THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Oct 31, 2024 at 10:37:19 AM
Producing this book has been the longest [project of my entire career, starting 34+ years ago. I'm so thrilled to see it in print at last! Some folks have shared photos of their books in the hands of wee ones. This photo was sent to me by John Avon and Patricia McCarthy in the UK. She said, "John has just finished gleefully putting stickers all over the cover." That's pretty funny, cuz it's sooo John. If you've taken pictures, let me see them!
There are only a few tag ends remaining, most particularly the fine art prints some small few of you ordered. New orders are still coming in through the Backerkit page; I've left it open and running, so if you want to order more books for some kids (or kids at heart) that you forgot about, there's still plenty of time.
One last thing: If you ordered the Dragon Edition, it will at first seem to have come in the trade dust-jacket. Look underneath! That copy will have two dust jackets on it; the one on the inside is the Dragon cover.
Thank you all again from the very bottom of my heart to the very top of my... spleen? I don't know how that works, actually. All the thanks in all my various organs. I couldn't have gotten here without you.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and especially A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
ALMOST... THERE... !
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Oct 19, 2024 at 03:56:24 PM
The last bunch of orders will go out on Monday! In the meantime, we are wrangling those PDFs into a shape that Backerkit will deliver. Almost there. Those of you who ordered prints will be able to choose one from the PDF (or from your book, if you already received it.
That leaves only those of you who HAVE NOT COMPLETED YOUR SURVEY! You can do that here (this is the way the link wants to represent itself. It should take you to the KS page where you can request a new survey using the email you used on KS). We have also resent your surveys, but we're trying to cover every base here:
Thank you again to everybody from the bottom of my heart, where I assume the cockles are. This would not have happened without your participation! You are the best of the best!
Todd
The Twelve Days of Christmas; Dragon Covers for the SE variant are in and orders are being fulfilled.
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Oct 09, 2024 at 01:18:06 PM
Thank you all for your patience. The covers were delayed following (apparently) a bad die created for the embossed cover. The printers made the die-casters try again. But they're here and they look great!
It's a bit of a process. First, we had to slit the factory shrink-wrap in order to remove the books to be signed and wrapped:
Each book got its Dragon Cover hand fitted to the book my me, personally:
Then the original wrapper went back over the book. When you get your Dragon Edition copy of The Twelve Days of Christmas, don't be alarmed when you pull it from the sleeve—the Dragon cover is underneath!
The first wave went out yesterday—those were the simplest orders consisting mostly of a single book or pair of books. A few Santa-signed books were among those numbers. We're working our way toward the more complicated orders with add-ons and remarques, so that we don't screw them up (I'm looking at you, Troy...). But we're on pace to have everything wrapped up by Halloween, including the Digital Copies which should be sent out as soon as I figure out the best way. (Incidentally, a digital copy on a tablet would be a wonderful way to share a book on a lap with someone...)
HELLO BACKERS! Things are underway!
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Sep 23, 2024 at 11:33:05 AM
Fulfillment is well under way. Many of you have already started to receive your books which is very exciting!
Mostly, it is going well, although our Special Edition Dragon covers had a hiccup in the printing process: the die for the emboss needed to be redone. It does mean a slight delay. But everything is still on track to deliver in the next couple of weeks, and well before Christmas.
Over the weekend I signed about 300 books—and there are more to do. It's a process. Oi. I needed some quick shelving to rotate through some of the product, or to stage signed copies while we waited for our @#$%&! packaging to arrive.
But it's on! Yay! It is so gratifying to see and hold these books in my hands! Thank you all for helping me make it happen!
EVERYTHING BUT THE DRAGONS!
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Aug 21, 2024 at 02:42:38 PM
I'm sorry you haven't heard from me sooner. It has been a crazy summer so far. The GREAT news is that the books for the Kickstarter and Backerkit fulfillment are HERE.
Two Fridays ago, Rita had an uncharacteristic day off (usually she is watching the grandbaby while her parents work, but both parents were home following some dental surgery). We sat on the back deck on a beautiful day debating whether to work on something or just chillax. I mentioned that I should have books arriving soon, but hadn't heard any word about their delivery date. I only knew it would be soon. "We could rearrange the garage, consolidate the Found Worlds books remaining and get rid of the trash: make room for the books when they come." Rita suggested we wait and do it Saturday. But after a couple more minutes, we decided to get it done.
Four hours later, we had filled the pickup with old pallets and garbage, the big, gray recycling bin was packed solid with carboard, and we had everything consolidated so:
Not more than half an hour later, a big UPS truck came up the street. I said, "Wouldn't it be Ironic if that was my books, for the Kickstarter?"
It was my books for the Kickstarter. Irony achieved.
In the photo above, the standard edition on the right only looks smaller because of parallax. They're actually the same dimensions (the Special Edition books are printed on thicker paper, however, and come with the slipcase).
Santa and I had already arranged to get together here at the studio on Sunday to sign the photos for the Santa-signature add-on (everyone who bought Santa's signature in a book also gets a photo of me and Santa signing them). Now all the books were here too, so we spent the afternoon signing books and talking about toys and reindeer and such.
That puts everything on site except for the Dragon variant covers for those who ordered the Dragon Special Edition, and the packing material. The covers are at the printers as we speak, and should arrive in early September.
I have Dragon Con coming up at the end of the month, so there's prep to do for that. Then in the first week of September I will begin mailing your books! The Dragon Editions will probably go out last, but fear not—you are well ahead of the Christmas rush!
Thank you again for helping me realize this project of 34 years. I couldn't have done it without you.
