Dear forum members,
By hazard I see that you have been discussing my Knopfler book for half a year now; I didn't know it, although I know your forum and have read a few interesting, passionate discussions (of course also the reports by Ed Bicknell).
Well, first of all, I would like to thank you very much for your attention (thanks a lot, Jean-François, for spreading the word), for your interest in the book, and basically for your passion for Mark Knopfler. I would like to take this opportunity to clear up a few misunderstandings here. I have read some comments that seem not very friendly (to put it friendly :-) ) to me.
First of all, the nonsense claim that I am writing the book to make money. I did not do any official crowdfunding; I only mentioned in passing that it was possible to support the project either as a sponsor (100 Swiss francs) or as an executive producer (300 Swiss francs). I didn't advertise it aggressively at all – I raised 900.- that way; it helps me a little to invest in advertising. I'm what you call an indie artist (musician and writer) and I've been able to make a living at it for 35 years, but that's it; I'd make much more money in almost any other profession in the world. If I make a rough calculation of what this Knopfler book will ultimately do for me, I estimate that in the best case I will perhaps get an hourly wage of a few dollars; but only if things go well... I worked on it intensively for about 2000 hours (not counting all the know-how from 35 years of professional experience).
So much for the money. Regarding the target audience: I am not writing this book for people who think they know everything anyway (there are people like that in every fan group, not only with Knopfler, of course). I want to communicate all the more or less known information in a condensed, entertaining and profound way, put it in the overall context, turn it into an exciting story, also include my own subjective view – to pay tribute to Mark Knopfler's life's work, spread the passion for his music, and help deepen access to his work and to music in general. You can download a bit more about the content, the concept and the preface here:
https://richardkoechli.ch/images/Mark%20Knopfler%20Buch/Promo-E-book_Mark-Knopfler-Volume1-Table%20of%20Content_Preface_Richard-Koechli_English-Edition.pdfI quoted from many credible sources (and, by the way, also regularly mentioned fans and fan sites, including amarkintime!), and I also received exclusive and partly unpublished interviews that a music journalist friend of mine did with MK in London. However, I have no contact with Mark Knopfler himself. I don't call the book a ‘biography’; it is a personal analysis of his life's work, and yes, of course I also include a philosophical dimension (where do you get the idea that you can't philosophise about music and Mark Knopfler?), as well as a critical distance (so it's not just blind adoration), and always a sense of humour too.
All this is no competition for a biography that MK will hopefully write himself, and also no competition for another book about him. But I think my book deserves to be read (the e-book edition costs just 10 dollars for 500 pages...), and that I can offer something to fans of MK and to musiclovers, especially because my perspective as a professional musician allows me a different access to certain things. I, meanwhile, know how to write a book – and I consciously do without photos because I believe in the power of language. A good, exciting text is like music; it needs no pictures, it can touch on other levels.
There's a cool song by Bo Diddley, ‘You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover’ – you know what I mean… :-) Anyone who in advance compares my book to Wikipedia or to those cheap AI books about MK (which are currently flooding the market) is insulting me and the essence of the book.
In any case, I look forward to your feedback on the book.
With very best wishes,
Richard
