Start of Darkness

[Vladimir]

Number 8524, still waiting for even a confirmation email, and rapidly running out of patience. I went ahead with the pre-order instead of supporting my FLGS because I wanted to read the book before the friendly local gamers spoiled the ending for me. That others have already completed the book while I have not even recieved notice of shipping yet is distressing. Oh, and since it's apparently of great concern to our Canadian friend, I'm right here in the States not getting my book. So I would say, no it doesn't seem like US customers are getting any sort of priority.

[Gundato]

Oy. Like the Burlew said: Pretty much all of them were shipped on Monday and Tuesday. It is just a case of glitches in the system that you didn't get your email.

[holywhippet]

I didn't order my copy through APE, I ordered through Paizo - and they are still listing it as a preorder item with no clear indication of when it will ship.

[Tobrian]

I didn't order my copy through APE, I ordered through Paizo - and they are still listing it as a preorder item with no clear indication of when it will ship.

I pre-ordered through APE, but so far it hasn't arrived here in Germany yet. *drums fingers*

[Aurorax]

I have my book and stayed up late last night reading. It was so sad. The best thing is that it makes me now want to go back and reread everything....

[Vorais]

Still haven't recieved a confirmation email that it has shipped and have not recieved the book yet (order #8562). I should have recieved it Wednesday or Thursday, and mail came today and went and still no book. Guess I will give them email them again to make sure it has shipped. (they sent me an email originally when I ordered it so I know they have the correct email.)

[Alysar]

I just got my confirmation email! (#8292)

Happy Happy! Joy Joy!
Happy Happy! Joy Joy!
Happy Happy! Joy Joy!
Happy Happy! Joy Joy!
Happy Happy! Joy Joy!
Happy Happy! Joy Joy!
Happy Happy! Joy Joy Joy!

Multiply that by about a million when the book actually arrives

[Gundato]

To answer my own question:

It originated in Texas. So estimate arrival times from that.

[Moral Wiz]

International should have left the us on the 27 th

[LordOfNarf]

I just got my confirmation email it shipped today.

NOTE: My first post typed on my new Dvorak keyboard! Yay!

[Vladimir]

Just got my shipping notice. Hooray for APE!

[yrro]

Got mine two days ago.

Loved the book. Quality of the printing wasn't as high on one of my copies :( The plastic cover was peeling slightly and the color pages seem to have stuck together. The other one was clean. Not enough to send it back, but you should complain to your printer, Rich.

It's really a very tragic story. And Xykon is so... evil. Can't wait for Roy to get resurrected to go beat his butt.

[Jauranna]

Got mine! ::does a victory dance:: APE Games Order #6472, if anyone was wondering. Must go read now!

[Sixtoes]

Ah, the joy that USPS brings to my door...

Preordered through APE, since Rich made it clear they'd be getting it first... I don't know if I'd have saved a buck or two going through Paizo, but I figured I wouldn't take a chance.

FYI, received my shipping confirmation on 6/26... order 6363.

Now... must read.

[dan4ster]

On Jun 28, 2007 2:50 AM, I got my confirmation email:

Your order 6537 was shipped to you on 06/26/2007 via U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail, Flat Rate Env

Still waiting....

However, I'm glad
1) Rich posted something about it, thus relieving my anxiety
and
2) I got a confirmation email from APE games. That's professional of them.

[Hushdawg]

WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!

Just got mine!!!

can't wait to read it tonight when I go to bed.

yes, it's my bedtime story.. bite my fuzzy butt.

Order # 7010 for those who are curious.

They are coming from TX in priority mail, so give them four days from shipping date before questioning.

[chorpler]

Man, all the order numbers I've seen so far are so low. Mine's 9088. Did they really print the thousands of books it seems like they'll need to fill everybody's orders?

[Suraht]

I was order 6215, and my book arrived Wednesday(along with the rest of the OotS books I ordered).

Not an ounce of disappointment with it, at all. Very, very well done.

[Lord_Jadawin]

Does anyone know if Paizo is destined to see any of these sometime this year? My wife pre-ordered it for my birthday (back on the 6th) from Paizo since she had gotten the first 3 books from there- they don't appear to even have confirmed that it's shipping yet.

[SPoD]

Does anyone know if Paizo is destined to see any of these sometime this year? My wife pre-ordered it for my birthday (back on the 6th) from Paizo since she had gotten the first 3 books from there- they don't appear to even have confirmed that it's shipping yet.

Rich has stated that Paizo has no relationship with GITP anymore, so they won't get the books until any other store that has ordered them will. They aren't his distributor anymore, that's why he sends people to APE now.

I don't know what happened there, but they must have stopped working together. I think Paizo probably isn't advertising that fact because they will still get orders from innocent folks like you who think that they will get their book faster by ordering from them.

Preordered through APE, since Rich made it clear they'd be getting it first... I don't know if I'd have saved a buck or two going through Paizo, but I figured I wouldn't take a chance.

It appears you chose...wisely.

[The Giant]

How large was the print run? In other words, what are the chances of getting it without a preorder?

Man, all the order numbers I've seen so far are so low. Mine's 9088. Did they really print the thousands of books it seems like they'll need to fill everybody's orders?

To answer both of these questions, the first print run was 15,000 copies, and we intend to continue reprinting it as necessary when that runs out. At least for a few years. There's no danger of it running out in the preorders, we had a good idea of the number of preorders before we gave the printer the final quantity.

Also, order number is not an indication of how many were presold. We didn't presell 9088 copies, I can assure you!

[Ezlo]

Also, order number is not an indication of how many were presold. We didn't presell 9088 copies, I can assure you!

Rats, I thought it was great there were so many preorders. Oh well.

[chorpler]

To answer both of these questions, the first print run was 15,000 copies, and we intend to continue reprinting it as necessary when that runs out. At least for a few years. There's no danger of it running out in the preorders, we had a good idea of the number of preorders before we gave the printer the final quantity.

Awesome. I had no idea print runs were so large.

Also, order number is not an indication of how many were presold. We didn't presell 9088 copies, I can assure you!

At first I thought that, since other orders were in the 6000-range, it indicated that you had at least presold 3000 copies. But then I realized that people probably order other things from APE Games too, and they probably don't have separate order numbers for each product, so that probably includes lots of other orders for non-OOTS products too.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Rich has stated that Paizo has no relationship with GITP anymore, so they won't get the books until any other store that has ordered them will. They aren't his distributor anymore, that's why he sends people to APE now.

I don't know what happened there, but they must have stopped working together. I think Paizo probably isn't advertising that fact because they will still get orders from innocent folks like you who think that they will get their book faster by ordering from them.

Looks like I got the big bone, then. Start of Darkness was the #1 and #2 most popular item they sold since it was announced, dropping to #3 just this last week. I assumed that Paizo would be getting the books at the same time, directly shipped from the printer. I ordered it back in April, and the Paizo web site still hasn't update when they will be receiving it.

Bummer.

[darkgolem]

Nevermind, wrong forum thread. Sorry.

[Garian]

I want to know what happened to the 15,000 copy's of start of darkness that did not have any color. They could not have been simply thrown out, you should get a discount for them or maybe we could send the to 3rd world country's (that read English). Could they at least be recycled? It would be a terrible waist to have them all be throw away.

[JoseB]

Just for information, I made my pre-order with APE on April 11, and my book arrived yesterday, June 30th (saturday). I live in the Netherlands, so I guess that pre-orders from Europe should be arriving presently...

...and I read the book in one sitting, and it is absolutely awesome.

[Irenaeus]

I want to know what happened to the 15,000 copy's of start of darkness that did not have any color. They could not have been simply thrown out, you should get a discount for them or maybe we could send the to 3rd world country's (that read English). Could they at least be recycled? It would be a terrible waist to have them all be throw away.

I would suspect that anybody reading an english webcomic in most third world countries would have more than sufficient funds to pay for a proper print. I also suspect that selling the same content for a lesser price would hurt the main sale. I do hope that the paper gets recycled, though.

PS: My own order was 8213, and has been marked by the USPS as 'Electronic Shipping Info Received' since the 27th, I guess I'll have to wait a few more days at least. Possibly a few weeks.

[Garian]

I would suspect that anybody reading an english webcomic in most third world countries would have more than sufficient funds to pay for a proper print. I also suspect that selling the same content for a lesser price would hurt the main sale. I do hope that the paper gets recycled, though.

PS: My own order was 8213, and has been marked by the USPS as 'Electronic Shipping Info Received' since the 27th, I guess I'll have to wait a few more days at least. Possibly a few weeks.

I was sort of joking about having them sent to 3rd world country's. And your right about selling it for a lower price, but can the material they were made from be recycled? I would very much so like to know the fate of them.
By the way Irenaeus, is your avatar godman? Or am I wrong.

[Irenaeus]

I was sort of joking about having them sent to 3rd world country's. And your right about selling it for a lower price, but can the material they were made from be recycled? I would very much so like to know the fate of them.

Oh. Gotcha. I don't really know anything about American recycling systems. The books most certainly can be recycled, so hopefully the local system can accomodate them somehow.

I'll have to admit, though, that destroying books (even if they are misprints, even if it is done before they have hit the marked, even if it is done by the author, and even if they are recycled) makes me cringe. Just some sort of knee-jerk reaction I suppose.

By the way Irenaeus, is your avatar godman? Or am I wrong.

You are correct. It is a picture of Godman showing his incredible power of omnipotence by ripping a phone book in two. That fits rather neatly with our discussion, by the way.