The Making of Kooky Pets book. Chapter 2

If you followed the Kooky Pets project since it’s beginnings in June 2009, you might remember that my original idea was to produce a set of trading cards with the illustrations. It was a fun idea but, to be honest, I’ve been alway been more of a book person rather than a gambler… So after the project was completed, I realized I had material enough to go for a very special book if I just produce some extra stuff.

So far, you just know the original 12 character illustrations of Kooky Pets that were posted in this blog. You might be wondering about what the hell are you going to find in more than 60 full color pages!

I’m not going to unveil all the secrets throughout this ‘Making Of’ experiment but here is a summary of the content of the book. In forthcomings blog posts I will share with you the making each of these chapters at it’s different stages of production. But for now, let’s fantasize about what’s coming next!

KOOKY PETS – CONTENT SUMMARY

• Cover
• Endpaper
• Intro pages & credits
• Index
• Preface
• Chapter 1- History. An introduction about research information and historical precedents of the Kooky Pets. Includes text and illustrations.
• Chapter 2- The Kooky Pet Team. A presentation of all 34 members of the Kooky Pet Team of scientist and explorers. Includes a portrait and description of each member. If you are a Kooky Pet collaborator, this will be your spot!
• Chapter 3- The Kooky Pets. The collection of 12 Kooky Pets. Each character will be featured in 4 pages. Includes a text introduction of the character, drawings, notes from the author, notes from the members of the Kooky Pet team, and other extra stuff.
• Appendix. This section will include extra information and illustrations about the Kooky Pets.
• Bonus material. This will come only in the 1st Limited Edition and… it’s a surprise!

The Making of Kooky Pets book. Chapter 1

With this very post starts my new adventure of sharing with you the process of making my forthcoming book: Kooky Pets. If any of you have been wondering what I’ve being doing about during the last weeks since I announced it, I’ll let you know: making decisions.

Sometimes, this is the most tedious part of a project but it saves a lot of energy and frustration when you have our goals clear before you actually start taking action. That’s why I always like to make all the important and small decisions before anything else. These include the general scope of the project, content, design and artistic direction, texts, publishing, marketing and pricing.

The task of taking decisions can be a little frustrating at times. For me, the most important goal is always to remain true to the main spirit of the project and to follow my instinct, instead of being carried away by fears. In this case, the original spirit of the book is the experience of creating a collection of unique creatures with the priceless collaboration from you, my blog readers. That’s what the real heart of the project is so my only concern should be to keep it rolling before any side considerations. It is supossed to be a continuation of the exciting experiment that we embarked on last year, when I invited you to help create a bunch of imaginary pets.

About the fears, I want to share with you a few confessions. Considering that so far this is going to be a self-published book, there are quite a few things that could dampen this beautiful experience:

• The small distribution and small reach of this publication.
• The lack of monetary compensation.
• The possibility of not seeing this work re-published ever.
• The doubts about how much this will really help me promote my career as an author/illustrator…

Now, the good news is that I’m leaving all these clouds behind to just concentrate on the positive aspects of it all:

• This is such an unique and beautiful project. It’s fun and it has been created with the illusion and enthusiasm of other people who make it even more exciting. It’s worth to be experienced!
• Throughout the Kooky Pets workshop at this blog, I have already experienced how other people can feel joy about it. I want to take this a step further with a book that people can enjoy.
• In terms of success, money and reputation, you never really know what’s going to happen next when you put out a book. So, let’s enjoy it and expect the best from it!
• Being able to share my world with other people is the best that I can expect to happen from my work. After all, that’s the ultimate reason why I’m doing this. Even if I only sell a single book, if the feeling is authentic and it’s really there, then it’s worthwhile.
• Any more reasons? Here is an important one: I don’t really believe in making decisions with my logical mind in the so called ‘conscientious’ way. All the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life were from the most intuitive part of myself, made with passion, illusion and without fear. Every time I don’t do things this way it seems to turn wrong for me…

In my next post, I will share with you some thoughts about the spirit of this project and how important your feedback is in the making of this book. Before that, I’d like to let you know about the most practical specifications of the book from the publishing point of view. You’ve been asking quite a lot and I wouldn’t like to take advantage of your patience so I don’t want to keep this uncertainly any more. You want to know a little more about the Kooky Pets book? There you go:

Kooky Pets Book details:

Title: Kooky Pets (provisional working title, YTBD)
Author: Text, illustration and design by Koldo Barroso; featuring the conceptual collaboration of the Kooky Pet Team!
Hardcover. 60 to 70 full color pages. (YTBD)
Product Dimensions: 7×7 inches
Manufacturer: Blurb
Publisher: self published (open to offers from publishers)
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Imagination, Illustration.
Age: Young adults and adults. 12+
Release date: Spring 2010 (YTBD).
Pricing:

Compiled with the collaboration of a team of erudite scientists, this is the product an Internet and social media experience where blog readers are co-creators as well as protagonists.