Kickstarter

They've arrived! And what's more, if you're reading this, there's a good chance your copy is already on its way to you. 

Or possibly you already have it.

Or, also possible: it's sitting on my dining room table waiting to be hand-delivered to you. In which case, we should get together for happy hour soon (or Mother's Day).

Or, your name ends in -esselgrave, and you never sent me your address... 

So, I guess this is probably the final Kickstarter update for Tolliver Toad. But not the end of the good times, remember, simply the beginning of Black Market Books. Great things are on the way, and I will do my best to keep you informed. Thank you all so so so much for helping out with BMB's first project, I hope you like it when you finally see it. I sure do.

Bruce

PS, drop me a line if you haven't received your copy in a week or two, I suppose. Except the one to Australia. For you, Jen, merry christmas. :)

All technical difficulties have been fixed, and Tolliver is printing as we speak! Four weeks until it's done, then I will be sending all of you your copy(ies) and any additional rewards. 

It's going to look so nice, you guys. 6x9, landscape. Hardbound. I can't thank you all enough for supporting this project, which, by the way, will mark the official launch of my new publishing company: Black Market Books! (Not a whole lot going on at the Facebook page just yet, but it sure could use some Likes, hint hint.) 

The publishing world is going nuts right now, and it might not seem like a good time to start a venture like this. But one thing I've learned is that "traditional" publishers just aren't willing to take risks anymore. Sure, no one WANTS to risk their money, but publishers used to be able to imagine a completed picture book based on the text alone. Then they would find the "best" illustrator for the job, figure out who to market it to, and take a risk that it would all work out well – because they were invested in their own vision of it. Now, though, they want to see a project in its final, completed form before they'll even consider it. No imagination. And if they don't like it at that point, it's dead. No room left to tweak it, because it's already done. 

So, I figured: if I have to complete all my projects before a publisher will even LOOK at them, I'm better off doing the work, selling them on my own, and letting publishers find me if they have a better deal. No more time spent sending work out to them.

And that's that. The Black Market Books manifesto. I'll be revamping sketchsketchsketch.com as a better hub to all my projects – both for sale and in-progress. I'll be looking into some distributors to widen my reach. And, most importantly, I've got some great projects already lined up. A retelling of the Three Little Pigs! A multicultural trip around the world for kids who love buses! Zombies! Talk to you soon...

And a million thanks!
Bruce