JOHN WALTER SKINNER

photo courtesy WALTER GARDINER Worthing,1976.

HOW DO YOU DO - SITE NOW IN DEVELOPMENT!!

MY WEBSITE IS NOW IN CONSTRUCTION WITH A VIEW TO SELL THOUSANDS OF CUTTINGS OF SHOW-BIZ CELEBRITIES ON-LINE AND PERHAPS OTHER ITEMS IN MY VAST COLLECTION. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME AS THIS WILL TAKE MANY MONTHS TO CONSTRUCT; I HAVE SOLD BOOKS ON AMAZON FOR SEVERAL YEARS...

q&a with alter ego Raoul Johns:

What about these books you are working on-won't you have a lot of opposition with data online.?
YES BUT I AM CONFIDENT JOE PUBLIC WILL BUY MY BOOKS-ONE BOOK THE CUMULATIVE INDEX WILL HAVE 10000 ENTRIES!! YOU'VE GOT TO REMEMBER THAT REFERENCE BOOK PUBLISHING HAS A READY-MADE AUDIENCE FOR THIS TYPE OF WORK COMPARED WITH BRINGING OUT A NOVEL-WHAT YOU HAVE TO BE SURE OF IS THAT YOUR BOOK CONTAINS ADDITIONAL MATERIAL YOU CAN't G ET ELSEWHERE.WE ANTICIPATE £1m GROSS TURNOVER...

Are you the john walter skinner who used to run his own magazine?
YES, I RAN THE INTERNATIONAL FILM COLLECTOR MAGAZINE FROM 1972-1980 AND THEN I PUBLISHED TWO BOOKS,WHO'S WHO ON THE SCREEN (SEE BOOKS IN PRODUCTION BANNER) WHICH WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL, AND THEN SCREEN PORTRAITS:GLAMOUR GIRLS AND ACTRESSES WHICH DIDN'T TOO WELL SINCE I FAILED TO GET DISTRIBUTION...IN THE MEANTIME I HAVE BUILT UP A TREMENDOUS ARCHIVE OF BRITISH FILM STILLS AND CELEBRITY INFORMATION WHICH I HOPE TO USE IN MY SENSATIONAL A-Z SECTION...

Why are you doing this when we already have IMDb and Britflick sites?
I BELIEVE I CAN COMPETE WITH OTHER WEBSITES - I HAVE BEEN TOLD MY TRUMP CARD IS SEVERAL VOLUMES OF "THE STAGE NEWSPAPER" AND "SCREEN INTERNATIONAL" TO DRAW DATA FROM...I ALSO SEEM TO HAVE ACCESS TO MORE MATERIAL THAT OTHERS AS I HAVE BEEN AT IT LONGER THAN THE YOUNGER DATA-INPUT MOB-I CAN RECALL WH APPEARED ON THE LATER "THIS IS YOUR LIFE" SHOWS,FOR INSTANCE.

yes,but this is only of minimal importance,surely?
MAYBE,BUT THIS SORT OF DATA IS USEFUL TO PAD OUT AUTOBIOGRAPHIES ETC AND USEFUL TO AUTHORS AND JOURNALISTS..

You say you have been selling books successfully on Amazon - why are you constructing your own website?
I CAN BE MORE HANDS-ON WITH MY OWN SHOPWINDOW-I DON'T MAKE A LIVING FROM SELLING BOOKS, AND, QUITE FRANKLY,I CAN'T GIVE SOME STUFF AWAY,THANKS TO THE CHARITY SHOPS AND ESTABLISHMENTS LIKE POUNDLAND; THIS DOESN'T MEAN I WON'T STOP TRADING ON AMAZON-YOU'VE JUST GOT TO GET HOLD OF STUFF THE PUBLIC WANTS;I RECENTLY BOUGHT AN AMERICAN BOOK CALLED WHO'S WHO OF MARILYN MONROE AND SOLD THIS ON AMAZON IN A MATTER OF HOURS. SECOND-HAND BOOK TRADING IS VERY BAFFLING-YEARS AGO THERE WAS A SHOP CALLED BOOKSMITHS IN BRIGHTON THAT FOR MONTHS HAD A PILE OF RAY MILLAND'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY,WIDE-EYED IN BABYLON FOR TEN BOB EACH;NOW YOU TRY AND FIND A COPY...VERY STRANGE;HOPEFULLY MY WEBSITE WILL BE ADJUSTED WHEN I ENTER MOVIES IN EARNEST...

Can't people buy memorabilia on e-bay?
THEY POSSIBLY CAN BUT I DON'T HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE OF E-BAY - IT'S MORE AN AUCTION SITE,IS IT NOT?

What's your strongest sales strategy?
I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN BY STRATEGY,BUT I WAS TALKING TO A GEEZER A WHILE BACK AND HE SAID HE WAS VERY ENVIOUS OF MY STAGE NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE AND SCREEN INTERNATIONAL BACK NUMBERS-IT APPEARS THERE IS MONEY TO BE MADE FROM UTILISING SUCH DATA ON THE WEB,BUT I HAVEN'T GONE INTO IT YET.

Such as Imbd?
YEAH,THAT'S QUITE A SITE,I AM ON IT,BY THE WAY,WHEN I WAS AN EXTRA ON DOCTOR WHO YEARS AGO!!