If you’re a regular reader, and you have or would buy one of my books, I would really appreciate it if you would post a comment/reply to this post about two questions:
1. If I were to publish complete collections of my work on a regular basis–books that collected all my editorial cartoons and illustrations, for example, or perhaps all my columns–would you buy them? How much would you be willing to pay for them? How about collections of older material, going back to the early 1990s? Would you buy one, or a stack of them for your family and friends?
I’m asking because these would be self-published, and I would need to know how much interest there was in such books before shelling out the bucks for them.
2. If you could request any kind of Ted Rall book–about Central Asia, a graphic novel, a self-help book, whatever–what would it be?
Thanks in advance for your replies. If the results are interesting, it’ll help determine what I do book-wise in the near future.
54 Comments.
I own almost all of your books- might be missing one or two.
I would likely buy a comics collection ( @ $20) if it revolved around a theme (Bush Administration, economic fun, etc).
Just a collection of old cartoons, maybe half that, and really only because I believe in supporting artists I truly like with my wallet to 'encourge' them rather than waiting for them to be remaindered or used. Since I already buy your other books I would not feel as much of an obligaton as I might otherwise. But I would probably buy it.
2)Definitely an Central Asia or other region that you happen to visit. Definitely a 'Revenge' or "War with Brian' book. I would pay somewhat more for the former than latter, probably $20 as opposed to $!5, depending on the size.
While I would pay less for the latter, I am also more likely to buy at least one or two as gifts.
Speaking of which- and you may not be able to comment on this in public, which is fine- while I am fortunate enough to live in an area where I can patronize quality independent bookstores rather than chains or Amazon, I always wonder if for persons such as yourself it would actually be better to purchuse from one of the Big People. Not that one copy makes much of a difference but…
Hi Ted,
I've got most of your books, including ATRHC. Just about anything you've done before would be good to do some more of. But I think you could also do a great social commentary "travelogue" of France, where you tell people about places there where you had interesting discussions with locals or where you saw some example that can be contrasted with the USA. Use this as a vehicle to critique the whimpy approach of Obama to societal change. We on the left don't need a bunch of think tanks. We just need someone to go to Europe, look around, and point out the obvious about the better alternatives we're missing. Of course, throw in a few graphic panels and new cartoons, and maybe a comparative chapter written from neutral sites such as Istanbul or Islamabad. This project is vital, because I think that only you could do it right. Think about it.
Good luck.
Bruce
Ted, you ask an interesting question.
You are trying to determine the market potential and future cash flows for an investment decision. Very capitalist of you.
Now imagine a person or company that could tell you with perfect certainty which item you might publish that would find the widest appeal and generate the most sales dollars. How much might that information be worth to you?
As a very simple example, if you have 10 items to publish, and each one costs $100,000 to publish, that is a total investment of $1 million. However, what if only 1 of them has potential and its potential gross profit to you before the publishing costs is $300,000. If you publish them all, you will be broke (or at least poorer by $700,000). I would suppose the information of which item to publish would be worth either $200,000 (the profit you stand to generate) or even up to $700k, the loss you can avoid.
So, is it a "rancid" idea (from your 2/25/09 post) that the person with the ability to deliver this information might earn $100k (only half of the lowest value to you)? Even if their "work" to deliver this information might only take 2 work days…leading to an annual salary of $12.5 million. (50 weeks, 5 days, 50K/day…and assumes the person can deliver similarly valuable information to many others)
If the answer is "yes, quite rancid"…then is it also a "rancid" idea that you, as the publisher and creator of information might earn up to $200k on the transaction?
I surely don't agree with all of the attached, it is still a though provoking item:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A
I would buy collections of the comics going back to the early nineties (circa Waking Up In America?) up to about 4 years ago or whenever it was you rehabilitated your graphic style. I've been loving the work from the 90's you've put up in the archive. I would buy a copy of each volume for myself and one or two as gifts.
I would buy a graphic novel if the story intrigued me, especially if it were a return to form.
I would buy a book of illustrations if it were in color.
The Asian /Travel writing doesn't interest me. I enjoy reading your columns but I wouldn't buy them. I would buy a book of both comics and text if the writing were thematically related to the comics in a similar fashion to Latchkey Kids.
Have you thought about publishing by subscription?