OOTS Book 5 - Blood Runs in the Family (plus 2015 OOTS Heroes Calendar)

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Originally Posted by SaintRidley

Not a big enough business to have an EU/UK partner, I would guess.

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Cafe Press is also print on demand. It's not the same type of business model as Ookoodook. Ookoodook would need a warehouse and the ability to ship to that warehouse, which costs money, and splits the stock between two locations, that may need to be shipped back and forth to cover demand. Plus the overhead of keeping track of two seperate websites and warehouses.

CafePress just prints whatever someone orders at the moment and keeps a stock of t-shirts and mugs that can also be used by every one of their thousands of other clients. They could set up in a studio apartment and be fine. Printing books costs a lot more than printing t-shirts.

I... I did not see this coming.

After a bit of number crunching I'm only ordering the Calendar. It is really weird that is quite cheaper to order the Calendar and pick up the book at my FLGS instead of ordering both at the same time.

Just a quick clarification: Is the expectation that the pre-orders should arrive in the same window (First couple weeks of December) as the retail copies, or will one or the other be a bit earlier/later? Cheers!

When I just ordered the new calendar the anniversary calendar was available again.
So if you don't have that one yet, go and get it!

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Originally Posted by ooknabah

Just a quick clarification: Is the expectation that the pre-orders should arrive in the same window (First couple weeks of December) as the retail copies, or will one or the other be a bit earlier/later? Cheers!

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It's tough to say because I only have a vague idea of how long distribution really takes. They will be leaving the printer and heading to Ookoodook and Impressions at the same time. From there, Ookoodook will start mailing them out; Impressions will contact distributors like Alliance, who will inform them how many orders they've gotten from game stores. Once those orders are collected, Impressions will ship them to Alliance (and others), who will in turn ship them to stores. Will that take more or less time than Ookoodook mailing them? I don't know for sure, my feel is that it will take a little longer. How much longer? I couldn't say.

I was wondering if the Kickstarter slush fund that was added after all the goals were met had any part in funding the printing of the new book.

While the chart explaining the fixed promises is all well and good, not much has been said on what the additional funds were used for, if anything.

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Originally Posted by tomaO2

I was wondering if the Kickstarter slush fund that was added after all the goals were met had any part in funding the printing of the new book.

While the chart explaining the fixed promises is all well and good, not much has been said on what the additional funds were used for, if anything.

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There were no additional funds. Expenses from fulfilling the Kickstarter exceeded the amount raised, partly because of postage rate increases that occurred while I was injured, partly because of a higher tax rate than anticipated.

So no, the funding for the book is coming strictly from pre-sales and other sources (i.e. book store sales, t-shirts, etc.), not Kickstarter.

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Originally Posted by The Giant

So no, the funding for the book is coming strictly from pre-sales and other sources (i.e. book store sales, t-shirts, etc.), not Kickstarter.

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I figured as much which is why I pre-ordered immediately.

(that and to keep my book collection complete. Also, I read the commentaries).

Know what would be really funny? A fake chapter with commentary like they do with movies, where the director and actors talk while the action plays. Well, for the first few pages, Rich just eliminates the speech bubbles and talks over it instead, as if that's how hes going to do commentary for the whole book. I've always thought that sort of commentary was dumb in movies, it would be absolutely horrendous in a comic strip.

I never thought of that before. Does Kickstarter tell you anything about where the lines are on the tax brackets?

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Originally Posted by littlebum2002

Know what would be really funny? A fake chapter with commentary like they do with movies, where the director and actors talk while the action plays. Well, for the first few pages, Rich just eliminates the speech bubbles and talks over it instead, as if that's how hes going to do commentary for the whole book. I've always thought that sort of commentary was dumb in movies, it would be absolutely horrendous in a comic strip.

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Might be kind of fun for the recap section...

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Originally Posted by littlebum2002

Know what would be really funny? A fake chapter with commentary like they do with movies, where the director and actors talk while the action plays. Well, for the first few pages, Rich just eliminates the speech bubbles and talks over it instead, as if that's how hes going to do commentary for the whole book. I've always thought that sort of commentary was dumb in movies, it would be absolutely horrendous in a comic strip.

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That would be very funny, although I think it might get more than a little awkward and would probably take up too many pages.

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Originally Posted by The Giant

There were no additional funds. Expenses from fulfilling the Kickstarter exceeded the amount raised, partly because of postage rate increases that occurred while I was injured, partly because of a higher tax rate than anticipated.

So no, the funding for the book is coming strictly from pre-sales and other sources (i.e. book store sales, t-shirts, etc.), not Kickstarter.

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Wow, the maximum goal was 850k.
1,250k was raised and it STILL came short?

That's scary.

Alright, thanks for the information.

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Originally Posted by littlebum2002

Know what would be really funny? A fake chapter with commentary like they do with movies, where the director and actors talk while the action plays. Well, for the first few pages, Rich just eliminates the speech bubbles and talks over it instead, as if that's how hes going to do commentary for the whole book. I've always thought that sort of commentary was dumb in movies, it would be absolutely horrendous in a comic strip.

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Scott Adams, from Dilbert, kinda did that in a good way in a compilation book with some of the best of his strips. He inserted little notes in the margins with precisely the kind of comments you're mentioning, I remember I found them to be very funny and informative of his work process. Of course, I don't think this would necessarily work with a longer-strip format such as the one for OOTS.

So will there be renditions for both
The slaves that were crucified by Tarquin.
and The fall of Resistance in 824-827 (The Azurite Wedding but the dead resistance will sing this in afterlife).

I want to preorder!

But, here in Denmark, any order from the US is subject to a $30 'processing fee' by customs. :smallfurious:

So - I need to buy the book locally if I do not want to pay for 2 books, and get one.

That is no problem, as we got plenty of good stores for that. But then I'm not able to preorder as it (seems) only possibly though the US retailer. Again, not a direct problem - but I would actually like to support The Giant as I truly appreciate the work. And especially support the books being made!

Give me a way, and I'll pre-order!

MiNo.

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Originally Posted by The Giant

There were no additional funds. Expenses from fulfilling the Kickstarter exceeded the amount raised, partly because of postage rate increases that occurred while I was injured, partly because of a higher tax rate than anticipated.

So no, the funding for the book is coming strictly from pre-sales and other sources (i.e. book store sales, t-shirts, etc.), not Kickstarter.

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Yes, a one-time windfall is just about the worst thing from a tax perspective. You get hit with the highest rates and you are absolutely unprepared with any tax planning to minimize that.

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Originally Posted by tomaO2

Wow, the maximum goal was 850k.
1,250k was raised and it STILL came short?

That's scary.

Alright, thanks for the information.

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Recall the goals expanded as the funding continued. The Giant initially promised to reprint an old book, than his entire line along with a whole host of newly designed rewards. Also, those funds came with incentives, some quite expensive such as a large number of books and other swag, and the international incentives proved more expensive than the amount pledged (due to unanticipated import taxes/VAT/etc), and the expenses for fulfilling the incentives also came in higher than anticipated.

Let no-one say the Giant does not give value for money.

I've got a question for apegamer about shipping costs for different numbers of Blood Runs in the Family.

I'm considering buying the books in bulk, because of the steep shipping costs to Norway. Experimenting with different numbers of books, I find the following discounts using the "Intl Preorder Fulfillment 1" compared to other shipping options:

1 book - $0.15 discount
2 books - $11.42 discount
3 books - $0.87 more expensive
4 books - $13.39 more expensive

Is there an error in the calculated preorder shipping costs for 3-4 books, or is it just not a good option for large quantities?

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Originally Posted by Reddish Mage

the international incentives proved more expensive than the amount pledged (due to unanticipated import taxes/VAT/etc)

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Which are paid by the receiver, not the sender.
But the rest of your argument stands.

Since you have labeled the new calender as the "Hero Calender," Does that mean that there will be a Villain calender? :smallconfused:

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Originally Posted by Ragan

I want to preorder!

But, here in Denmark, any order from the US is subject to a $30 'processing fee' by customs. :smallfurious:

So - I need to buy the book locally if I do not want to pay for 2 books, and get one.

That is no problem, as we got plenty of good stores for that. But then I'm not able to preorder as it (seems) only possibly though the US retailer. Again, not a direct problem - but I would actually like to support The Giant as I truly appreciate the work. And especially support the books being made!

Give me a way, and I'll pre-order!

MiNo.

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You're still supporting me by buying it in a local store. I understand the desire to try to make sure as much money as possible is ending up in GITP's pocket, but there are other forms of value you could give—like the time it would take me to figure out a way to get pre-orders without the customs fees. That's time being taken away from the comic and everything else I need to be doing. So, feel free to walk into your local store and buy it there, knowing that by doing so you kept me from having to spend days trying to work out some byzantine pre-order system that somehow bypasses customs.

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Originally Posted by The Giant

You're still supporting me by buying it in a local store. I understand the desire to try to make sure as much money as possible is ending up in GITP's pocket, but there are other forms of value you could give—like the time it would take me to figure out a way to get pre-orders without the customs fees. That's time being taken away from the comic and everything else I need to be doing. So, feel free to walk into your local store and buy it there, knowing that by doing so you kept me from having to spend days trying to work out some byzantine pre-order system that somehow bypasses customs.

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Thanks for the reply. I'll just buy the book whenever it is here.

Additional not important info:

The customs fee is on "all products shipped from outside the EU to Denmark with a value of over $15" - so it has nothing to do with 'pre-order' as such. And there are no way around it. Sorry that I was not clear.

A solution, would be to have one retailer in EU (europe) taking preorders also.
Another solution would be for your US retailer to make sure that shipping is made from a retailer in the EU, rather than directly from USA.

New book awesome. Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask about this but I wanted to ask I got all your previous books through the kickstarter signed with your awesome little character doodles, is that a possibility on this book signed/special addition. It would be really great if they all matched I understand if it's an option we need to wait for.

Any word on when the reduced preorder shipping is ending?

Hi Rich,

Thanks for teasing us with the book proofs on your twitter. I do wonder: what made you change your mind to include strip titles in the book, while this was previously only online content?

Garwain

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Originally Posted by Garwain

what made you change your mind to include strip titles in the book, while this was previously only online content?

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All my books have strip titles, with one minor exception (one story in SS&DT).

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Originally Posted by Garwain

Hi Rich,

Thanks for teasing us with the book proofs on your twitter. I do wonder: what made you change your mind to include strip titles in the book, while this was previously only online content?

Garwain

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Not sure what your source is for this claim, but all the strip that have a title online also have it in the books.
Though there are strips that don't have a title, most notable the books OtOoPCs and SoD only have page numbers.

Maybe you misremember a post Rich made about why he doesn't show titles on the online pages:

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Originally Posted by The Giant

Actually, the answer is, "I prefer the title NOT to be shown".

The titles are, if anything, "bonus" jokes. If you are following the comic as it comes out, you will see it displayed in the sidebar for an extra laugh. If you're reading the archive, you can open a separate page for the archive list and follow along with them. And if you're not willing to do either of those things, well, then you don't get the bonus joke. Oh well. It's not the end of the world.

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And since I just noticed on the Twitter picture: It shows that there is a strip 833b that features Jirix :smallsmile:.

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Originally Posted by ChristianSt

And since I just noticed on the Twitter picture: It shows that there is a strip 833b that features Jirix :smallsmile:.

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And with a title of "Villainy A-" (can't quite read the second letter of the second word, and the rest is hidden by the pages on top of it). Presumably a follow-on joke of some sort from the title of strip #833 being "Villainy Afoot".

Mind you, the part of the page we can actually see is identical to the bottom-left corner of the online strip #833, which is odd...