Proof from US Printer Arrived!
about 5 years ago – Thu, Feb 14, 2019 at 08:10:59 PM

The moment I've been waiting for. I hope you have too. There's good news and bad news.

The Bad News

Let's start with the bad news, because other than a few things to adjust, the rest is just freakin' great.

There are maybe three or four things that need fixin':

• One of the pages had a legit whoops. The printer must have run out of ink or something. I'm hoping that quality control would have caught that, 'cause dang. 
• The goblin warrens maps were left out of the document. That's an issue, because I'm out of space. I have a few ideas. The maps as they are are quite large, and done in full-page mode anyway. I can make them bigger, overlapping the page borders, and that would do it. I hate to lose the Dragon Heresy teaser or any of the other info. I'll probably do that.
• One map is labeled "When Norðalfar Attack!" instead of "When Goblins Attack!" That's a quick fix.
• There might be typos or other errors, but I'll do a read-through word-by word with the pages in hand tonight. It's always easier when you can look at the pages.

And that's all for errors. One legit printer muck-up, and the rest are really my problem.

The Good News

The book is going to look amazing. Let's start with the cover, and see how it stacks up with other books. Oh . . . one thing before I go nuts pasting pictures. This is an unbound proof. So don't look at images where pages show through on the cover and judge the binding. There's isn't binding yet. That makes it easier to inspect the quality of the complete page.

The Cover

The Interior

Final Word

So, there are a few things to fix. Once that's done, though - these guys did a nice job, and I look forward to doing more work with them in the near future.

I think you'll like the heft and feel of the book when you get it. The colors are nice, the cover and paper tangibly good quality, and it stacks up as a nice companion to the Dragon Heresy Introductory Set.

I'll read and correct errors tonight. Not entirely sure if they'll want me to send over pages, or an entire file (no problem either way). After that, I suspect it will be a quick turn for printing, and then I'll get shipping going.

Major milestone!

Proof on the way, I think
about 5 years ago – Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 05:13:43 PM

I heard back from my UK Printer that "no news was good news," and presumably that means that my files were accepted and I'll receive a hardcopy proof in the mail this week. If snowpocalypse 2019 allows it. Hopefully that means that I'll hear back from the US printer with the same answer: I've found that if one set of interior files passes muster, mostly they all do.

Hopefully that means that the true print runs will commence next week, but there's some uncertainty there. The runs are not long, with only 225 copies ordered in total, so I find it hard to imagine it'll take that long to have them ready.

I'm still thinking March for hardcopy receipt is reasonable.

More news - with hopefully some photos - when I get the proofs.

Printing has begun
about 5 years ago – Tue, Feb 05, 2019 at 10:04:16 AM

So, the files have been sent to the two printers: one in the UK, and one here in the USA. I made payment as well, and folks are talking about pre-press (a day or two) followed by perhaps three weeks of printing after proof approval, and that usually takes about a week. In both cases I've asked for hard-copy proofs, to check color and binding.

If that happens, I expect to have books ready to ship out by the first or second week in March, that means that by mid-March, the US and UK customers should have their books, and by the end of March or early April, everyone. Even the Aussie, I hope.

The details:

US Books: Preflight is today and tomorrow. Proofing is rapid but usually takes about a week. Then three weeks of printing. I should have books at my house by March 7, which means that I can pack 'em up and ship 'em out by the end of that weekend. Arrival in-hand March 13-22, depending on the USPS. Print copies will be about 9mm thick, printed on 100# matte paper.

International Books: Preflight is tonight. Proofing has to ship to me from the UK, but that has been quite fast in the past. I've tried to sneak the title and logos onto the spin, which is a bit thinner (about 6-6.5mm) due to slighly lighter weight paper stock for this printer (130gsm/85#). Assuming this printing looks as good as Hall of Judgment (no reason it should not!), and that they don't reject my spine information, I'd expect the books to arrive at Kixto, my fulfillment partner in the UK, by the second week in march. From there, we have one going to Australia, one to Korea, and the rest either the UK or EU, so those should be fast. I'm still thinking late March or Early April. For the two folks that also ordered copies of Dragon Heresy in Hardback, I'll send those separately.

Even so, it looks like the project will complete 2-3 months ahead of schedule.

Final Distribution of PDF; Printing will begin tomorrow
about 5 years ago – Sun, Feb 03, 2019 at 04:59:02 PM

The final version of the PDF is being distributed now.

Tomorrow, I will contact my printers and finalize the plans for hardcopy. I expect 4-6 weeks until you have the copies in your hand.

I'll be printing in two locations - one overseas in the UK and one in the USA - in order to deal with shipping issues. I will hopefully finalize all of that over the next day or so, place the order, and 'git 'r done' as they say.

That's all for now, but it's an important sort of "all."

Thanks for joining me on the journey, and I hope you enjoy the book!

Edit edit edit edit read read read
about 5 years ago – Sat, Feb 02, 2019 at 10:48:36 PM

Going to be quiet on my side for a few days. I'm going through the preliminary PDF word by word and reading it all again. Making changes here and there, looking for typos and edits (such as Norðlond being in the glossary, as well as norðalfar instead of goblin).

Once that's done, I'll send out a "last call for comments and changes," and then make the print buy decision. When that happens, I'll let folks know what's going on, and when you'll receive your books.