Are you a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan? Need another giant coffee table book in your life? Want to support yet another Kickstarter effort? Well, you could very well be looking for THIS. Jay Lawrence is putting together what he is hoping will be the largest collectibles book of its kind, and it's all TMNT related.
Backers can get a copy of the book for $50.00 plus respective shipping for USA or international residents. Backers who give $80.00 will get two books as well as their name and picture in the book.
It's a formidable effort (this is the part where I say, "but") BUT, do we really need yet another coffee table book? I don't know about the rest of you, but I've bought my share of coffee table books in my lifetime. They're expensive, heavy and too large to comfortably handle. Quite frankly with the exception of getting thumbed through once or twice for the first week of owning them, they inevitably end up in a box out of site, out of mind - Eventually thrown out after years of storage.
I mean, with great sites such as The Toy Box (shameful plug), why pay for a book that is going to do all of the above? While I was seriously considering throwing my hat into the pile of Kickstarter pledges, I simply couldn't do it. At the end of the day, I just don't need another expensive book destined for a box or the trash (or both).
Not only that, but in perusing the outline Mr. Lawrence had prepared for his Kickstarter pitch I noticed something quite shocking for someone writing a book - It's horribly written. Spelling errors, grammatical errors, and repeating of the same sentences right next to each other.
How many times are we going to be told in a row the book will have vehicles?
Also, "i" should be "I" - That's just basics.
"in fact", not "infact" and again, capitalize "i".
"I also want to seriously want to submit this book as a guinness..."
Do I even need to explain what's wrong with the above sentence?
"I also want to seriously want to submit this book as a guinness..."
Do I even need to explain what's wrong with the above sentence?
Sorry, but if I'm buying a book, I need you to at least be a coherent author. If you can't write a perfect pitch, what confidence do I have you can write a professional book from start to finish? If you can't or won't proof read your own work, then just cut to the chase - Start a Blog instead of a book.
Well...Now that I've completely trashed the book and the writer...Um...Hey, there's a Kickstarter going on for a TMNT encyclopedia if you're interested.
I'm intrigued, mainly because most of the sites focusing on the TMNT toys are incomplete, or they're so old, they have a bunch of links that go nowhere.
ReplyDeleteThe grammar errors are a little concerning, as well as the use of the word "nearly". Nearly all, isn't all. And it's going to be hard to cover the new line, when they're still being produced. Then there's the little problem of licensing, and the fact he might not even have permission to do this. With the number of toys he's covering, I can't imagine that the pictures are going to be that big.
I'm going to have to watch this one for a bit, before I jump in. Hopefully there will be some clarification on the licensing part of it. Otherwise, this whole project might be a no-go.
Very valid concerns with the licensing aspect. Didn't even think of that.
DeleteYeah, that "nearly" word is rather concerning. What is missing from the book?
If I'm not mistaken, licensing isn't a necessity, though he'd probably have to (or would be well-served) by titling it "The Unofficial TMNT Encyclopedia" or something of the sort.
DeleteBut yeah, if it's of a more informative look at things, it shouldn't need to be licensed. Way back in the day I had some sort of unofficial guide to the TMNT, there were unofficial guides to Nintendo, and even around the turn of the century, there were the Cybertronian unofficial guides to Transformers toys. McDonald's toys, Coca-Cola memorabilia, there's all kinds.
There would be some caveats involved, however. I don't think he could use any official imagery -- logos, for instance -- without permission, and that likely includes official photography as well. The aforementioned guides tended to take their own pictures.
You are correct. If you take your own photographs, then technically those images belong to you - Regardless of what the content is. It's when you do a one to one scan of a copyrighted work you run into trouble.
DeleteI know this because several years back I wanted to do a book on all the Garbage Pail Kids cards. Because I was scanning them in, I was using copyrighted material, and Topps sent me a cease and desist letter.
Ah, so he could take pictures of figures and use them all he wants. But, if he tried to just scan in cardbacks, he'd run into trouble? Makes sense.
DeleteI still wonder if most of these photos are going to be big enough to even see all the detail on the figures. There's are a LOT of TMNT toys, and even with the size of this book, there doesn't seem to be enough room for all of them.
Supposedly he is also known for not filling orders on time, keeping in touch with backers, or even filling orders in some cases. At least thats what I have been told by others in the community (hence I said supposedly).
ReplyDeleteWell that's nones the cool. Could explain the limited backing so far.
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