Hello Friends!

Good news!!!  THANKS to your help and very generous contributions, my book Afterschool Special will be self-published as a book in the summer of 2012.   I am both astounded and flattered by the fact that you have taken the time and money to make this possible.  All I can say is WOW!  Much love to you all.  I feel fortunate to be embraced by you, the supporters.  Art cannot exist without some sort of community.  Thank you for being a part of this project.

Any suggestions or input are quite welcome, of course.  After all, it is YOU who are helping to make this book possible.  Feel free to contact me.  It is my goal to make a book that you will treasure.

I will be designing the book over the next couple of months.  First off, I’ll be re-scanning all the pages and creating a new layout.  The book will be offset printed overseas in full color (even though many of the pages are in black and white or two-color).  Full-color printing will allow me the greatest flexibility and creative freedom in designing the book.  The cover has yet to be designed or drawn, but I’m hoping to leave some surprises for those of you who already may have read the pages online.  I am also hoping to include some nostalgia-related bonuses in the back of the book, similar to the notes posted on my blog.  It will be (roughly) 130 pages and close in dimensions to my book Neverland from way back in 2008.  The print run will be limited to around a thousand copies and I’ll be looking to distribute through a few reliable venues.

I am happily anticipating bringing this project to completion.

I will be contacting you again, one last time, to get your shipping information.  But again, feel free to write if you have any questions of concerns.

PEACE!

Your bud,


Dave Kiersh

ps:

For everyone who ordered the book, I will also include a surprise signed personalized sketch.    Thank you again to those who took me up on my last minute offer of an original piece of artwork (for $80 or more).  These pieces will be sent to you with the book once it is complete.   So if you have any special requests, please let me know.  And for anyone who donated less than $20, I’d love to send you a postcard as a thank you.

Hello!

Thanks so much for supporting my Kickstarter campaign to help me publish my book Afterschool Special.  You're great!  Many of you are people I know, admire, love, and respect...so I really appreciate the support.  I can't begin to tell you how much that means to me.  I realize that most of you don't have money to throw around.   Thank you for considering this project and for your generosity. For those of you I don't know, I sincerely appreciate your interest in my work too.  Awesome!

Again, just in case you're not sure how this works, no funds will be deducted from you unless this project is indeed fully-funded.

There are five days left for this campaign to reach the goal of $4200.  Unfortunately, I am not even halfway towards reaching this goal.  The funding goal is based on a quote I've gotten from my printer as well as distribution costs.  I don't plan on making much money from this book (if any).  My goal is simply to see it in print and to bring that completed vision to an audience --- YOU!  This book was a labor of love and I always hoped it might find an audience.

I feel uncomfortable asking anyone for money and was critical of this whole Kickstarter thing for some time.  However, after my book was rejected from several publishers and a Xeric-grant application, I realized I would have to publish it myself.  Unfortunately, I am lacking in funds to do this.  Much of this has to do with the fact that I was unemployed for most of 2011 and relocated for a new job at the end of the year.   Kickstarter seemed to be another option, so I thought I'd give it a go.  And again, I feel so great to have your support.

I'd also like to thank the other artists who I met at a residency I attended at the end of 2010 at the Atlantic Center of the Arts.  This group, headed by Craig Thompson, helped me to bring shape to the idea I had for creating a longer story with my comics in book form.  I'm not sure this project would've seen completion without the encouragement from this fine group of peers/fellow artists.

If you are willing, please share any information about Afterschool Special with friends that you can.  I'd love to be able to get this book in your hands, but I'm going to need a lot of other people to consider a pre-order in order to actually make this happen.

THANK YOU!

Dave Kiersh