New Prequel Book! Order of the Stick: Good Deeds Gone Unpunished (Book 1/2)

[ChristianSt]

Q: Will the physical books be available in my local gaming store?
A: Yes, assuming they've carried Order of the Stick books in the past. This title will be fully available to game store distribution, though I'd expect them not to show up on store shelves until closer to September.

Glad I can pick this up at my FLGS; really looking forward to get a new shiny OotS book.

[georgie_leech]

The main advantage is that people won't spend the next three months asking me if they can get the book in PDF format.

An underappreciated advantage

[Dr. Gamera]

Hey Giant, the picture in the news post on the front page links to AMFES (Winter) at Gumroad, not to GDGU. The link in the news post on the front page to GDGU at Gumroad does work, however.

[Priceguy]

Preordered! I've waited for this moment since I heard the Kickstarter backers gushing over How the Paladin Got His Scar. Why didn't I back the Kickstarter, you ask? Because I was on an Order of the Stick hiatus at the time so I'd have a bunch of strips to read through when I got back. Which I did right after the Kickstarter finished. Since then I haven't dared go on another hiatus.

[Xianthe]

Yes!

Pre-ordered both physical and digital!

[Kaed]

This probably isn't going to win me any popularity points, but I don't really understand the logic of not releasing a digital product until the physical product has already been shipped and likely to have already reached some people. The digital product doesn't need to go through a printing process and have a bunch of logistical details worked out like where to store it, etc etc. It's just ready, and can be sent out once the actual comics in question have been completed and collected into a readable data format.

I've heard before that it's being done to be 'fair' to the people who are ordering the physical books, but what fairness are we talking about? The fairness of avoiding spoilers from the stories? The fairness of not having to know the people who paid for the digital product got it faster, because that's the nature of digital media?

But, I thought a large part of the appeal of a physical copy was to have something you could hold and read without electricity or an internet connection, and in some cases, the knowledge that you supported the creator responsible.

Then again there might also be some business sense to it I don't know about, because I've never been in publishing before, and I literally have no idea what you go through getting all this done. Maybe you could illuminate me?

[Xianthe]

Then again there might also be some business sense to it I don't know about, because I've never been in publishing before, and I literally have no idea what you go through getting all this done. Maybe you could illuminate me?

You don't want to undercut the potential pool of buyers for the physical copy of the book, since print run prices are strongly dependent on economies of scale. This is mostly because the set-up costs for a print run stay the same whether you want 10 copies made or 10,000,000 - it's only the cost for paper and ink that changes with volume.

Functionally, out of the potential customer pool for this book, there's three broad categories of buyer we're dealing with:

• A small-ish group of readers who will buy both editions.
• A larger group that will buy only their preferred format
• The people who don't really care which format they get, they just want to get it as early as possible

If the e-book is available sooner, then third group I mentioned would all buy PDF, instead of choosing to wait and get the print book. Depending on the size of that group, that could be significant drop in print copy orders, which would then narrow the margins that the Giant makes on the print books (potentially even to the point where it is not cost effective to print them).

[The Aboleth]

I honestly don't know the answer to this, so I would contact Ookoodook customer service and ask them.

Or maybe APE Gamer will magically show up and tell us...

Thanks! I've sent a message to Ookoodook and eagerly await their reply.

Then again there might also be some business sense to it I don't know about, because I've never been in publishing before, and I literally have no idea what you go through getting all this done. Maybe you could illuminate me?

From the OP (bolded emphasis mine):

Q: Why are you delaying the PDFs until August? Why can't I download it today?
A: It's being delayed until the physical book is published so that some customers don't have to wait longer than other customers to read it. We really want the print edition to succeed, and if readers thought they could read the story three months earlier by buying the digital edition then they would be far more likely to do so. By holding the digital edition back to be published at the same time, we ensure that people buy the edition that they really want rather than rushing to get the one that comes out first.

This quote suggests to me that, business-wise, the print edition is the real money-maker. If the digital edition were released right away, it would presumably affect the print sales in a negative manner, which is an undesirable outcome for Rich's business. Also, as Rich stated earlier, the print pre-orders give him a rough estimate of how many books he needs to order printed; drastically over or under-shooting that number also negatively affects his business, and while estimating wrong is still something that could happen even if he goes by pre-order numbers it is at least far LESS likely to occur.

So, the PDFs are delayed in order to give the print edition an at least even chance of success against the digital edition.

I also assume (but have no basis for this) that delaying the PDFs also give Rich a chance to fix minor things that he might notice between now and August (or whenever he orders the physical books to be printed). If he releases the PDFs now, only to then notice later that a speech bubble is out of place (for example), he would then have a situation where the PDF and print versions have a minor difference between them. While he could, in theory, re-release an updated PDF to fix the mistake, the fact would remain that there would be a version of the PDF out in the ether that wouldn't be the same as the "correct" one, and I can imagine that'd be annoying (at best) for an artist.

[The Giant]

Xianthe has it right: In order for the print run to work financially at all, I need anyone who might be interested in print to buy print. There is a minimum number which I need paper pre-orders to reach by June 1st or else there will be no print run at all, because I will not have the funds to pay for it. Given that the PDF already has a significant price advantage over print, if I also gave it a speed advantage then a large portion of people who don't care either way would be heavily incentivized to buy a PDF, which would raise the possibility that the book print run would not even happen.

So no, it's not about fairness, it's about the financial realities of printing.

[infinityman]

I'm in for physical and digital! I love the convenience of reading on screens and the smell of the paper. If they could duplicate that smell on an iPad, I might go all digital.

[Capt Spanner]

Pre-order in.

[Unregistered]

Ordered both. And while I know you can't influence it and it always the same (which is why it's featured in the FAQ) I am really astonished by the incredibly high shipping costs.

[Chronos]

I would just like to inform you that I shall not be buying this book.




Because a friend just bought it for me as a birthday present.

[KorvinStarmast]

yes. *dances a happy dance*

[Matt620]

Strange to see all Azure City folks and not Hinjo. Is he part of the other stories, or did he just not make the cut?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Strange to see all Azure City folks and not Hinjo. Is he part of the other stories, or did he just not make the cut?

You'll have to buy it to know, won't you?
he's there
GW

[Jasdoif]

Strange to see all Azure City folks and not Hinjo. Is he part of the other stories, or did he just not make the cut?

Hinjo's a supporting character in How the Paladin Got His Scar. Whether he appears in the three yet-unreleased stories...I guess we'll find out in a few months!

[LadyEowyn]

And while I know you can't influence it and it always the same (which is why it's featured in the FAQ) I am really astonished by the incredibly high shipping costs.

Yes. There's no way I'm buying print when the shipping costs as much or more than the book does.

[Peelee]

Yes. There's no way I'm buying print when the shipping costs as much or more than the book does.

Overseas I can understand. But Canada? Our friendly neighbors to the north? Rules be stupid.

[LadyEowyn]

Makes no sense to me. Most parts of Canada with a substantial population are closer to the US than the US West Coast is to the US East Coast. I've bought plenty of books across international borders without $20-$40 shipping costs.

[NerdyKris]

Did you order those books from large retailers that have warehouses and bulk shipping to the country before being distributed? Because like Rich said, Ookoodook uses regular post office shipping, which is $26 for a small flat rate box. Large international retailers have warehouses that don't use the mail system until they're inside the country. Ookoodook does not.

[Peelee]

Did you order those books from large retailers that have warehouses and bulk shipping to the country before being distributed? Because like Rich said, Ookoodook uses regular post office shipping, which is $26 for a small flat rate box. Large international retailers have warehouses that don't use the mail system until they're inside the country. Ookoodook does not.

USPS is remarkably fast and cheap. I'd imagine Canadian postal service is likewise. Customs would be the big hurdle, and large international retailers still have to deal with that.

Not saying anything one way or the other, I just wonder why it's so crazy expensive to cross borders when the logistics are theoretically already there and not too bad.

[Ted The Bug]

When does pre-ordering end? I'm moving in the beginning of July and won't know my new address until sometime next month.

[The Aboleth]

When does pre-ordering end? I'm moving in the beginning of July and won't know my new address until sometime next month.

Here is the response I got from Ookoodook regarding address changes:

You would place an order now. There is an email that goes out for address changes once we get closer to shipping the packages out. You can contact [email protected] when your address changes so I can follow up with this as well.

[Turin_19]

Regarding the preference in taking the PDF or print book, that's exactly my case: I'd rather have the book; however, international shipping to Brazil sucks so much (due to our customs) that I'm not willing to wait for 30+ days to get the book in my house. I'll get the PDF and, once I know someone in a trip to the US or Europe, I'll buy it and ask them to bring it over to me.

And I'm not a fan of having both editions - I really prefer the books. (I still don't have SSDT).

[DataNinja]

USPS is remarkably fast and cheap. I'd imagine Canadian postal service is likewise. Customs would be the big hurdle, and large international retailers still have to deal with that.

Having family in Canada Post... can confirm that the administration is stupid, and that USPS is way faster. To give you an idea of what we have to deal with here in the city I live in... mail going to this same city has to get shipped several hours to Vancouver to be sorted, then back here to be delivered. Because they shut down the sorting plant here.

So... no, sorry to say, but you've got the way better end of the deal down there. (It's still on the cheaper end of the spectrum, and customs is most likely the big hurdle... but, yeah, fast this ain't.)

[Rogar Demonblud]

Hey, we have that 'close everything and use one distro center' thing going too. They're talking now about closing all the distros up here except Bismarck, which will cover at least two states.

And Turin, check the rate for shipping SS&DT and GDGU together. That might work better for you.

[The Giant]

I already said what I had to say about shipping in the FAQ, so I'm not going to say anything else.

When does pre-ordering end? I'm moving in the beginning of July and won't know my new address until sometime next month.

The book is scheduled to ship from the printer to Ookoodook on July 23rd. I would say as long as you have your address change in before then, you'll be fine.

[zimmerwald1915]

Strange to see all Azure City folks and not Hinjo. Is he part of the other stories, or did he just not make the cut?

He's on the cover, albeit in the background.

[The Giant]

It looks like Shopify (which runs the back-end of Ookoodook's online store) is having some sort of technical difficulties. So if you can't load the page, it's not you, it's us (well, them), and please try again in an hour or two.

EDIT: And it seems like they fixed it already.