Shipping Begins!
about 6 years ago – Fri, Mar 16, 2018 at 11:25:04 PM

Hi friends!

We're half-way through March, which means it's time for your friendly neighborhood update on where we stand with campaign fulfillment, promotion, and next steps for 100 Demon Dialogues. I'm having a wild month hurtling between Washington, California, Oregon, and Denmark(?!) for conventions, appearances, and teaching gigs, so I appreciate your patience as things have been falling into place. Here's what's new!

Fulfillment

We're half-way through March and pretty much on-target for shipping your rewards. Your mailing addresses have been locked down and dispatched to Blackbox, our fulfillment company, and are now being entered into the system so we can begin mailing out your packages. This should begin happening for domestic backers in the next week! Aaaaaa! 

For those of you who placed orders from outside the US: all 441 of your items have been bulk shipped to the UK, where international shipping is MUCH CHEAPER and we can package and send your rewards at the special low rates Blackbox was able to wrangle for the campaign. That should begin happening around the 29th of the month.

A Fun Hiccup: we recently discovered that 200 of our hardcover books went walkabout during the shipping process from the printer to the warehouse! This is a bummer, but definitely not the end of the world. I'm talking with Friesens and Blackbox right now about how to track down the missing books, and should all else fail the shipment was insured, so we'll just print some more. I mention it because I think it's important to acknowledge that UNEXPECTED WEIRDNESS HAPPENS. It's a totally normal part of running a campaign, and I figure if it happens to any of you one day you'll now feel a little less alone.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to drop me an email ([email protected]) or a Kickstarter message and I'll get right back to you with some more information. Remember you can always check on the status of your survey, grab pre-order copies of the book, and check other details at this link: https://100-demon-dialogues.backerkit.com/

Emerald City Comic Con

Big thanks to those of you who came out to see me at ECCC at the start of the month. It was wonderful to high five so many of you, give out free demon stickers, and show off the advance copies of the book. All the Demon Dialogues goods I had on hand sold right the heck out well before the end of the convention, which is an exciting portent of things to come. I can't wait to get these books out into the world!

Distribution

Speaking of getting things out into the world, did you know that fulfilling this campaign is only the first half of the operation? I decided to print a commercial-sized run of softcover Demon Dialogues books because I really believe in this project and I want to see it on shelves around the country. We've got about 2,700 copies left to shift, and I'm betting we can do it before the end of 2018. Here's a timeline of how that's going to happen (with your help):

• April 1st: 100 Demon Dialogues goes up for commercial pre-order from comic shops, bookstores, and online retail platforms. If you're encouraging your local comic shop to place an order, the Diamond ordering code is APR181833. If you'd like to get a bookstore or gift shop to stock it, give them the ISBN number: 978-0-9882202-4-9
• April-June: Promotion ramps up! Ideally you'll all be getting your books and treats during this window, so if you enjoy them, it'd be an amazing boon if you could leave a review on your favorite platform and/or post about it on social media. I'll send a follow-up Project Update with some more info about this in April, but every little bit of buzz helps show retailers that folks are excited about this book, and that they'll be able to sell it easily in their stores. This is where you come in—I can't wait to hear what you think of the final product. (Be sure to tag your posts with #100DemonDialogues so I can collect them in one place.)
• June 5th: THE OFFICIAL BOOK RELEASE DATE! We're planning a special party in Portland, but the following six weeks will also involve a national tour to LOTS of neat cities. I'm getting really excited and will, of course, keep you all informed. Got a rad local bookstore or comic shop you want me to visit? Email my publicist Heather Brown at [email protected] with your suggestions.

The Budget

If you're curious about where the campaign finances stand, check out the live  ✨budget tracker spreadsheet ✨ I've been maintaining over the course of the project. It's my hope that this will prove useful should any of you decide to do your own campaigns down the line, or just assuage your curiosity if you're wondering where all the money has been going over the last nine months.

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW

Thank you so much for sticking around as we clear these final few hurdles and get you your books! This is all happening thanks to your enthusiasm and support.

Big love to you all,

Lucy

Sweet Victory: the Books are Here! (And they look incredible)
about 6 years ago – Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 11:06:06 PM

Dearest, most wonderful Kickstarter Backers:

THE TIME HAS COME!

Final copies of the hardcover and softcover editions showed up on my doorstep this morning (just in time for Emerald City Comic Con), and I am beside myself with happiness. All our hard work has paid off in two editions that look and feel truly spectacular. When you get your hands on them I know you'll agree they've been worth the wait.

I streamed opening the package on Instagram Live earlier this morning, so here's a video if you want to watch me definitely crying on camera while I handle the books for the first time. (I also give a tour of the books' features, for all you detail hounds.)

Here's the final bundle of treats we've assembled thanks to this campaign!

I also got some cool footage of the guts being printed up at Friesens Printing in Manitoba (Thanks, Ralph!), which I turned into a soothing little GIF, if you like that sort of thing:

 Here are the parent sheets, ready for trimming and binding:

And did I mention my share of the plushies showed up at my house this past week? I dispatched them to my local warehouse pretty quick though, because you try living in close quarters with 200 of these little jerks.

The rest are all settled in a the Blackbox warehouse, along with the letterpress prints, so all that remains is for the books to arrive in Indiana and then we'll begin the fulfillment process. (This means we've got a week or so before I lock down shipping addresses, just for your records.)

As ever, if you'd like to recommend this project to a friend, they can preorder their own books, plushies, and prints via this link: http://bit.ly/100DDPreorder

If you're headed to Emerald City Comic Con this week, you can find me at Table H-2 in Artist Alley. It's not feasible for folks pick up Kickstarter rewards at the show, but I would love to give you a high five and a free sheet of demon stickers to say thanks.

OKAY. Time to calm my rattling heart and get on with the rest of the day.

(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THANK YOU ALL AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)

xoxo

Lucy

Books are Nigh! Time to Finalize Orders
about 6 years ago – Fri, Feb 02, 2018 at 04:40:23 PM

Hello hello, Demon Dialogues Team!

I am so thrilled to report that the books are in production as we speak and will be leaving the Friesens factory floor on February 13th. After that, we'll be putting them into the Blackbox warehouse system and getting your items out the door, pretty much bang on schedule. I'm thrilled! 

Here's a look at the final proofs indicating how the UV gloss and silver foil will be layered on the cover:

This also means the book is on track to debut at Emerald City Comic Con the first weekend of March. Let me know if you're going to be there! While I can't hand-deliver orders at the show (too complex, I'm afraid), I would love to give you a free sheet of demon stickers to say thank you for making this possible.

[Note: if you're an international backer you may be receiving your order closer to early April. All international orders will be shipping from a warehouse in the United Kingdom to get us the best rates on postage, so we need a little extra lead time to get your treats there first and then out the door to you in your respective countries. Thank you for understanding!]

This coming Monday, February 5th, I'll be locking down orders in BackerKit (our survey service). This means you have a couple more days to pre-order any additional items before your cards get charged. If any issues arise with your payment method you’ll receive an email with instructions on how to enter the correct info. You can make sure your payment information is accurate ahead of time by clicking the link in your survey email or following the "Lost your survey?" link on this page.

In other reward news: Emily Riley and I bagged up all 200 of the letterpress prints she made and signed all the special backing plates. The final art came out looking SO GOOD! Here's the two boxes of finished prints all ready to ship:

And here's the print itself with its backing plate (we opted for a sticker rather than signing the front of the print so you can display it whichever way up you want):

That's all from me for now! Expect another VERY EXCITED update in a couple weeks when I get my hands on the first copies of the book. I'll film a little video because I imagine words will not do justice to my reaction.

Big love and gratitude to you all!

Lucy

Plushies Have Arrived
over 6 years ago – Wed, Dec 20, 2017 at 11:29:26 PM

Dearest Kickstarter Backers,

Hello! It's been a couple months! Here's your customary reminder that if you need to update your shipping information or add-on any treats to your pledge, you can always access your BackerKit survey at this link.

Here's a brief update before the holidays on where we're at with the campaign progress:

The biggest news is: OUR PLUSHIES HAVE ARRIVED! 2,000 little demons rocked up at the Blackbox warehouse in Indiana a week or so ago and are awaiting further instruction as we start to assemble the rest of the goods.

The book design elements are coming together beautifully, thanks to designer Ally Haller. I've got some firecracker blurbs from people I really admire like Jessica Hische, Austin Kleon, Deb Norton, and Jenn and Trin, co-hosts of one of my favorite podcasts: Friendshipping. Here's a peek at the softcover edition:

So shiny! Ahh!

I also signed with a print company who are not only located in North America, but also use all North American paper stock! After researching and illustrating this comic about the issue of sustainable shipping last year, I really got to thinking about more responsibly sourcing rewards for future Kickstarter campaigns. 

We import so many of our goods from overseas, and the environmental toll is staggering. Even though I'm not a titan of industry shipping masses and masses of goods around the globe, my actions still have an impact on the planet. While these books were a little more expensive to print, they weren't break-the-bank impossible, which was what I was getting back at first in quotes from other local printing firms. I'm really happy with how this is turning out.

The other bonus is that production and delivery will be MUCH quicker, since the books only have to travel down from Manitoba to Indiana! This means we're well on track to deliver your rewards by March, 2018.

You can always check out where all the campaign money's been going via this spreadsheet. I've been keeping tabs on the expenses so you can take a peek under the hood. You'll notice that I'm spending a lot more on printing that appeared in the original budget, but that's because we're printing a lot more books! 100 Demon Dialogues will be distributed to comic shops and bookstores starting May 2018, so we needed to print an extra load of copies to make sure we didn't run out. I'll explain more about how that works down the line.

In the meantime, I hope you all get to catch a relaxing end-of-the-year break at some point in the next couple weeks, and I'll write again in January with more news. Thank you so much for being the best!

Love and gratitude,

Lucy

Demon Stickers Now Available
over 6 years ago – Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 01:54:50 AM

Hi Backers,

Just a brief note to let you know that there are now clear vinyl demon stickers available for purchase through my online shop. Sheets are 5.5x5.5 and contain ten stickers each.

These little fellas look very fancy on clear or light-colored surfaces due to their transparent backing. If you get some, tweet me a photo! I love seeing them in the wild.

You can order your own set of demon stickers here.

We're just over four weeks away from the estimated delivery date for the plushies, and I'll be signing and numbering all the letterpress prints over the next two weeks. Exciting times! I'll send some more book production updates soon, too.

I hope all is well with you out there. Keep being brave.

<3

Lucy