Having focused my time and energies on completing Master of the Majicks Vol. 1 lately, I have neglected to keep up with the postings on this board. So here’s a bit of catching up with answers to a few questions posted above.


Any chance the first two volumes of Master of the Majicks will be reissued by Archive Editions? The prices vendors want to charge on Amazon or eBay is a bit too much.

Currently there are no plans for reprinting Vol. 2 or Vol. 3. Any reprint would be, in effect, starting over from the printing standpoint (although my original layout files are still intact, the factory has to strike all new films and plates). I simply don’t foresee that there would be enough sales to cover that cost, even if I order up a smaller print run (which would increase the per-copy price).


Somewhere in the distant future I may come out with a limited edition boxed set of all three volumes, but there are no concrete plans for that yet. Such a re-issue would also provide the opportunity to update information, upgrade photo quality in some cases, and correct errors (from my most egregious error —that actor Hal Smith co-wrote It Came From Beneath the Sea, corrected thanks to smart detective work by Ted Newsom— all the way down to minor typos).


If I do a boxed set of all three volumes, I plan to investigate the costs involved so that I might put aside a small quantity of each volume to sell individually (I don't like the idea of "forcing" a customer to buy the whole boxed set if, for example, he only needs Vol. 2). An “errata” listing the above-mentioned corrections would also be made available as a downloadable document so those who own Vol. 2 and/or Vol. 3 can stay up-to-date without having to order the full box set.


The prices on the eBay auctions and the listings on Amazon, while amazing, are a bit deceptive. While the Sold Out status of Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 has no doubt escalated the markup, those prices don't indicate a broader demand.


Why do they cost so much?

These books are expensive to produce. Majicks was always intended to be a high-end deluxe “coffee-table”-style book series for the collector— hardcover, full color dust jacket, quality paper, sewn binding, and full color throughout. (Keep in mind, too, that Vol. 2 included over 1,000 photos and Vol. 3 included over 3,600 photos.) Vol. 2 sold for $74.95 at 370 pages, and yet with Vol. 3, at 670 pages (approaching twice the page count), we managed to hold down the price increase to only $10 more (to $84.95). We strive to keep the retail price as low as possible, but the production costs are what they are. We could have produced a series of print-on-demand trade paperback editions, but from the start we elected to produce a high-quality product.


Will Majicks be reissued in tablet format?

No. Considering the content and format as described above, converting the three volumes of Majicks to e-book format would be a formidable task. That process is improving all the time, as are all things in technology, and some day it might be a simple ”button push." But for the time being, it's not practical, especially for a small-press operation such as ours. (If the books had been designed for tablet from the start, or in some kind of cross-format setup, it might not be as much an issue. But the layouts are far too "deep" into print mode to allow for a practical conversion.)


Also, I can’t ignore the fact that most of the complaints I have received about Jim Danforth’s e-book concern that format. Surprisingly, there have been numerous comments from otherwise die-hard stop motion fans who flat out refuse to buy the book precisely because it's an eBook. Latest industry surveys and marketing data seems to indicate that the whole eBook phenomenon is settling into a particular market, which seems to be largely fiction or non-fiction (i.e., primarily text) and "disposable" reading material. This last has been identified as magazines and the kinds of escapist content "most often bought at airports by travelers to pass the time."


I don't have enough experience to comment on the above analysis, but I can confirm that virtually all of my customers have enthusiastically supported the fact that the Majicks books are actual printed-on-paper, high-end books. I think that has to do a lot with being able to easily browse the extensive visual material in a traditional way, as well as preserving Ray Harryhausen’s legacy in a tangible form.


Could the next volume of Jim Danforth's autobiography also be released on tablet format as well?  [—and—] I would love to have Jim Danforth's book for my Kindle Fire.

The next volume of Jim’s book is planned to be a direct download in PDF format rather than a physical CD. Jim has not designed his Vol. 2 specifically for Kindle or iPad, but his page format is a tablet-friendly 3x4 ratio, and from what I understand from other customers, PDF files can be imported to and viewed on tablets without much —if any— trouble.