Important Survey Instructions
over 4 years ago – Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 03:12:11 PM

Greetings Backers,

This is a long update with all kinds of details please make sure you read it thoroughly. Your surveys will be coming this weekend. They'll be sent out in batches, but you should have it by Tuesday. A full, detailed progress report is coming soon. Hopefully next week if the holiday brain fry clears enough.

In this update:

• Survey related plea
• Adding on to your order
• Detailed survey instructions
• Process for special requests and questions
• How to update your shipping address as needed
• Updated timeline

Survey related plea

Your surveys will be sent out this weekend (details below.) When you get your survey, please answer your survey promptly. The sooner we get survey answers, the sooner we can place orders for the coin and pins.

Adding on to your order

If  you did not add on extra funds to your pledge and want to purchase  additional items (like a slipcase) now, you can absolutely do that. Please be aware that  the charge for those add on items will appear on your credit card the  first week of January. If for any reason you need to have your card  charged sooner than that, please email [email protected] and we  can help you.

Detailed survey instructions

The  email for the survey will come from Backerkit. It will include a link  that is personalized to you. When you click on the link, it will take  you to a page where you will confirm your shipping location.

Once  you click "Get Started" you'll be taken to a series of pledge questions.  The questions vary depending on your pledge level. This is when people  with sketched books will select their choice of sketch.

Once  you've answered all the questions you'll be taken to the add-on page.  The add-on page is where you can select items to add to your order. If  you added funds during the Kickstarter to cover the cost of add-ons,  this is where you indicate what that money is to be used for. All of your items will ship together and will not arrive in time for Christmas.  Be aware that some add on items will have additional shipping costs. If  you don't want to add any items, you can move past this page by  clicking the Next button.

Once you've added on or clicked past the  add on page, you'll be taken to the page where you'll fill out your  address. If there is uncertainty about where your address will be in  Feb/March/April/May 2019, don't worry. You will have the chance to update  your address before your items ship.

The final screen of your  survey is where you will enter payment information if you need to give  additional payment for items you added on. If you have no add ons or you  added the funds during the Kickstarter, you shouldn't see the payment  page because you've already paid. Make sure you click the big green "Place My Order" button to complete your survey.

Instructions for special requests

If  you have a special request or a question, please first read through  updates and the project FAQ to see if your question has already been  answered. If it hasn't been answered, please email  [email protected]. Response times may be slow at first if there  are a lot of emails to handle.

How to update your shipping address as needed

This  project has a quick turn around, so hopefully not too many of you will  need to update your shipping information between filling out the survey  and when the packages ship. However you can update your address at any  time by using your survey link to login to Backerkit and change your  address. So hold onto the survey email if you think your address might  change in the next few months.

You will also get a notification  email at least 2 days before your package ships and that email will give  you a link to update your address if you need to.

Updated timeline

Surveys go out this weekend

We'll have a progress report for you the week of December 16-20. The report after that will be in early January.

Dec 23ish -we place orders for pins (sooner if surveys are answered quickly.)

Dec 30ish book and slipcase go to print and we'll have a more detailed timeline for everything after that.

Thank you for all your support.

--Sandra Tayler

Progress Update #1
over 4 years ago – Mon, Dec 02, 2019 at 08:42:25 AM

Greetings Backers,

Thank you once again for your support of this project. We're very excited to make all the things and deliver them to you. 

In about two weeks we'll be sending out a survey. It will come from Backerkit. That survey lets us know how many of each item to make. It also lets you tell us exactly what you want for your pledge. We'll alert you with another update before the survey goes out.

During the two weeks until we can send out the survey, Sandra will be working to set up the Backerkit so that the process is as smooth as possible for everyone. Howard will be hard at work making all things while also drawing the comic.  At some point we'll also sneak in a Thanksgiving Dinner and decorating for Christmas.

We may have quick updates with images, and we expect to send an update with instructions about the survey, but the next full progress update will take place the week of December 9-13, which is when we hope to send the book to print. More details about each of the deliverables is below. Thanks again for supporting the project.

Big Dumb Objects book: Howard has about 3 more hours to do on the cover line art. Sandra needs to write the introduction and fill in some last white spaces. The bonus story needs some work as well. We're hoping to wrap up all of that in the next two weeks so that we can send everything off to print on December 10.

Slipcase: Our designer is creating a beautiful design you can see a partial mock up just below. He is also waiting on the finalized cover art because it gets incorporated into the design he has made.

Warning Sign Stickers: Howard wants to punch up the designs and tighten up the jokes, but he's focusing on Big Dumb Objects first. The good news is that turn around on stickers is only a few weeks, so they'll arrive in our hands first even if they go to print last. We'll have pictures as soon as the new designs are done.

Enamel Pins: The designs for these are complete. We can place an order for them as soon as we have enough surveys answered to get a count of how many to order.

Escape From the Friggen Jungle PDF: All the text is edited and images are done. Sandra just needs to finish the layout.

Tiny Planet Mercenary: The team at Gallant Knight Games are already at work coming through material and refining a rule set. The first week of December we'll have a meeting to discuss the project and how quickly everything will be done. After that meeting we should have a more specific timeline and details.

Kitesfear model: Jeff Zugale is hard at work refining the process and adding detail. We'll have more pictures to show soon. You'll be able to add this model to your order when you fill out your survey.

We've Funded, Thank You!
over 4 years ago – Sat, Nov 23, 2019 at 05:19:38 AM

Thank you all for your support in making this project happen. We'll have more detailed updates on Monday after we've both recovered from end-of-Kickstarter brain-fry and, in Sandra's case, road trip brain fry as well.  

Some quick notes which we'll have details for later:

Surveys will go out in approximately two weeks. That is when you'll be able to indicate what your extra funds are for and which sketch you want (if you ordered a sketch edition.)

Don't worry if you forgot to add funds to cover add-on items. As part of your survey there will be a store page where you can easily add items and pay for them. 

We got really close to unlocking the Kitesfear model, and we think we can wiggle around the finances to still make them happen. We need to run numbers and we'll have a definitive details on this with Monday's update.

We owe you more images, more details on each of the items, and updates on progress. We'll start providing these things on Monday.

Thank you again. We're really excited to make this book and other items so we can deliver them to you.

Howard and Sandra 

Final Three Days
over 4 years ago – Fri, Nov 22, 2019 at 03:08:48 AM

Greetings Backers!

We've entered the final three days of the Kickstarter funding period. The 75K goal is almost in hand and the 90K goal is within our reach. For the next three days Howard and Sandra are going to be out on social media and all our other communication streams making noise to draw in more backers. You can help too! You can write up your own posts about why you're excited about this project. You can retweet, share, or otherwise boost our posts. You can tell your friends in person. Send everyone to this link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/howardtayler/big-dumb-objects-schlock-mercenary-book-16

It is because of all of you that this projects is possible. Thank you for everything.

Howard and Sandra

Cover Art, Slipcases, Add-ons, and Stretch Goals
over 4 years ago – Wed, Nov 20, 2019 at 01:45:59 AM

Greetings Backers,

We're entering the home stretch of the funding period with 9 days left. Howard has been hard at work on the cover art.

Sandra has been communicating with the printer and various partners to make sure that logistical pieces are all in place.  We received a dummy of the slipcase, which means we can get our designer working on making it pretty.

If you haven't already added a slipcase (or three) to your order, you can do so by increasing your pledge by the cost of slipcase + shipping (For US orders $8, for International orders $12)   We highly recommend getting the slipcases, since Schlock books are soft cover and having the slipcases makes them easier to shelve with other books.

While we're talking about things you can add on, most items from our store can be added on to your order. (The one exception is t-shirts and other apparel items since those come from a third party vendor. )  Including money for ad-on items as part of your Kickstarter pledge helps us reach stretch goals.

Speaking of stretch goals...

This morning we're closing in on the Planet Mercenary stretch goal. Once we hit that, you can include Tiny Planet Mercenary  ($15 PDF, $25 pring) or Escape from the Friggen Jungle ($5 pdf) as part of your pledge. 

We've decide to bring the Confelicity/Schadenfreude coin forward so that it is also part of the 75K stretch.  This coin will feature Schadenfreude (joy in the suffering of others) on one side and Confelicity (joy in the happiness of others) on the other side. Howard has begun working on the designs and we hope to show you something soon. You can add on to get this coin, or any of our other coins, for only $10 each. There is no additional shipping charge for coins no matter how many you purchase or where you live in the world.

That's it for now. Thank you to all of you for supporting our project and spreading the word. You are amazing.

Howard and Sandra