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