Stuart McMillen signs publishing contract with Scribe for debut book

Today I am proudly announcing that I have signed a contract with Scribe Publications for my debut graphic novel The Town Without Television.

My first full-length book

The book will be a reworked and extended full-length version of the Town Without Television story, about the research of Canadian psychologist Tannis MacBeth. This is a story that I have began telling in 2021 through the following comics on my website: Chapter 1: Notel, and Chapter 2: Unitel.

Naturally, I will be using elements of the text and artwork from these already-published chapters of my story. However, I will also be reworking and finessing my material so that it works well in the context of the book. And there are hundreds of completely new pages of artwork that I will need to compose and draw.

The book will be published by Scribe in Australia, as well as in the U.S.A. and Canada. This is particularly exciting for me to be able to reach readers in my home country of Australia, as well as reaching those who live near to the site of this classic Canadian science experiment.

Video: announcing the news of this publishing contract

Below is a short video of me announcing this news, as well as discussing the next steps that I will be taking.

Crowdfunding support: essential for my upcoming work on this project

As mentioned in the video, I still have thousands of hours of work to go on this project. Can you help me to knuckle-down and work on this project? If so, please make a one-off donation to my FundRazr campaign, or become a supporter of my Patreon campaign.

Donating to either of these crowdfunding campaigns will help to directly fund my work on this project. Your gift will directly afford me the free time to make The Town Without Television the best possible telling of this story that I can possibly manage.

Press release: full details about the acquisition announcement

Below is the press release that Scribe published this morning, announcing this signing.

Scribe signs Stuart McMillen

Scribe is delighted to announce the acquisition of The Town Without Television by Stuart McMillen. Known for his nonfiction web comics about social issues involving science, economics, and psychology — such as the viral hit ‘Rat Park’, describing the famous 1970s study of drug addiction — for his first book-length work, Stuart is taking a deep dive into another classic sociology study.

By 1973, television had swept the world, outpacing researchers’ efforts to measure its impact. So when Canadian psychologist Tannis MacBeth discovered a town deep in the Rocky Mountain Trench that had no access to television, she saw an astonishing opportunity and took it. Through a compelling and accessible graphic narrative, The Town Without Television will tell the full story of the never-to-be-repeated ‘before’ and ‘after’ study of the ways that TV changed an ordinary community, sharing findings that continue to be relevant today.

Senior editor David Golding says, ‘Like many people, I’ve read Stuart’s work online — including the first two chapters of The Town Without Television. His research is impeccable, his storytelling is deft, and I’m excited to be working with him on bringing this story to the page. Scribe has a proud history of publishing popular works on psychology and social science, and this is the perfect book for us to expand that history into the medium of comics.’

Stuart says, ‘I am thrilled to have signed this publishing contract with Scribe. This will be my first full-length book, and I am looking forward to bringing my comics to a new audience. I’m keen to share the story of Tannis MacBeth’s landmark experiment with readers, as well as reflecting on what her research means in the 21st century.’

Scribe will publish The Town Without Television in 2025.