Friday…

Day 238 in the Big Brother hooose…

The lockdown might be getting to me. Or perhaps it’s still my goddamn eyes. I thought they were back to normal, so I skipped the antihistamine tablet on Wednesday night. By the time I went to bed last night, however, my left eye was as bad as it was on Monday and today it’s a gritty mess. I’m back on the tablets but I suppose it will take another day or take effect…

Meanwhile, I was not surprised to see the government suddenly going in hard on Russia. What is surprising is how shameless it all is. The day after they fail to impose Grayling on the Intelligence Committee, the government are now trying to prove that they’re no friend to Russia. If I wasn’t suspicious before (and I was) then I’m certainly suspicious now. I wonder how they think they can get away with it but, then, I look at the polls which remain static and wonder if anybody ever cares. If we can’t get people in the UK to adopt masks to help each other, then how can we expect them to take an interest in something as complicated as Russia?

Last thing I did last night before sleep was catch the interview with Mary Trump on The Rachel Maddow Show. First: her resemblance to the Donald is striking. Second: really fancy reading the book but so, apparently, do a lot to people. They sold a million copies in the first day. That must be such a great feeling, though it’s not surprising given some of the takes she tells. I’m surprised the media haven’t gone bigger on the story of how DJT took away the healthcare from his nephew’s sick baby. I’ve always through him a scumbag – little more than a gangster – but that is utterly shameful. It makes me reassess my verdict of his presidency and what comes next. If he’s willing to do that to further his own interests, what isn’t he willing to do?

As to me: following Dr Johnson’s mantra of working through periods when the spirits are low, I put in about 14 solid hours yesterday pulling together 100 cartoons to make up “the book”. I don’t have a particularly good system for archiving old work, but I found enough quality gags that I was satisfied with the result. I was also surprised that I could go back as far as 2014 and still find cartoons that didn’t need redrawing. Prior to that, however, I’ve had to redraw some old favourites that betrayed my lack of “style”. Not that I think I have much style now but at least they’re passable…

I also uploaded the book to Amazon and was shocked at how much it’s costing to “deliver”. They knock the electronic delivery charge off profits, which was almost leaving me out of pocket, so I’ve altered my plan. I might do two books, half the price of one, but containing only half the cartoons. Amazon have two pricing structures. One where the author earns 70% royalty, and another where the author only gets 30%. However, under the 30% scheme, there’s no delivery charge.

The upshot is: I might earn more on the lower scheme if I can sell more books, which I might do by splitting it into two and reducing the price.

It’s all pipedreams, I know. But I have to do something.

2 thoughts on “Friday…”

  1. Is it actually possible to make any money at all using Amazon self publishing? I can never work out if I managed to get all my cartoons together in one place if it would be a mammoth waste of time or not…How do you market the book? Don’t you just hate being an artist? I am constantly puzzled as to why I am.

    1. I’ll tell you at the end of the next month! I have no idea since my collection only went live yesterday (I’ve a second volume to upload today).

      To be honest: I just wanted my cartoons out there. They’re earning me nothing stuck in a folder on my PC and it’s good to get them backed up, I guess.

      My experience with Amazon isn’t great. I’ve had various small books I wrote on there for years and they’ve generally earned me 20p a month. I think it’s fairly common but I haven’t done anything to promote them. I aim to be a more pushy with the cartoons (hence the ad on this blog) but, again, no idea if it will work.

      I honestly don’t know if I am an artist. I never think of myself in those terms or, if I do, I think of myself as a failed artist. I just know what brings me pleasure and I keep doing it because I can’t bring myself to do something else.

Leave a Reply to Rozanne Cancel reply

Why Dunciad.com?

It’s a cool domain name and it was available. Yes, I know. Available. Crazy, isn’t it?

Really?

Yes. It also helps that it’s also my favourite satire written by Alexander Pope, one of the most metrically pure English poets who also knew his way around a crude insult or two. If you’ve not read it, you should give it a try.

So this is satire, right?

Can’t deny it. There will be some. But it’s also an experiment in writing and drawing, giving work away for free in order to see how many people are willing to support a writer doing his thing. It’s the weird stuff that I wouldn’t get published elsewhere in this word of diminishing demands and cookie-cutter tastes.