The books selling are the Maakika Art Book and the "World Mysteries" as they used to call these books -Some Things Strange & Sinister, Some More Things Strange & Sinister, Pursuing The Strange & Weird: A Naturalist's Viewpoint. Not the comics nor, and I had hoped it might, the Mystery Canids book.
I had a phone call earlier for some radio stringer (basically, they interview people and put together "features" that radio stations might use) that does a lot of BBC work. He said: "You are a noted naturalist and have your name on technical papers and you were an exotic animal consultant for UK police forces from 1977-2007 so I was surprised to hear you made comics" and my response was that I had no idea why that should be so odd? Apparently, it was odd to him because people at universities and police officers he had spoken to mentioned it in passing. It's nothing new because in 2009 (?) a professor from a Welsh university came down for a meeting and said "My students said you published Black Tower comics -they said to say 'Hello!'"
It's odd to me that certain people fail to understand that if you are a naturalist or a comic publisher that you can do both -if they knew of "the other work"!
So I did one ten minutes long interview on comics and another ten on "mysteries" in which I dropped the title of my Mystery Canids book a few times. I doubt any of it will be used. The BBC alone has vast amounts of filmed (yes, I've been involved in that,too) and audio recordings that never get used. It's a sort of hoarding: the BBC MUST have this even if they don't use it.
It was a slow day!
But after all the talking and checking orders I sat down, for 5 minutes and thought about it. At one point the stringer had pointed out that I got over 2 million blog views so must get offers of work all the time? I could have laughed. I explained, reluctantly, about comics in the UK, and he said "Why don't you send a call out to business people or publishers in the UK via the blog?" Well, I've 'never' thought about doing that before!
Europe is, sadly, looking more and more like an option these days. I'm getting no younger and I need to earn a living.
That was my day...almost. Hope yours is being more productive and profitable!
No. But at least people know you're alive ! Glad to hear a few books have been selling... I do think, and this is just me, that a mix of text and comic strips would sell. Look at the 'Nostalgia Comic' I sent you. That, I think, is attractive. Anyhoo. Off. Seeya.
ReplyDeleteSome times, when you walk the path of counter-actuality, it is best that NO ONE knows you exist...'cept the beard.
ReplyDeleteYep. I've found that. Definitely. It can have it's positive and negative aspects. I haven't tried a beard.
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