distribution – Gerry Mooney Illustrating Dickens

My London Video

When I was prepping my last blog post about my London adventures, I was a little leery of posting (or announcing) a 20-minute video because I thought most folks would just click away from it! Although it was included in my previous post, it was at the very bottom and I soft-pedaled it in my email. After some time to think about it, though, I decided that it was worth sharing and watching in all its glory.

There were two folks shooting video of my presentation, and although the one that live-streamed on FB had some technical problems for the first two minutes, I was able to cut the two versions together so well that it’s like I was using a two-camera setup.

My full presentation at Dickens Day 2025 thanks to Jeremy Parrott and Warren Weiss

I had asked Jeremy Parrott to help with the live stream. He had some trouble switching the cameras, understandable since I literally threw my phone at him as I rushed to the stage!

Afterwards Warren Weiss, another attendee, came up and said he had shot my whole presentation, and once he emailed me his take, cutting them together was amazingly smooth.

Designing an e-book with Amazon

Moving forward, I’m working with Amazon to design an e-book of BLEAK HOUSE, which is a tricky process since it’s key that the illustrations appear adjacent to the proper text. The book is 68 chapters, so early on I suggested that they send small sections at a time.

Working in sections, we’ve gone through, first, chapters 1-20, and then chapters 21 through 39. Their designer is simply copy-pasting the text from my original pdf of the text version, so the actual proofreading is minimal, but lots of errors creep in at line breaks and paragraph breaks, especially in long sections of dialogue. I am essentially reading paragraph break to paragraph break, onerous enough but it goes quickly.

I opted for a package of services in addition to the e-book, though I’m still waiting to hear a clear list of what that involves. I do know that they’ll be producing a short promotional video, but where that will appear is still a question; and the e-book will get listed on other platforms, but exactly where is unclear.

I’m not too worried about it, as getting the book laid out properly is the main task we’re working on. The folks as KDP have been great to work with so I have hopes for it all.

Moving forward

I’ve decided that the e-book package is the last “big” money I’ll be spending on this project. Once the weather gets nicer I plan on approaching more bookstores in the area about doing linoleum-printing demonstrations, which as it turns out is pretty popular!

I’ve found that the main issue with talking to bookstores is that they need to know that my book is available for them to order through their standard channels. I think I’ve solved that problem, and I will find out once I start getting out and asking at individual stores.

Thanks for reading, folks!

Going to London!

Well, lots going on this Fall with BLEAK HOUSE. This Saturday, Sept. 13, at 1PM Central Time, I’ll be hopefully livestreaming my book signing/linoprint demonstration at the 71st Street Tulsa Barnes & Noble, opposite from Woodland Hills Mall. The staff there has been extremely helpful and welcoming, and have offered to help with the streaming. If you’re on Facebook stop by if you can, should be entertaining.

I’ve been saying for a couple of years now that in creating an illustrated novel I’ve been working in an obsolete form. AFAIK, there hasn’t been an adult illustrated novel in like 50 years (give or take!) and I consoled myself by saying I’ll have the field to myself, ha ha. But the joke’s on me. Check this out…!

My Journey to Speak on BLEAK HOUSE at Dickens Day 2025

Every year the University of London hosts “Dickens Day”, a prestigious event that features speakers on a chosen topic of interest to fans and students of Charles Dickens. It was exciting to see that this year, the topic is “Dickens and Art”, and in a flash it seemed all my efforts were suddenly coming into focus and timed perfectly for the stage my project is currently at.

Of course I could say I’m speaking at the Institute of English Studies at the University of London, but come on, “The Dickens Society” just sounds cooler!

Distribution beyond Amazon

Things always appear easier before you actually do them. It appeared that using the “Expanded Distribution” option for a book published on Amazon would make BLEAK HOUSE more widely available, and it did, sort of.

I’ve been operating under the belief that I could do book signings in Barnes & Noble stores. There are two in Tulsa, and of course there are other, smaller bookstores in most of the bigger small towns in the region. As it turns out, I could indeed have book signings in these B&N stores, as long as I was in the correct distribution channels that would allow these stores to order my book. If they can’t get the book on their shelves, there’s no reason for them to host the event. No matter how nicely you ask, there’s no way around this logic.

Which leads to the obvious question: WHAT are “correct distribution channels”?