The OOTS Reprint Drive at Kickstarter: Pledge now to get exclusive rewards!

[keldorn]

Well, with about 7 hours to get less than $5,500; I see breaking that barrier, but barely.

We're limping towards it. The question is how much of an explosion of demand there will be when we get there.

I have not yet ordered a book in this drive as I have the three print only ones and DCF. If I am going to buy another book, then I am going to go for NCftPB. If DStP gets reprinted, then I am going to fork up the extra cost to get all three books I don't already have. I have a lousy income and the cost of postage will influence my decision on what to buy now. I can always pick up W&XPs at the lower postage rate in a couple of months' time. I think it. I wonder how many other people are delaying going for W&XPs because of this.

As DCF is going to be including in an "everything to the end of the war" deal, there are going to be some big purchase coming online. Even if there are only 200 left, that would be a package that will reach three figures, so $20K+ would be brought in with those.

A lot depends on when NCftPB became unavailable and therefore how much pent-up demand there is. As DStP has only just run out, it won't have any pent up demand apart from those people who will only buy the books in order.

So, after the drive to reprint these books is over, chances are all the OTHER books will be out of stock for some time :P

With the total at $148,031, my counts of orders so far are as follows:
OtOoPC: 674
SoD: 267
SS&DT: 667
W&XPs: 1121
DStP: 15

There are 35 more items to be shipped with SS&DT and are likely to be one of the big books plus a fair number of possibilities for extras in boxes.

SoD doesn't look at particular risk of running out. If it were, I think the numbers would have been restricted on the offers including it.

The Giant has already told us that SS&DT is likely to be withdrawn at the end of this drive. DStP was probably already withdrawn.

That leaves DCF. I do wonder if it is fairly low on stock as it has not yet been mentioned in any of the deals. We'll get a hint at the numbers in stock when we see if it appears only in restricted deals when in comes on with NCftPB.

[super dark33]

Woah! who is the dude who pleged 5k$?

[Typewriter]

I bumped my order from 290 to 351 for the extra signed books and to help get us over the blue line. If anyone plans on raising their pledge at some point, remember that if you do so now we hit the next tier sooner!

[Whiffet]

Well, shoot. I can't delay going to class any longer. Looks like I'm going to barely miss the 150k mark. And then miss any limited rewards that come after that. That's a shame, I would have loved a chance to nab a signed NCftPB (there will be some, right?)

Well, good luck to everyone who's going to try! And be sure to spread the word. If everyone who has already contributed convinces one friend or acquaintance to contribute ten dollars, it would be huge.

[Kobold-Bard]

Woah! who is the dude who pleged 5k$?

Tis a mystery.

[Anarion]

$500 to go until the $150k line.

[bluewurm]

We're about $500 short of NCftPB right now, so I'd have to imagine Rich would just wait for us to hit it before updating. Then we see how big a boost it gives us when people start adding that book to their pledges.

[ella ventic]

Since the $150,000 goal is a "soft" goal like the $89,450 was (lo those many days ago), I imagine that Rich won't need to delay the update but will take it as attained even if we don't quite get there by noon. ...Though it looks like we will.

Also, $150,000 is $53,000 over our last book-printing goal; do we think that's already going to be enough for a limited print run of NCftPB? So our next goal would be some $20,000 beyond that for a full print run...?

[NotSoWize]

I'm almost certain that the NCftPB run is a full run. So, the next goal should be around $200k to reprint DStP.

[Gullintanni]

Either way, the Playground clearly wins at pledge drives.

I wonder what percentage of the $150k collected comes from forum regulars...

[Unisus]

And we hit the 150k - waiting for the next update and the following rush at the new rewards.

[Flame of Anor]

And it's over 150k!

[CoffeeIncluded]

And we hit the 150K mark!

[WampaX]

Okay, before NCftPB drops in to the rewards and messes with the averages again.

30 hours to raise $57,750
48 hours to raise $91,000
72 hours to raise $127,000
95 hours to raise $150,000

So the last 23 hours saw $23,000 raised.
with an effective drop of 33% from the last average of $1500, I'd say we are close to hitting saturation . . . but then the update has the potential to blow the roof off again.

[Spacewolf]

Ahh now the $67 one is tempting me i didnt notice it before. Carnt resist upped pledge to $77

[keldorn]

I notice that we have passed the running total for this project which I missed on my search for current projects that are larger than ours.

The audience isn't identical to the Giant's (gay documentary fans v gamer and comics nerds) but I spotted in the comments someone who was watching the numbers go up and the LoTR films did give name checks. So, perhaps some of the award ideas could be borrowed? There isn't a premiere to go but limited edition t-shirts or a Skype chat could be applicable to OOTS people.

For future OOTS fundraising projects involving new books, perhaps people would pay for name checks. (Although too many would be a negative for other punters who read the book.) Limited run numbered editions also have an appeal to certain book collectors.

[Manga Maniac]

No Cure is now going to be added to the rewards.

Now to break my F5 key in the course of the next few hours.

[CigarPete]

I notice that we have passed the running total forthis project which I missed on my search for current projects that are larger than ours.

The audience isn't identical to the Giant's (gays v gamer and comics nerds) but I spotted in the comments someone who was watching the numbers go up and the LoTR films did give name checks. So, perhaps some of the award ideas could be borrowed? There isn't a premiere to go but limited edition t-shirts or a Skype chat could be applicable to OOTS people.

For future OOTS fundraising projects involving new books, perhaps people would pay for name checks. (Although too many would be a negative for other punters who read the book.) Limited run numbered editions also have an appeal to certain book collectors.

I would definitely increase my pledge for a t-shirt reward, probably two if it is a limited run. That is an awesome idea.

[The Black Cat]

I notice that we have passed the running total for this project which I missed on my search for current projects that are larger than ours.

The audience isn't identical to the Giant's (gay documentary fans v gamer and comics nerds) but I spotted in the comments someone who was watching the numbers go up and the LoTR films did give name checks. So, perhaps some of the award ideas could be borrowed? There isn't a premiere to go but limited edition t-shirts or a Skype chat could be applicable to OOTS people.

For future OOTS fundraising projects involving new books, perhaps people would pay for name checks. (Although too many would be a negative for other punters who read the book.) Limited run numbered editions also have an appeal to certain book collectors.

That would be kind of neat. Mostly the name checks, but the Skype chat made me think about a large reward that I personally would love, and also involves less time and effort for The Giant:

Maybe a large reward could be a chance for a text based interview of sorts? I really enjoy reading the commentary for the books, and I've really been enjoying these rare occasions where the Giant posts in a forum thread, and I think a chance to ask a few questions would be fascinating. To ask about themes, or inspiration, or background details that will never realistically come up again but you always wondered (obviously no spoilers). I dunno, just brainstorming/fantasizing here (and I apologize if that's already been suggested).

[Weimann]

Hm, that's a whole lot of extra comic pages in he pot for this one now. I shall have to pledge some.

I'm thinking the $68(+10) pledge looks neat.

[PetterTomBos]

This is simply amazing ! :D

*Longs for his SSDT, SOD and OTOPCS* :D

[Procyonpi]

Woot 150K! now just waiting for Rich to add a reward for No Cure and WaXP so I can complete my collection.

[Ancalagon]

@Rich, as this is at 150+k and as the goals set so far were basically taken with a breeze... may I ask what you expected/hoped from the kickstarter for the 30 days?
Were you holding your thumbs I'd somehow crawl over the 97k- or even the 75k-line after 30 days or was it more like you had been happy if it even made the 60k for the small batch after 30 days?
Or did you (in very much secret hope/dream) this would give you after the 30 days the means to re-print everything that was missing in full batches from the very start?

"No" (or none at all) is a perfectly valid answer, I'm just curious how your end of this kickstarter-rocket looks.

[SweetBB]

F5....F5....F5....

Hoping for more original art or limited edition swag.

F5....F5....F5....

[Elder Tsofu]

Can't you just set the page's update-rate to something like 5 seconds? That was what I did when I needed to. Saves your keyboard if nothing else.
(in opera, right click -> Reload every -> custom)

(Although you have to right click and reset it to get anything done afterwards though)

[Douglas]

@Rich, as this is at 150+k and as the goals set so far were basically taken with a breeze... may I ask what you expected/hoped from the kickstarter for the 30 days?
Were you holding your thumbs I'd somehow crawl over the 97k- or even the 75k-line after 30 days or was it more like you had been happy if it even made the 60k for the small batch after 30 days?
Or did you (in very much secret hope/dream) this would give you after the 30 days the means to re-print everything that was missing in full batches from the very start?

"No" (or none at all) is a perfectly valid answer, I'm just curious how your end of this kickstarter-rocket looks.

I, for one, am actually not very surprised. I've seen a number of authors of popular webcomics run fundraisers, and the result (provided the webcomic is in fact popular) has always been an enormous outpouring of funds, typically reaching several times the author's goal in a small fraction of the planned time span. The author being completely blind-sided by this is, amusingly, also typical. Webcomic authors as a group seem to consistently underestimate how much support their readers are willing to give them by a large margin, and all it takes to trigger the avalanche of money is a little prompting by the author and an unlimited-supply reason, preferably with a goal amount specified.

An unobtrusive donate button? It'll bring in some money, but not terribly much. An online store? Same. Drawing attention to either of the above with a public news post? That helps, but it's still relatively small. Public post of "hey guys, money would be nice" or "I'm selling X now"? Meh. Public post of "I need $X so I can do Y", possibly accompanied by "you'll get Z if you help"? Open the flood gates, drive up the money truck, call Fort Knox, buy an oxygen tank and shovel, you're about to be buried alive in money - provided that both Y and Z (if Z exists) are in some way of interest to the general readership. An absent Z is better than a Z few people want, which I think is why the forum ads are performing as poorly (relative to the initially hoped for goal, at least, whatever that was) as they are.

[Ancalagon]

I am also not surprised (at least not in general and we have known that OotS was among the most successful webcomics). Thunt from goblins usually does something like this ("I draw something out of the line and you give me money for it") and OotS seems to be a lot bigger.
But my view on that has neither been the question nor is it of any interest (for anyone, including actually myself). ;)

As I said before (which is also not the question), I'm (as I already have the books) seeing this as "I buy some online pdf-extras and can determine myself how much they are worth to me"-offer.

[Tanuki Tales]

Someone said something about adding T-shirts to the rewards as a possible idea?

Now that's something I definitely could get behind.

[SaintRidley]

Update! New Rewards!

Upgraded to the No Cure + skinny autographed bundle. (No Cure and Origin signed, that's good enough for me and I'll pick up War another time when it won't hurt my wallet so much)

Just in time, too. My class starts in 10 minutes.

[Whiffet]

Hooray! I managed to be here for the reward update! I switched from signed War and XPs to signed NCftPB, and I'll add a signed OtOoPCs to that. I saw I wasn't the only one to switch, too.

Everyone hurry and stampede over the available rewards!