Kickstarter

So a week after I spend $75 to send the newly-reprinted bookplates to Dan, guess what shows up in my postbox? That's right, THE OLD BOOKPLATES. Returned from Royal Mail Newcastle after Mack Chater's postman neglected to leave a "missed delivery" slip. On the one hand, what a relief! Don't need to ask Bill, Colleen, Carla or Richard to re-sign. On the other hand, FFFUU%*U($U()%U$U%&$)@()()_)_#$I.

I told Dan to chuck the bookplates. They are the exact same design as the magically returned signed ones, only bigger. So it would look like crap to have two bookplates with the same design and slightly different sizes in your books, savvy? And you all have been waiting so long and stuck with me through so much, I SHALL NOT LET ANYTHING BE CRAP.

Meanwhile, I thought of a MUCH BETTER plan that I am now kicking myself for not thinking up earlier. I am making up small, individual bookplates than I can send out to our remaining five artists signing (Alice, Rajko, Dan, Mack, and Milton). This means if one set gets lost, it's not a disaster. And that it will be much faster as artists will sign their bookplates and send back to me, rather than organising this hellacious round-robin.

The new, new bookplates are in the form of stamps and file addenda to our TOP SECRET tip-in page ("EXEMPT FROM AUTOMATIC DECLASSIFICATION AS PER EO 11653 SEC 5(E)(2)", etc) so those with $60 and up pledges' books will have the air of a well-thumbed secret service file document. Just finishing the final design for the fifth bookplate, then will print them next week after I am paid.

Howdy, folks! Well, there's not much to report. I've re-printed the artist signature labels that Royal Mail lost on their way to Mack Chater, and send them off to Dan McDaid to start them going round again. That was $300 I won't see again, sigh. We are going Fedex this time around, though. I have learned my lesson!

Other than that, there's really not much going on. The book is at the printer's, and now we wait until it is shipped back and arrives with me in September. I'm already researching mailing boxes to best get them to you. The cased hardcover is going to be about 7x11 and almost an inch and a half thick (for the metric, 178x273x32mm). I attach some pix from the Dark Horse design department of how it will look... pretty gorgeous if you ask me!

You all still should have your digital codes (and they should work up through Issue 7, which is the final issue... if not, email Comixology Support). So if you want to read the book, you have the digital edition (not the same, I hear some of you cry. I understand.) This limbo period IS rather strange... we're all done, but not all done.

I'm going to be mailing off art rewards and print rewards after the 21st (payday), and then all that really WILL remain are the physical books themselves. I also have an ePub edition to do for a library backer. And of course sending those artist bookplates around the UK, then Spain, then Brazil, then Canada, then to several places in the US.

ALSO: FRET NOT, I will be re-contacting EVERYONE at the beginning of September to make sure your mailing address is still correct. I'll also be sending posters and goodies to retailers in August/Sept.

Hi all... sorry for the month of radio silence. I am just waiting on Dark Horse sending me the final design for the case and trade paperback so I could update everyone with those images so you can see EXACTLY how pretty the hardback and its case will look! It's a long weekend here in the USA so I don't think I'll get it from them until probably Wednesday but as soon as I get it I will post!

Other than that, everything is going well. I will still be putting the physical books in the mail in Sept... soon I have the delight of ordering 500 mailing boxes to put them in (I'm also waiting from DH production on the exact measurements of the hardback). I still have to print new signing plates for the 200 signed by most artists books because Royal Mail Newcastle lost the package on its way to Mack Chater. BOO. (But now I can print them larger as frankly they were too small before.)

It's the Friday of an unexpectedly stressful week. The nearest city to me is in lockdown because there's a crazed Caucasian running around. People are saying stupid things on social networks about subjects including but not limited to: the Eisners, Boston, gun control, and Margaret Thatcher. Worst of all, it might rain. Which means today was the day I rolled out of bed into a crashing wall of ennui, struggled out a music video treatment, then sat down with a huge pot of finest oolong tea and signed 1,000 tip-in sheets for Smoke/Ashes. Blessed, blessed brainless activity. What do 1,000 tip-in sheets look like? Glad you asked! There's a pic below of the very, VERY large pile I just signed.

Everything else moves apace. Mack Chater is still calling his Royal Mail depot in Newcastle every day asking them to find the box containing the artist-signed bookplates and the two other very overdue parcels he is expecting. Hoping his new postie hasn't just chucked them in the bin. Another week it doesn't turn up, we'll reprint and start again.

There were a couple recent interviews with me about Smoke/Ashes and other projects (two of which have grown out of the Ashes collaborations). If you, too, are feeling rudderless and lost today, might I suggest you have a look? Here is the big chatty one and here is the slightly more sensible one.

tl;dr: When will I get my printed book? MID SEPTEMBER. I've decided I want to read it digitally right now. Can you re send my Comixology code? SURE, MESSAGE ME. Help, I moved! DON'T WORRY, I'M EMAILING EVERYONE IN LATE AUGUST TO CONFIRM ADDRESSES.

The eagle eyed among you might have seen the below in today's Dark Horse July solicits. I'm delighted to share with you that Dark Horse will be printing our great big fat book (424pp!) and getting a trade edition out to a wider audience. The book will be in stores and with you around 18 September.

There is mention of a limited hardback in the solicits, too. That is just the rump 250 of our 1,000 copy Kickstarter HC run that isn't pre-bought by all of you or set aside for participating artists. You'll notice that the street price of the cased HC is a whopping $59.99, so a lot more than you paid for the book! 

Your books will be arriving pretty much the same time as they hit stores. I asked Dark Horse to quote me air-shipping them as soon as they came off the printer in China and the price of doing that came to (gulp!) about $4,500 for all 750, or (still gulp!) $2,200 for just 200 for retailers. I just can't afford that. I am so, so sorry :/ I really wanted you to get them sooner.

The good news is, every book will be signed by me (see the cute Top Secret tip-in sheet that we designed!). There will still be 200 of the super rare ones signed by all* [EDIT: MOST OF] the artists (see cute piggy bookplate designed by John Coulthart!).

And because nothing with this book can be without drama, we might just have lost the first lot of bookplates, after Bill, Colleen, Richard and Carla signed them. And by "we", I mean "Royal Mail in Newcastle". We're checking this weekend (Mack has been calling the post office like EVERY DAY) and if indeed it is irrevocably lost I will reprint the bookplates bigger (they were too small, to be honest), get a Fedex account like a grownup, and start the bookplates circulating again. 

Dark Horse have been really amazing during this whole process and I am so, so happy that a proper, experienced production department prepped this baby and proofread it and are doing trade marketing and will let me crash their big shiny convention booths for singings.

As always, if you have questions, comments, or really funny jokes, contact me! I remain, your humble servant, &c.