Store for Schlock Mercenary Big Dumb Objects Kickstarter
Created by Howard Tayler
256 glossy, full-color pages of Schlock Mercenary, plus a slipcase for books 12-16!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Shipping Update #4
almost 3 years ago
– Sat, Jun 05, 2021 at 01:36:04 AM
Greetings Backers!
TL;DR
Howard is running livestreams of him sketching in books on week days. You can watch the live streams over on https://www.twitch.tv/howardtayler The best way to be alerted when they are happening is to subscribe or follow over there. Sketched books have started going out and we've crossed the halfway mark.
If any of your items are missing or damaged in shipping, email [email protected] and we'll replace them free of charge.
Quick status report by Pledge Level
Total shipped: 791/1433 (8 Unanswered surveys)
1 Print Book: 393/396 (3 unanswered surveys)
1 Book Sketched Batch 1: 124/200
1 Book Sketched Batch 2: 65/200 (1 unanswered survey)
1 Book Sketched + Add books: 0/150 (1 unanswered survey)
1 Book Sketched Batch 3: 70/275 (4 unanswered surveys)
Preorder: 23/33
------------
No Reward: 1/1 Complete!
Just Watching: 21/21 Complete!
Stickers, Coins, or Pins: 14 / 14 Complete!
Escape From the Friggen Jungle PDF: 5/5 Complete!
Stickers only: 4/4 Complete!
1 PDF Book: 94/94 Complete!
Tiny Planet Mercenary PDF: 9/9 Complete!
Tiny Planet Mercenary in Print: 30/31 (1 unanswered survey)
If you are in a pledge level marked as complete and you haven't yet gotten your package, odds are good it is on the way to you and will arrive shortly. But if you are worried please email [email protected] We'll make it right.
Details on this week
We've crossed the halfway mark! Sorry there are fewer pictures this week. I'll try to remember to take more next week. I'll also put the Kickstarter update earlier in the day so that I have more energy to give to writing everything up.
Saturday 5/29: I did a couple of hours shipping by myself. Howard rested his hand and the assistants were also taking a much needed rest. I also clicked the button to notify the next batch of orders to update their addresses.
Sunday 5/30: Day of rest, church, and family
Monday 5/31: Memorial day in the US. I did 2 hours of postage printing and Howard did a brief stream, but much of our energy was spent visiting with relatives we haven't seen in two years. (Yay vaccinations!)
Tuesday 6/1: 1 hour of postage sorting, but relatives claimed most of this day as well.
Wednesday 6/2: Spent the morning writing our monthly newsletter and managing administrative tasks. Howard ran a stream while my assistants and I worked hard for three hours trying to make up time after the two days spent with family. Then in the evening I did another hour of postage preparation.
Thursday 6/3: 4 hours spent putting together packages with a 3 person team. We managed to assemble almost 120 packages with slipcases. The process is growing more refined and efficient as we go. We've learned the best arrangement of people to work smoothly.
Friday 6/4: Spent the morning doing the weekly accounting with special attention to updating inventory numbers to make sure that they'll make sense to our accountant when we have our taxes done next year. The shipping crew did 3.5 hours of shipping. We didn't accomplish as much as we wanted to. There were still 62 packages waiting, but local weather has spiked up over 90°F (32°C) and our large warehouse space doesn't have AC. So next week we'll have to go earlier in the day, or rearrange the process so that we can do more of the work in the smaller air conditioned rooms in the front. Howard streamed himself sketching for 3.5 hours. Then I sat down to finish writing this update. Next week I'll remember I can do two out of three, but accounting, shipping, and updating are too many brain things for one day.
Your next shipping update will be Friday June 11.
Thank you for backing our project. We're so excited to finally get to deliver things to you!
Sandra and Howard
Shipping Update #3
almost 3 years ago
– Sat, May 29, 2021 at 12:27:24 AM
Greetings Backers!
TL;DR
Howard is running livestreams of him sketching in books on week days. You can watch the live streams over on https://www.twitch.tv/howardtayler The best way to be alerted when they are happening is to subscribe or follow over there. Almost all of the unsketched books are in the mail. Sketched books start going out next week.
1 Book Sketched Batch 2: 0/200 (1 unanswered survey)
1 Book Sketched + Add books: 0/150 (1 unanswered survey)
1 Book Sketched Batch 3: 0/275 (4 unanswered surveys)
Preorder: 23/30
------------
No Reward: 1/1 Complete!
Just Watching: 21/21 Complete!
Stickers, Coins, or Pins: 14 / 14 Complete!
Escape From the Friggen Jungle PDF: 5/5 Complete!
Stickers only: 4/4 Complete!
1 PDF Book: 94/94 Complete!
Tiny Planet Mercenary PDF: 9/9 Complete!
Tiny Planet Mercenary in Print: 30/31 (1 unanswered survey)
If you are in a pledge level marked as complete and you haven't yet gotten a shipping notification or your items, please email [email protected] We'll make it right.
Details on this week
Saturday 5/22: Did three hours of accounting, spreadsheet setup, and inventory tracking set up. This is a huge piece in running a Kickstarter that is completely invisible to backers. We have to track all the money and all the physical objects that the money is spent to create. I decided not to ship because everyone was brain tired and physically tired. Howard rested his hand. We did load the boxes of Landon sketched books into the car to be taken to the warehouse. We also loaded up some shipping supplies and some fuel (snacks) for the shipping crew.
Sunday 5/23: Day of rest, church, and family
Monday 5/24: Spent 2 hours printing postage and thinking through how to manage my crew for the next shipping days. I have to balance physical and mental stamina of the people in question against the work to be done. 3 hours packing and shipping books.
Then I came home and did another hour of thinking and prepping. Howard streamed for five hours and got 90 books sketched (Schlock in shackles.) I assisted for one of those hours.
Tuesday May 5/25: Spent an hour in the morning processing international postage which all have to be managed individually. Then my crew did three hours of work assembling boxes and sets. We have to manually put books into the slipcases to make sets. When I know I'm going to be sending out a bunch of them, it makes sense to put them together all at once. Line up the empty boxes on the table and then gather books and slide them into the slipcase.
Then I stack the sets to wait their turn to be boxed as part of an order.
We also did basic clean up of our working space because we had empty boxes, pallet wrap, strapping materials etc. Tripping over things while trying to work isn't ideal. These piles of boxes are only going to get larger as work continues.
Came home and did another hour and a half of postage preparation and sorting. Howard streamed sketches for an hour and a half as well (Yaeyoefui 20 books)
Wednesday 5/26: We spent 2.5 hours shipping out orders that contained book sets. Shipping sets takes extra care and extra packaging to make sure that they arrive safely. I neglected to get photos, but there is bubble wrap involved. Howard streamed for a couple of hours and drew 20 Espererin sketches. This was the day when I hit a massively brain-fried fatigue state. There were more hours available in the day, but if I tried to work I would have just made mistakes. I did place an order for more shipping supplies. We need some boxes that are the right size for orders with three slipcases in them so we don't have to cut larger boxes down to size. We also prepared invoices to make the next day's shipping easier. I tape the small items to the invoice which helps us keep track of which things belong to which order.
Thursday 5/27: An online meeting threw our schedule off, but we managed to get into the gear during the afternoon. Printed and sorted postage for 1.5 hours in the morning.
The postage has to be sorted into piles according to which kind of box we need to use and according to what goes into the box. Shipped packages for 2.5 hours and Howard did a stream in the late afternoon. I sat with him as streaming support for most of it. The day also included a grocery run. We were pretty exhausted.
Friday 5/28: Spent 2 hours this morning doing the weekly accounting and inventory tracking. Howard is currently streaming sketching the Artist Choice books while I write this Kickstarter update. Everyone here at our house is very tired both physically and mentally, but in a couple of hours we'll clock out and take some time off over the weekend so that we can start next week with rested brains, hands, and backs so we're less likely to make mistakes.
Milo helps with shipping
That is the update for this week. Your next shipping update will be Friday June 4.
Thank you for backing our project. We're so excited to finally get to deliver things to you!
Sandra and Howard
Shipping Update #2
almost 3 years ago
– Fri, May 21, 2021 at 10:15:20 PM
Greetings Backers!
TL;DR
We spent the last week setting up to live stream the book sketching and getting the first packages into the mail. You can watch the live streams over on https://www.twitch.tv/howardtayler The best way to be alerted when they are happening is to subscribe or follow over there.
Tiny Planet Mercenary in Print: 28/31 (1 unanswered survey)
1 Book Sketched Batch 1: 0/200
1 Book Sketched Batch 2: 0/200 (1 unanswered survey)
1 Book Sketched + Add books: 0/150 (1 unanswered survey)
1 Book Sketched Batch 3: 0/275 (4 unanswered surveys)
Preorder: 8/28
------------
No Reward: 1/1 Complete!
Just Watching: 21/21 Complete!
Stickers, Coins, or Pins: 14 / 14 Complete!
Escape From the Friggen Jungle PDF: 5/5 Complete!
Stickers only: 4/4 Complete!
1 PDF Book: 94/94 Complete!
Tiny Planet Mercenary PDF: 9/9 Complete!
If you are in a pledge level marked as complete and you haven't yet gotten a shipping notification or your items, please email [email protected] We'll make it right.
Details on this week
A significant portion of work time and brain went into setting Howard up to stream. We had to completely rearrange our family room to make space for it. The good news is that we like some of the rearrangements and may keep them even after book sketching is done. Howard documented some of his Twich set up and thought processes on twitter. You can read them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
So far Howard has streamed for two days and completed all of the Landon sketches. He'll embark on Schlock in Shackles next.
We got about 250 packages into the mail this week. I'm hoping that by the end of next week we'll have mailed twice that many. The beginning of shipping is always slow because we have to create process based on the physical requirements of the items to ship. Nearly have the orders contain slipcases and that requires a different set up than the orders which just have books. So we did a work day focused on orders that were just a single book.
That process could all take place in the front room with three people in fairly close quarters. The packages with slipcases required us to move out into the big warehouse section. We would have been more efficient with additional people, but we made it work with just three. First we build boxes. We can't put books into them when they are flat.
Note that our box building station is set up on top of a pallet of slipcases. Space gets tight when we've had an influx of pallets.
Then we have to trim the boxes so that they will fold smaller. One cut in each corner of the box. I could have bought smaller boxes, but there will be some orders where we need that extra height. I also could just let them take up more space, but then I have to make more trips to the post office because fewer packages fit into my vehicle at a time.
So, we cut the corners. Literally.
The empty boxes are then stacked, waiting to be filled up.
The next station was putting in one book and one slipcase along with a packing slip and a mailing label.
Then the box/book/slipcase/packing slip/label combo is re-stacked to wait for the next stage.
Once we had enough boxes built, we moved people to create the packing station. This is where paper is carefully shoved around all four sides of the slipcase so that it will be safe in transit.
Then the box is folded and taped shut.
Label is placed on the outside of the package
And the packages are stacked so they can be hauled off to the post office.
We didn't get through as many packages as we wanted to in the first day. We kept having to stop and figure out how to best arrange things. We also ended up switching jobs as we figured out who was most efficient at which job, and which jobs were causing back strain in what people. We'll dive back in tomorrow and hopefully send out another 100 packages with slipcases. After that it gets more complicated because all the orders will contain additional items. There will need to be an entire shipping day devoted to orders that contain 15 book sets.
I'm hoping to be done with the unsketched orders by next Tuesday so I can begin processing the sketched books that Howard is creating.
That is the update for this week. Your next shipping update will be Friday May 28.
Thank you for backing our project. We're so excited to finally get to deliver things to you!
Sandra and Howard
Shipping Update #1
almost 3 years ago
– Sun, May 16, 2021 at 09:41:03 AM
Greetings Backers!
TL;DR
Books arrived this week! This means we're in full signing/sketching/shipping mode and you'll be getting updates weekly on Fridays. Your updates will be a status report on current state of sketching & shipping followed by a more detailed report in long form format. This week was about receiving books, getting them signed, and setting up for sketching. The first packages will go out next week. Now is a great time to update your address! Use this link if your address has changed in the past 18 months. https://big-dumb-objects-schlock-mercenary-book-16.backerkit.com/
Quick status report by Pledge Level
Total shipped: 183/1245 (10 Unanswered surveys)
1 Print Book: 0/396 (3 unanswered surveys)
Tiny Planet Mercenary in Print: 28/31 (1 unanswered survey)
1 Book Sketched Batch 1: 0/200
1 Book Sketched Batch 2: 0/200 (1 unanswered survey)
1 Book Sketched + Add books: 0/150 (1 unanswered survey)
1 Book Sketched Batch 3: 0/275 (4 unanswered surveys)
Preorder: 7/28
------------
No Reward: 1/1 Complete!
Just Watching: 21/21 Complete!
Stickers, Coins, or Pins: 14 / 14 Complete!
Escape From the Friggen Jungle PDF: 5/5 Complete!
Stickers only: 4/4 Complete!
1 PDF Book: 94/94 Complete!
Tiny Planet Mercenary PDF: 9/9 Complete!
If you are in a pledge level marked as complete and you haven't yet gotten a shipping notification or your items, please email [email protected] We'll make it right.
Details on this week
We'd been told by our printing company that the estimated date of delivery was the week of May 17, but that everything was backed up in the ports, so it would probably be later than that. So I was surprised to get a phone call on the evening of Monday May 10 to scheduled delivery for the next day. Fortunately it was easy to clear the day and May 11 became Book Delivery Day. I'm always a bit anxious on delivery day because I don't know who the driver will be and whether they'll have a good sense of humor about maneuvering my heavy pallets of books out of their truck and onto my warehouse floor. I also don't know whether all of their essential equipment will be in working order. I've had trucks show up expecting a loading dock which then had to leave and come back the next day with a lift gate truck. I've had broken lift gates, broken pallet jacks, and broken pallets. This time I got a very friendly and helpful guy who was very apologetic that the bent platform and creaky lift gate meant I had to help him push in order to get the wheels of the pallet jack to go over the dip. I told him at this point I fully expect to have to help push. Each pallet of books weighs 1500lbs, which is just inside the upper limit of what pallets can survive while being moved from warehouse to truck to ship to truck to truck to warehouse. This time only 2 out of 17 pallets were partially smashed.
The pallets arrived in two deliveries because the truck was a local freight truck rather than a full semi. This is actually preferable, since maneuvering a semi in the parking lot of my warehouse space isn't easy. I'd cleared floor space ahead of time for the pallets to arrive.
The first delivery had 10 pallets, four were books (to the right) and six were slipcases (to the left.)
I still had an aisle space available and we could have just plunked the final seven pallets there, but I knew that the rest of the shipping work would be much easier if I had walking room, so while the truck was off to go collect more pallets, I re-stacked five pallets of slipcases triple height. They're light (about 6lbs per box,) so triple stacking wasn't a problem. And it made space for the final seven pallets, one of which I unpacked immediately because it only had two boxes on it. I also ended up unpacking one pallet of slipcases in a hurry during delivery in order to give the driver more room to maneuver the final heavy pallet of books.
Many of those boxes of slipcases will get stowed in the upstairs portion of our warehouse, but I have to schedule a day for managing that. I also need to rent a pickup truck and schedule a trash hauling day because we shoved large piles of plastic wrapping and pallet straps into whatever corners were available. Also I need to re-home at least 17 wooden pallets. (If you're local to Orem UT and want pallets ping me at [email protected], you can have some for free!) But all of that clean up and organizational work takes a back seat to the work that is immediately necessary to get belated packages out the door.
We've spent the last two days hauling 76 boxes of books to our house so that Howard can sign the covers.
Twenty-four of those boxes were immediately hauled back to the warehouse so that I can start shipping packages next week. The other 52 boxes will get re-opened, stamped on the sketch page, and then re-boxed to wait for Howard to start working on sketches. I'm hoping to get a large portion of the stamping done today.
Howard has spent the morning finding out whether it is feasible for him to stream book sketching. Current status: looking good. You can follow his progress via this twitter thread. If we do stream, it will happen on Howard's twitch channel. https://www.twitch.tv/howardtayler The best way to be alerted when a stream goes live is to follow/subscribe on twitch. Or you can follow Howard on twitter. He's likely to post alerts there as well.
So that is the update for this week. Your next shipping update will be Friday May 21.
Thank you for backing our project. We're so excited to finally get to deliver things to you!
Sandra and Howard
Progress Update #19
about 3 years ago
– Thu, Apr 29, 2021 at 06:43:59 PM
Greetings Backers,
TL;DR: Still waiting for bulk shipments to arrive so we can ship to you. International shipping is way slower than usual, current ETD May 17-30. Details below.
Manufacturing and bulk shipping has been a much more arduous adventure than usual for this project. Partners that have been very reliable in the past were less so, not from lack of good intentions, it is just that supply chains are wobbly and less predictable than they were pre-pandemic. Our shipment of books got onto a container ship the same week that a similar ship got stuck in the Suez Canal for five days. While our shipment didn't need to pass through the canal, the blockage sent ripples through all the ports where containers that were supposed to be picked up, weren't. Ships that were supposed to be under way were parked. All of the ports are over stressed and everything is taking longer than usual. I wasn't thrilled to learn that my official delivery date was pushed back to the week of May 17. My contact at the printer warned me it could be even later than that because of port congestion. So, we're still in wait mode on Big Dumb Objects.
In happier news, we've received our print copies of Tiny Planet Mercenary!
The orders which had these books and no BDO or Mayhem cards have gone out. The printing of the Mayhem Cards also fell into some weird supply chain loop, but I now have a tracking number that says a package will arrive on Friday. Hopefully it is full of cards and I can send out the rest of the Tiny PM Only orders starting next week. So here is our current progress report:
Progress Updates
Big Dumb Objects book: Done! Current ETD May 17-30
Many of you have been part of a Kickstarter from us before, but for those who are new, here is the process for shipping things out once they arrive.
First I had to clear enough floor space for 17 pallets. We'd accumulated large piles of empty cardboard boxes.
So I scheduled a day to clear that out.
17 pallets will be a tight fit, but we should be able to squeeze them all in. Some of the boxes of slipcases will be immediately moved into storage in the upstairs section (from which the warehouse photos were taken.) That will clear enough space to work on shipping.
Prepping: I print out the sketch sheets and get the stamp made.
Book Signing: this usually takes a couple of days. We haul books to our house to have Howard sign the covers.
Stamping: This is the process by which we stamp the books which are going to be sketched and place a page in them to indicate what sketch should be inside. 1-2 days.
Shipping unsketched books: This begins as soon as I have signed books. I work in batches designed to get packages out the door as fast as possible. Depending on quantity of orders, I can often get all the non-sketched orders into the mail in 1-2 weeks.
Sketching: Howard gets to work on hand drawing sketches. He can do as many as 200 per day. However sometimes he needs rest days in between. With a single title to sketch, we expect this to be done in 2-3 weeks, most of which will overlap with the shipping of non-sketched books and the shipping of sketched books.
Shipping sketched books: As Howard gets books done, I start sending them out. So the last packages go into the mail 1-2 days after Howard finishes sketching them.
Really looking forward to getting to this part of the process. It is familiar and far more in our control than waiting on manufacturing.
Thank you again to everyone who supported this project and who continued to be kind while we figured out how to get it done despite a series of life-disrupting events. Your next update will be the week of May 24-28, unless the shipment arrives sooner than that, in which case I'll update sooner.
