Shipping update
over 4 years ago
– Thu, Dec 26, 2019 at 10:45:49 PM
Hey all, Robin here. I just wanted to keep you in the loop regarding printing. So when last we talked the plan was:
- Dustjackets to be sent to the bookbinder on December 23
- Interior signatures printed by December 22
- Books bound and shipped out by December 30.
- Books signed by Michael on January 2nd and 3rd
- Books shipping starting January 6th.
Well, things were going along smoothly until the 23rd when the 10,600 dusk jackets arrived at the bookbinder and it was determined there was a mistake--ours not theirs. We fixed the file late at night on the 23rd, and tried to get it to the printer on the 24th, but because of the holiday, the first time I heard from was today.
We've just uploaded a new file, and will get a new proof tomorrow. New dates are as follows:
- Dustjackets to be sent to the bookbinder on January 9th
- Interior signatures printed by December 22 - these are ready and waiting
- Books bound and shipped out by January 15th
- Books signed by Michael on January 16th and 17th
- Books shipping starting January 20th.
So, everything is delayed by 2 weeks, but that's not too bad considering downtime for the New Year. If things change further we'll let you know.
Book is officially locked - new ebook distributed
over 4 years ago
– Sun, Dec 15, 2019 at 12:40:53 AM
Hey all, Robin again. While it may not look like a lot is going on. We've actually been quite busy putting Age of Death to bed.
- The interior proofs are officially approved and presses should start to roll on Monday.
- The dust jacket proofs are officially approved and they should ship to the book printer on Dec 23.
- The ebook is locked and has been uploaded to Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iBooks, and a number of other distribution networks. They should start appearing as pre-orders soon and they will release on Feb 4, 2020.
- We've distributed a new version of the ebook to all of you (v 1.02) which is the same file we uploaded to the retail chains. It includes: (a) one fixed typo (b) a bunch of new backer names (c) an afterword written by me (d) acknowledgments written by Michael.
- We went to a recording studio in Silver Spring Maryland and I narrated my afterword for the digital version, and Michael did an Author's Note for Pile of Bones.
- We got permission from Recorded Books to include the first chapter of Age of Myth in the Pile of Bones short.
- We finalized the cover for Pile of Bones.
In other news, the printer for the tote bags has received 130 more totes, and they are printing them now. That leaves just 100 on backorder and I'm fairly confident they should come in soon. I've also started "collating bookmarks into envelopes for shipping them out.
There is just one thing left to do, and that is ordering the shipping materials. The company I use is pretty fast on delivery (24 hours) so I'll order them right after the first of the year so they aren't sitting around taking up space.
A reminder...we will be LOCKING ADDRESSES in preparation for printing very soon now. If you moved since you completed the survey here are the steps you need to do.
- Access your BackerKit record (if you didn't save your link, you can receive an email with that link by using theform found here).
- In the upper right-hand corner click on the button that says: Edit Your Address
- On the left-hand side click on the button that says: Edit Shipping Info
- Type in your information. If you are not in the US be sure to enter your phone number, which is sometimes required by customs or local delivery services.
It's getting pretty exciting. I can't tell you how stressful the final proofing process is. Having it finished is a huge weight off my shoulders.
Update on the printed copies
over 4 years ago
– Sun, Dec 08, 2019 at 11:01:09 PM
Hey all, Robin here. I've been busy dealing with all the pre-press activities, and we are getting close so it's worth giving you all an update.
1. The Dust Jackets are the hardest part of the printing because the color on the screen is not the same as the color on the paper. So Michael did me up two different dust jackets one with a "lighter" image and one with a "darker one." We have sent the files to the same printer who produced the dust jackets for Age of Myth, Age of Swords, and Age of War. They will be sending me the two proofs Monday evening and assuming one of them is "good" they'll come off the press around December 17.
2. The afterword and acknowledgments took a little longer than either Michael or I would have liked, but a lot of our time was consumed with getting the cover laid out properly. The printer has been doing their pre-press review and so far they've not found any problems with the layout of the file. I'm pretty sure they'll have the proof ready for our review on Monday. Assuming we don't see anything wrong, books will come off the press on December 30.
3. The printer isn't too far from our fulfillment house so they may get them on the same day or New Year's Eve. But Michael needs to sign them so I'm guessing we'll go over there and starting signing January 2nd (and will probably need to sign for 2 days at least).
4. So, if all goes according to plan, we'll start shipping January 6th. In order for me to get spreadsheets to the fulfillment house for the shipping label production, I will begin the address lockdown process on December 30. Backerkit will give people 2 days to update addresses after that time the address we have is the address we'll ship to, and if the address is wrong on your end, you may incur additional shipping charges.
5. As for the ebook...I've had 117 names come in since the last update, and they are still coming in at a fairly good pace. It's easier to them in a "big batch" than dribs and drabs so I'm going to wait until the stream of new orders dwindles down. Then I'll release the final ebook. You already have the full story, the only things that will be in this last ebook are (a) the acknowledgments (b) my afterword (c) the backers that added since the last time.
6. The only other item is the tote bags. When I ordered them (back in October), they only had 100 of the black bags, but since they were getting more in mid-November I said, give me what you have and backorder the other 230. When mid-November came, their supplier still hadn't shipped their order and I checked again on Friday and they are still "expected" but not available. If push comes to shove I can change to a "natural" bag with black handles rather than a black bag with natural handles, but then I have to go through a whole chasing down people to see if they want the black, natural, or a refund for their order so I'm going to give it a little more time.
7. The last thing I should mention is the Kickstarter for Age of Empyre will launch in January. Probably right after I've turned over all the shipping responsibility to the fulfillment house.
So, that's where we are now. We're getting close to crossing the final finish line. If anything goes wrong with the proofing process, I'll let you know. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season.
Audible's Black Friday Sale
over 4 years ago
– Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 11:36:20 PM
Here's a bit of news for audiobook listeners. Audible launched a sale with several hundred titles all priced from $5 - $8. For fantasy listeners, there are 20 best-selling (and highly rated titles) including books from Brandon Sanderson, Neil Gaiman, and yours truly!
If you've only read my Legends of the First Empire stories, this would be a great time to give my Riyria tales a try since The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter is a standalone novel and no prior knowledge of the other Riyria books is required. It's just $7 for a limited time. You might even see an Easter egg or two that relates to the Age of Death book.
But even if you aren't interested (or already read/listened) to this title, check out the entire sale anyway. You're sure to find something that you may be interested in. But don't wait too long, the sale ends December 3rd at midnight Pacific Time. Enjoy!
New ebook version posted!
over 4 years ago
– Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 07:44:28 PM
Hey all, Robin again. So, I've received (and implemented) all of the gamma reader feedback and fixed the typos that people reported. So the story is done! I have received some emails from people saying they were waiting to read the book until these last steps were addressed so, by all means, READ AWAY!
You'll find a newly updated version of the ebook in your Digital Downloads area of BackerKit. And as always, if you forget how to access that, you can use this link and the email associated with your account to retrieve it.
Now, there are still a few small things for us left to do.
- I'm writing an Afterword - because people have enjoyed the ones I made for Age of War and Age of Legend
- Michael is writing the Acknowledgements
- I'm still working on updating the glossary -- which is a much bigger job than I had anticipated. I should note that we are also moving this glossary online so that if any typos are found they can be easily addressed, and because I don't want to delay the printing of the book while I'm working on it.
In other news, we've started recording some of the Q&A sessions. Apparently one wasn't fully recorded, so we'll have to redo it. But those should start coming out soon.
As for printing, we are waiting on quotes from the printers (now that we have the final page count. But it's possible that the upcoming holiday will impact getting those as some people have taken some days off for an extended vacation.
We'll keep you posted!
