I was hoping to post this in time to wish you all Merry Christmas, but for various reasons it’s proved impossible to get it out until today. So I offer you my compliments for the season instead, and my best wishes for 2025. By all indications, it promises to be an anxious and exciting year.
For me, it will be anxious and exciting for one special reason on top of all the general ones: Thomia will, I hope, finally see the light of day as a printed book and go out to seek its fortune in the market. Slightly to my own surprise, we still seem to be on schedule to launch in the first week of February, in time for Old Boys’ Day at Mount Lavinia.
After much anticipation and several last-minute adjustments, Thomia finally went to the printer, Softwave Printing & Packaging, on Christmas Eve. The last change of all was a particularly significant one; an increase in the physical size of the book from quarto (as originally envisaged) to a slightly larger 11"x7.7". After reviewing paper and board costs, we found we were able to do this without additional expenditure, and after thinking about it for a while I decided to go ahead. It will make the type slightly larger, and the book will become easier to read in consequence. The increase in size does not make for a great increase in weight, although it’s possible that postage and packing charges may have to increase marginally. If this happens, overseas customers who’ve already purchased their copies will not be charged any additional amount – a promise is a promise – although new purchases will be billed for P&P based on the revised table of charges. The difference, as I say, will be slight. I have received relatively few orders for shipping overseas so far. Most buyers living abroad have preferred to make arrangements with some friend or relative living in the Greater Colombo area (wherein delivery is free of charge) to take possession of the volumes on their behalf and forward them by some private means. I heartily endorse this practice – why waste money on postage if you can possibly avoid it? – and encourage the rest of you who live abroad to do the same if at all possible. Finally, in this last post of 2024, an update on orders and sales. Right now the numbers are: sales 106, orders 129. That means that roughly half the number of people contacted in the first sales canvas made pledges or placed orders, and four-fifths of those who did have bought copies of Thomia. To all of them, my most sincere thanks – and I’ll always be grateful. I don't know whether 105 sales out of 250 ‘calls’ is a good show or a not-so-good one, but I do know that I need to sell another 120–150 books just to break even on print costs. So if you’ve ordered Thomia but haven’t made your payment yet, it would be great if you could do so before the New Year dawns – in the spirit of the season, so to speak. As to those who haven’t yet placed their orders, I urge you to visit https://www.thomia.com/hhy and order today. Or just send an email to gallebuck@yahoo.co.uk and I’ll send you all the details. Remember, the pre-publication discount price ends on launch day!
All the best for 2025 (and what’s left of 2024), Richard
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