income to get the artists working on finishing the illustrations, then we'll be good.

I say artists, because I want to move into 3D CGI, but I also was thinking of hiring colorists and/or line artists.

Well... I'm moving forward to get the next two books ready for press, before I push too hard on Book One. Our publishing is almost all set up. We are finished with the Big People book and have confirmed pricing for on-demand with that book. We need to do another test run of the Gnome-sized Book to lock in manufacturing prices for that book on-demand. We are now confirming the pricing for off-set and that is almost ready to go.

That's all for now. AG

The Gnomes of The Yard

I had a fun conversation with another musician and I mentioned one of the songs from "Zach and Zebby's Grand Adventure".

I wanted to do a homage to Gilbert and Sullivan, so I wrote the lyrics for a song titled "The Gnomes of The Yard" (a play on The Yeoman of The Guard). Shawn and I had fun writing the music for it. The song really has no relation to any specific G&S song, it only has a certain patter-song style and is intended to be reminiscent of G&S. I would not be so presumptuous as to believe that our abilities could even be in the same room. But it's fun and I can't wait to hear it actually implemented, blocked and performed in the context of the Libretto. There is a lot of action back and forth with the song, not as much as some, but it's cool.

These are not The Gnomen of the Yard, these are the Tinkers,
The Tinkers sing in a Barbershop style
 while,  The Tailors sing in a Gospel style.
The compete in a sing-off.

I need to fix this image for presentation here,
so I'll do that today and replace it.
(maybe I'll add the Lyrics to the song, what the heck, it is copyrighted)

Turns out The Gnomen of the Yard is a different illustration;

I guess maybe I'll start talking about the songs in the show. That will help to get the musician frame of mind back in gear. But I still have six more Storybooks to publish. (sigh)

Years ago I experimented with posting a few songs. They are early versions, but fair representations of the songs. I found out that once they are there, they're there. Maybe after we get up and going again on the music, I'll work on managing that better.

Here's a Link to SonicBids. where you will find"Never Been So Near" and "The Chase". 

 (not The Gnomen of the Yard) I don't really use it anymore.That site is more for bands. 

Here's a link to SoundCloud, where you will find 

"Never Been So Near" and "The Stone of Wisdom"

(we're working on recording the vocal version of 

The Stone of Wisdom, sung by The Master Gnome)

You know, I think I need to build a producing team for this. I need to free up my time to do the finishing work on the Core Creative Materials, while keeping the momentum up and advancing toward our ultimate goals. I need people who are more aligned with logistics. Frankly, however, the budget needs to be in place, along with HR, before that is likely. The only possibility at this point is active vested partners who can take that load off of me. Realistically, that a commodity that us few and far between. I guess if you don't dig for gold, you'll never find it. AG

A Note to Booksellers

Here's an edited copy of a post I made on the Gnomes of New Hope Facebook page.

TO BOOKSELLERS;

The pricing structure may change depending on what kind of relationship I develop with a Bookseller.

A recent experience simply inscensed me because of the lack of respect I received right out if the box by an insulting buyer. The bookstores for whom that person works are banned from any of my product for life.

Don't expect a full keystone that's not going to happen unless booksales exceed 250k and/or the Bookseller purchases a large quantity of books.

There are five parties who need to make a profit in this process. If the Bookseller gets a keystone that not fair.

The books are expensive to make because of the full color illustrations and the MSRP reflects a price that is tolerable to the buying public, not a doubling the costs all along the way.

My modus operandi is that all parties share in the profit equally after manufacturing costs and make a reasonable profit. A keystone is not reasonable, even if it is a retail standard.

Some profit is better than no profit. AG

Image of the Mind Studios: IMS Producing Partners

Image of the Mind Studios: IMS Producing Partners:

I just discovered a variation in the web address to IMS Producing Partners .  

 So here is the corrected link. (it is correct in the ...

Ok, so I've been investigating the settings on IMS Producing Partners. I've selected some people who are interested in what we are doing and who have proven trustworthy with the information that is posted there. If you are a Business Partner, Potential Business Partner, interested Industry Professional, Friend of the Project, or Investor you will have access to the page if you request it.

 I have eliminated the subscription aspect, since that has not worked out well. But if you are a Legitimate Producing Partner or participant you will automatically have access.  I will create a new blog for post financials, contracts or other sensitive information and restrict that blog to only vested individuals.

The current IMS Producing Partners is mostly for General Business Documents regarding producing, but not any specific or signed agreements or for investment reports. AG

Book Sales & Distribution

    I have determined that I will not deal directly with bookstores.  

     I am discussing book sales with one bookstore; Farley's Book Shop in New Hope. We have not finalized any arrangements to sell the books, but I am inclined to give them the exclusive right to sell the books, until such time as I have finished the entire collection of Illustrated Storybooks.

     I will of course be setting up my Sales Office at the Studio and moving forward with the online Shopping cart. I will service orders received via those outlets. Bookstores wishing to carry the books will need to come to me and the only terms I will accept are those outlined in my order form. I will NEVER consider consignment under any condition, so don't even suggest it, or I will ban sales to you. If that sounds harsh, you can thank the disrespect that certain bookstores have proffered.

    This is a result of numerous factors. Firstly, I need to finish the remaining books in the collection and I feel that I cannot get distracted, or spend resources, trying to convince booksellers to carry the books. Secondly, with the remaining books needing to be finished, I cannot be required to manufacture large quantities of books or tend to the idiosyncrasies involved.  If an order comes into my studio as a result of a buyer coming to the office and submitting a paid-in-advance order, and returning to pick up that order, then I will accept and fulfill that order. I am set-up to manufacture. Otherwise, I will be looking for another publisher to pick-up manufacturing and distribution on a large scale for the general market. I will also consider developing relationship with Sales Reps, if there is anyone wanting to do that. My taking on sales and distribution, on top of the other work I need to do, is too much for me.

   I very much need to stay in the areas of work that I have set up in the studio. You can see those areas in other discussions. In particular, working on the theatrics of the project and moving forward with illustration and animation.

    So are the facts I have now come to realize.

    If you are a potential investor in The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture and your specialty is Publishing, Marketing, or Distribution, there is a Board Position for that. Talk to me about that. AG

Thoughts about Producing

   For the last few days I was working on producing activities. Even though I always was very focused on and interested in producing, I find that today I have been working on some of the layout adjustments and design for the books. I find myself to be much more calm and happy doing that.

Producing is stressful... always thinking about money or trying to figure out where the resources are going to come from to do what needs to be done. It's a bit of a drag, really. Especially when the numbers start getting bigger and the forward momentum becomes increasingly dependent on those resources being in place. Although I have to say it's a rush getting things done when the resources are there and that's not a concern. It's only when you get close to running on empty that everything gets all jammed up.

   This whole thing is at the point where substantial resources are called for. Once you start to staff a production things start hopping. You just can't do that without the budget in place. It's like a Catch 22. You need the budget to raise the budget to make the budget. There's a certain amount of guess work involved.

I could use a hundred grand right about now. Hopefully that would buy enough gas to get to the next town.

AG

Investment Package

In response to investment discussions, the Press Packet and the Bookseller Packet are contributing to the Industry Review Package. I am reviewing the Business Plan and the Front Money Agreement to update them, taking into account the circumstances that have changed.

Since there are numerous arenas that are under development, the terms and conditions continue to address activity in those foundational areas of attention, at all times leaving the door open to go in a (possibly better) New direction.

If you are one of the people who have been talking to me (or an investor, producer, or other interested professional) let me know via email or text. I'm getting extremely busy (crazy) tending to all the details, so I need you to make the effort to stay in touch with me. Be certain to leave a message if you call. More often then not, I prefer to let the phone go to voice mail.

Many aspects of this are starting to fly. 🛩️

That's it for now. AG

The Artwork of Jency Latta

Updated 5/19

    It seems I attempted to set up a Gallery Page. I'm not sure about that, but I'll try to pay attention to it more, simply because I want to provide a way to view the images that have now been published in Book One.

Also, I will try to insert more character images in the sidebars, since the posts go on beyond what I have already posted.

An early sketch of Gnomeville and The Squirrel's Nest...

...which turned into the one below. There were numerous sketches in between, many of which found their way into other scenes or applications.  For a wonderful view of The Squirrel's Nest check out my Facebook home page. (this link takes you to the IMS page, but you can get to my Home page from there) I love that watercolor, but it cannot serve as the actual Squirrel's Nest because it is too close to the ground. It needed to be higher and easier to hide from view.

 The above image has been refined further and will be available as a puzzle.

(I'll replace this image with that one when I can)

ARCHIVE

10/13
A new page has been created specifically as a gallery of the artwork we are using for the Gnomes of New Hope and I am placing a link in the side bar.  It doesn't seem to want to add try this  The Artwork of Jency Latta