Model Railway Backdrop Basics

What a year 2023 is turning out to be! Hot on the heels of February's bestselling release of Model Railway Scenery Secrets, comes my 21st book release, Model Railway Backdrop Basics. And in a year where I'm at the top of my game there will be two more to follow to conclude my Philden Model Railway series of how-to books before the curtains close on the year, and my career...

My 4th Philden Model Railway book is out now!

The excitement of my first book release back in 2007 seems like such a long time ago. Yet it seems poignant to reminisce upon at this particular time. That's because somewhere over the course of this year I've been able to gain a sense of where my writing has come from, when it might end, and the book, or books, with which I'd like to bow out with. So in making the big announcement that Model Railway Backdrop Basics becomes the fourth instalment in my Philden Model Railway Presents series of how-to books, I'd also like to announce that two more of my model railway books will follow during 2023, before I call it a day.

Having just enjoyed my first full year of writing full-time, it has taken a few months of reflecting on this weird, crazy journey called life, to realise that I have actually achieved all of the goals I set out to as a writer. With my model railway books twice becoming bestselling titles on my publishing platform, having had one of my books Award-Nominated back in 2014 and now reaching the milestone of celebrating a 21st book release... I can honestly say that none of that has had any bearing or meaning upon either my life or those around me. How's that for being brutally honest?

While they're all nice little achievements to say that you've ticked off as a writer, it's only by gauging the success that follows that you know if you're kidding yourself in thinking that you can take this any further. In releasing my 4th model railway how-to book, Model Railway Backdrop Basics, it seems I've created a monster. It's taken decades of experience, and years of my life to write and 100% independently produce, publish and distribute my own brand of railway books. Compared to the royalties I once received from my novels through a small publisher, my series of books are by far more profitable and I've been enjoying writing about a hobby that I love. Yet I've reached the point where I've had enough. How is that possible?

Quite simply, I feel I've reached the end of the line with the areas of expertise I feel confident writing about, and the amount of material I have at my disposal to use for my own photography and examples within their pages. To build another model railway layout to create more content for future books is financially counter-productive to the success it would bring, and logistically impossible given that my wife and I enjoy our inner-city apartment lifestyle, albeit with limited space for things such as train sets. Then there is the success of the books themselves. My first of which required an outlay of a few thousand dollars to print and distribute to ensure there were copies on the shelves of the country's best hobby shops. Fast forward to my latest release, and the outlay is now three to four times the cost given their popularity and the need to re-stock the sold-out earlier titles. From there the costs only snowball at a rate greater than my financial return does.

Not only that, but it's killing my hobby time in the process. So with two book ideas I feel I simply must write, I'm entering the next 6 months in much the same way as Michael Jordan did in his final season with the Chicago Bulls. It's The Last Dance all over again, only with model trains. Two more books will see me reach 23 book releases in the year '23. That's Jordan's number 23 that he made famous, and a number which I feel is as good as any to saunter off into the sunset.

Writing has been a huge part of my life. But so too has my model train hobby. Fusing the two together often leads to one overpowering the other, and everyone I've spoken to within the industry either reaps a financial reward at the expense of their hobby time, or makes a loss trying to monetize their hobby interests. By finishing on a high with two final books, I'm not only allowing my hobby to return to being a hobby, but I'll set myself up with a small income stream for years to come.

Beyond that? Who knows. I feel that I gave it my all to become a full-time writer, but having finally reached that goal it was kind of like a 'meh' moment. I'm now more excited by what lays waiting on the other side of it all. If there were any writing projects to emerge in the future years... it wouldn't be under the moniker of Phillip Overton. I'd only be interested in something completely left-field, off-track and unexpected. So it would be fair to say that it would involve writing under a psuedonym, and as it stands that's not today's problem.

So today I tuck into the traditional celebratory book launch platter at the top, before heading off for a weekend with my wife Denise to celebrate another book milestone. Come Moday however, The Last Dance begins, as I get straight back to writing the next book. There's two more books to write, and only six months to do so. This is The Last Dance. Time to make it count.

Model Railway Backdrop Basics is available now direct through Blurb.com.au, and watch for it to appear in leading hobby stores from July onwards.