that felt like two or three months where nobody knew what was going on. Even in the shipping hubs like the Netherlands and Germany it was just complete chaos. We had thousands of books stuck in the network, as it were, not moving and being returned, and it was just really stressful.” Dyer talks about Covid, last year’s fuel surcharges,
which increased by 30%, and the constant balancing act of trying to pass as little of the extra costs as possible onto the customer, in the hope that costs would begin to stabilise.
lots of ‘stuff’ out there. That’s one of the main differences, because back when we started, people were just loving the fact that someone could do a book on something like the Commodore 64, because nothing like it existed before.”
SETBACKS AND HEADACHES There have been setbacks. Dyer spent eight months developing a Sega Mega Drive compendium, which was in the process of being printed, when he was obliged to put a stop to the whole project. Has that made him more cautious about which projects he backs, given that finding a niche has perhaps become more of a challenge now that books on retro gaming probably outnumber those on more contemporary games like Minecraft, Fortnite and the like? “This is the beauty of just being me, because I don’t have
to answer to anyone about what projects I want to do. I can take something on as a personal thing, without having to make sure it’s… well, obviously, it needs to be financially viable, but, I can take a risk because it’s just me.” What about the growing costs of publishing, which
saw paper costs doubling even before the ‘benefits’ of Brexit had properly kicked in? “Shipping is always the
biggest headache, because you’re at the mercy of all the different couriers all over the world, delivering this item that you’ve put so much love and care into, and they don’t look after it, or don’t deliver it, and you’re pulling your hair out. “Brexit was massive, because
shipping to the EU changed overnight. There was this period
44 | MCV/DEVELOP April/May 2024
GET A BITMAP BOOK TODAY Thankfully the uncertainty and chaos of the last five years has begun, ever so slightly, to dissipate. Throughout it all, despite the increased costs of publishing, demand for Bitmap Books’ titles has generally kept pace. “Even through Covid the business has grown. I’ve
been really lucky. We’ve had some books that have sold two or three thousand and we’ve had some titles that have sold above 15,000. I can’t explain to you why that is. There’s obviously an audience, but some books capture the imagination of potential customers and other books don’t, it’s just a fact of publishing. But if I’ve sold four or five thousand copies of a book, I think that’s pretty good for a niche within gaming.” There are now more than 30 titles in the Bitmap Books
back catalogue and it’s fitting that the most recent, N64: A Visual Compendium, is a throwback to Dyer’s first efforts made at his dining room table just over a decade ago. By the way, the editorial and artistic effort that goes into each title, hits you in the face as soon as you break the cover and the waft of fresh print rises up from the page. Now obviously we don’t do reviews here at MCV, but if we did, we’d urge you to buy at least one Bitmap Book. Just don’t go looking on Kickstarter for it.
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