The Fourth Prototype

So many years of effort to produce these books. It unbelievable. You know the biggest reason it took so long has been computer failures. I have lost my work multiple times from hard disc failure. This has resulted in forcing me to rebuild those files at least four times. I finally got smart enough to burn the files to DVD as a backup. But even so, I have lost the work files for all the artwork. Fortunately I have the flattened copies of the art. But still, I which I could recover the original work files. Although, I have to say, I've got a grip on processing the images much more quickly.

So, I am just about ready to print the next prototype. I may have said this elsewhere, but coordinating seventeen books is not easy. The collection  consists of seven books, in three editions; the Gnome-sized books, the Big People books, and a three volume set of the Big People books. So all told there are seventeen books. The real challenge is making sure there is consistency in the design and assuring that all corrections and adjustments are present in all the books. Right now I am reviewing the numbering of both the pages and the document files. For now, each page is in it's appropriate file, set up by scenes within the book numbers. I was surprised to find a few sections where the page numbers were not positioned properly. I'm somewhat baffled how that happened, but since I've had to use multiple versions of the layout to reach this final stage, I'm sure that was the culprit. I've entirely changed my method of editing the pages, which basically involves editing the graphic layout and not the originating text layout. When I came up with a method to do that it really simplified my process. The original text files were huge and I suspect they brought about the hard disc failure. It had gotten to the point where I couldn't open the files to edit them, so I switched my methodology.

Well, we have begun working on the art again. We are doing sketches to replace the description panels where we don't have the illustrations. After all the panels have been interpreted with pencil sketches, we will return to refining the sketches, followed by coloring, then processing those illustrations according to the standards that I have used to prepare the illustrations. It's a lot of work. Sometimes I wonder how I got myself into this? I've been working on this since 1997.

Of course, during that time, I wrote the libretto, the lyrics, the music (in partnership), and the Storybooks, not to mention partnering to create the art and the illustration panels. So an awful lot of work has been done. There's more to do.

The music needs more work. There are at least six or seven numbers that have not been orchestrated or arranged. I need to go back and redo the time signatures and the divsi, since I lost six months of work to hard disc failure. And then there is the scoring. I've done drafts of many of the numbers, but they are not good enough to present to a maestro. So that needs to be done.

It's very hard to continue doing all this work without it producing any income. The entire investment has been on me. At this point I'd guess and say it's been at least 500k, probably quite a bit more, considering I work on this every day, a minimum of nine hours a day and I have been doing that for over fifteen years.

Thankfully, the technical layout is, literally, hours away from being finished. That in itself is a major accomplishment. But even with that, the details of advancing this project can be overwhelming.

So, that being said, as I've said before, I'm wanting to find a literary agent to advance this while I take a break to put my vehicles back together. It unbelievable the amount of projects that have been pushed aside to finish these books and frankly, they are more than just catching up to me, the unfinished projects are becoming a problem. But I keep myself entirely focused on The Gnomes of New Hope nonetheless.

But really, I need a break. I just can't do it, unless this goes to the next level of business with an agent, or partners for The Elder Gnomes Joint Venture, or The Gnomes of New Hope Productions, or IMS Management, or an assortment of licensing for merchandising, like Gnome Gnog.

So that's the skinny on the Gnomes of New Hope.

Let me know if you want to jump in.

AG

Binding and Covers

I've been preparing the covers for the collection. Strangely enough, that involves thirty-four separate files. The reason being that there both hand-stitched and machine bound editions, including boxed sets. It becomes very complicated to match all these elements between that many files, especially since there are literally, dozens or more layers. Well, it is progressing toward completion. It looks real good. AG

Here are some of the characters.

The Three Volume Set

You may know that the primary focus of IMS Publishing is currently on the project The Gnomes of New Hope. That being the case we are currently publishing the prototypes of Revision 300 of the Three Volume Set. As you may have seen on The Gnomes of New Hope blog, there are Seven Books in the boxed set, but also, those seven books comprise a Three Volume Set. So the Three Volume Set is the best way to register and market the entire collection, not so much for Retail Sales as much as within Industry Circles. Interestingly, having bound Volume Two, I'm starting to think that the Three Volume Set is more desirable than I originally thought. 

Now, I have created the Gnome-Sized and Big People Books for two reasons. The Gnome-Sized Books represent the least expensive way to purchase the books, being priced at $8.95 per book. But since the layout looks so good, The Big People Books offer a "coffee table/graphic novel" book. The Big People Books are priced at $29.95 each. I wish I could produce the books for less, but unless a receive orders amounting to tens of thousands (or more) books, there is no way to bring the price down. Even then, the MSRP will remain the same and any discounts will be up to the distributor/retailer. Books sold by IMS will only be Limited Editions, which are signed & numbered and are priced higher than the MSRP. The reason for this is that the Limited Editions are being used to finance the continuing illustration and animation work. I will address the Limited Editions in conjunction with investment in a separate post, probably in IMS Producing Partners. 

Rev 300 is primarily a set-up run and intended for Industry Review, but some of those books will be sold as Collectable Editions used to raise production funds. So if you may like to invest in the project, let me know. Send me an email Att; Arthur Greisiger at (image.of.the.mind.studios@gmail.com). Expect to see photographs of the Three Volume Set, which, by the way, consists of nearly 900 pages.

AG

Revision 300

So the final Storybook layout is out to press for the prototype run. As I said elsewhere, I priced Volume One at $29.95, Volume Two at $39.95, and Volume Three at $49.95. I have my doubts as to whether or not we can actually achieve those prices, but the books are well worth that price. Volume One is Book One and that price works, but Volumes Two and Three each contain three books and Volume Three is larger than Volume Two.  It may be that I will have to publish the Books separately in order to keep the price down. However, the largest expense is binding and handling, so the Volume, in the long run, ends up cheaper. It's just that the MSRP is higher. Well, we'll see after the prototypes are finished and they go out for printing quotes.

I hope I can locate distribution, but I'm not going to inventory product and I'm not paying for any inventory. So I need a vested partner for inventory. It could be a distributor, or simply an investor. But anyway you look at it the equity is in the inventoried product, less my cut. My cut comes right off the top, before any sales, meaning it's incorporated into the wholesale price. I wholesale inventory, to a distributor or an investor. So, that's my deal.

On another front; now that The Illustrated Storybook is semi-finished (being short on illustrations, but completely written and laid out for publication), I am moving to publish the Libretto. 

The Libretto has be finished for ten years, but the Score to the music is not finished. That fact has put the Libretto in limbo. But with the publication of the Illustrated Storybook that is based on the Libretto, the story and character elements have derived copyright protection. That makes it possible for the Libretto to be reviewed by Industry Professionals, most particularly, theatrical producers who engage in Union productions. I can handle non-union product, buy I don't want to produce the Union product, simply because of the regulations involved. So I will be jobbing that out, either through employing or partnering with a union producer with Image of the Mind Studios, or by Licensing the show out to another Producing Organization.

I'll discuss this further, elsewhere.

AG