It Is Over
No page this week. I’m pretty gutted to do this to you two months in a row but on the other hand, doing the comic as a stay-at-home mom is rough enough. Doing it while trying to send out the Kickstarter rewards and finish my promised illustration for rockstar backer Eric Menge of Snow By Night was impossible. And while I guess I could probably have squeaked one in if I’d worked all day today … my anniversary was this week, and I’d like to breathe for a second and celebrate that along with finally seeing the last of these Kickstarter packages out the door.
It’s a huge relief to have them out of here. Shipping was even harder than I thought; apart from a fairly big push on the 14th when some friends lent a hand stuffing envelopes it’s just been me and my husband trickling them out the door, largely after the kiddo had gone to sleep for the night. Mad props to my husband, incidentally: would have been impossible without him taking on so much of the work.
And of course this means the book is officially available in the wild! I hope to be moving purchasing of it to a new NTO store shortly, but for now you can grab them in the Bigcartel shop or, if you just want the softcover instead of the big fancy limited hardcover, on Amazon. I’d rather you opted for the former, though, as A) who knows when you’ll get them given the conservativism of their order bot and the book’s consequent Out-of-Stock-Forever status, and B) I’m pretty unhappy about how much Amazon has chosen to discount the cover price, undercutting my own, more profitable sales, which it turns out I really need.
I never set out to make money on the Kickstarter campaign — just print the books and then, God willing, sell them and make some money that way — but I didn’t expect to be so far in the red as I ultimately am presently, either! I’ll need to sell quite a few books just to break even; this was a painful instruction in unforeseen expense. For all my homework and careful budgeting I never saw that $800 from the CBP’s random CET exam coming, and, worse, an error on my part when I mocked up my packaging, coupled with a rate hike in international postage between when I ran the campaign and actually, finally shipped the books cost me an additional $1200. Ouch!
I joked during shipping that I’d need to run a second Kickstarter to pay for the first one. People said maybe I should, and given that a few super generous backers have already independently donated more after the reveal of the $800 bill via Kickstarter updates I’ve started to consider it. I’m not sure what I’d actually be Kickstarting, though? A print version of the Genevieve filler exclusive to backers? A handful of folks said they wanted one. I don’t know; it seems sort of gauche, really, to ask for more after such phenomenal support.
Meanwhile, if you did grab a book via Kickstarter or preorder, are happy with it and want to help me out further at no further expense you can review the book at Amazon (again, boo to their discount but what can you do); I’d be super grateful. (If you like you can also review the little 24 Hour Comics Day digest, too!)
… and now I’m taking a nap.
Regards,
The Management
Wait, I was causing you to miss an update? Noooo. That was not what I wanted. I can wait a while longer for the illustration if you need to spend some time working on NTO. Also, if you want to share the illustration with your fans, please feel free.
Oh, don’t sweat it, Eric! As I said if I’d busted my proverbial ass this weekend I probably could have finished both, but I’m electing to exhale, instead. And anyway! I still haven’t even finished your illustration, which was promised by end of July. It is all far in no worries territory; I named you out as a shoutout, not a guilt trip!
And as far as sharing it, I fully intend to link over to Snow by Night when it (finally!) appears.
Did…I hear something about…a Genevieve poster/print? Especially of that deliciously depraved, deplorable, debauching devil-demon?
*slowly reaches for wallet*
In addition, and I absolutely abhor myself for allowing this to be attached after-post: adorable baby, and a belated accolade to you and yours :).
Apologies for my alliteration, it kept astir, and I abdicated my post to it…
Anyway. Fan of the comics!
Thank you kindly, and your post has tipped me evermore in favor of actually launching a second, small KS campaign.
Think of the Amazon thing as “losing cash, but gaining exposure”. That’s how most indie writers think of it.
BTW, baby’s adorable.
Thank you! 😀
My boys and I found your comic three weeks ago and now one of the first things we ask each other on Saturday mornings is, “Did she post?” Beautiful work, incredibly paced story (current plot, pace of reveals through flashback), and genuine characters that draw us into the story on many levels. We’ve been back over the whole thing several times in the last few weeks, and we keep seeing more on each re-reading. We love how each town has unique scenery. We talk about the perspectives you choose for some of the frames (like as John dons his hat amidst the flames in Look Back – you learn a lot about him in that one frame). We marveled at the Maxfield Parrish / NC Wyeth type beauty of the frame at the end of John’s ride from Whiskey Bend, as another example.
I just ordered the hard-back limited edition – hope others take your request (above) seriously. We owe you more than that – I’ll watch for another Kickstarter. And, like nearly everyone else here, I gotta say that’s one beautiful baby.
You picked a heckuva time to start watching for new pages like a hawk! Two years I ran with no missed updates and lately … not so much! 😀
Seriously though thank you for your comment; really appreciate it. NC Wyeth? Oh my; I think that’s the biggest compliment I’ve ever been paid.
Thanks for your support, as well!
What I was reminded of was Wyeth’s color choices, but even more the way you drew the tree. Did you have a real tree as a model? If you imagined all that grace and complexity, then I’m even more impressed.
I was thinking of this painting/illustration:
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/n-c-wyeth/the-green-knight-preparing-to-battle-sir-beaumains
I did in fact draw the tree from imagination and I’ll thank you again for likening an NTO panel to Wyeth! The golden age illustrators like Wyeth and Leyendecker are probably the artists I admire most in the world.
Sorry to hear of your troubles. Never mind the skipped updates, you’re after all one of the most reliable artists I’m following, hands down!
The kickstarter letdown reminds me a lot of this podcast I recently downloaded, in which some other comic artists speak of these and other issues:
http://nerdyshow.com/2013/06/episode-145-kickstarting-the-future-past/
As for breaking even – I was not one of your generous backers, so I may not speak for the minority, but as far as I’m concerned, you might just kick of a plain old FundRazr or Indiegogo campaign and I’d happily chip a few bucks in. Considering the bulk of your readerships (and the fact that they are beautiful, beautiful people), I’m pretty sure you can hit a $2000 mark quickly enough.
Either way, keep up the good work and don’t strain yourself over giving us our free stuff 🙂
I thought about an IndieGoGo flexible funding campaign … but given that I’d really like to give folks something in return for their contribution, and given KS still has far broader exposure, I think I may give another KS a shot….
… when I get that far.
Heck, there’s a “Donate” button over there on right. …easy enough!
Very much appreciated, as always!
I received my book two days ago (here in Greece) and it is so-so amazing.I love the cover so much that I will probably place it in my living room,somewhere everyone can see when the visit(hehehe)
As a fellow comic artist to another I totally understand your money issues and your lack of time and energy when having a baby (my sister has recently given me the pleasure of making me an aunt!)so I will donate,too. I hope things will turn to the best with everyone’s help:)
Take care and don’t worry.You rock girl!
Glad the book arrived and so happy you’re pleased with it! Thanks for your support and all the kind words! Wow!
If you work yourself too hard you’ll poison the part of you that enjoys telling this story. It’s what happened to Der-shing and as a result The Meek hasn’t updated since November. Plus with the baby I’m surprised you didn’t disappear.
You hand out beautiful art for free almost every week or when you can, whose quality is surpassed only by the world-class digital artists that spend months on a single frame, and all you ask for is a donation or to buy some swag every now and again. I think you deserve a breather.
Anyways KS and I are at a standoff so I just donated a tenner instead. Thank you for the works of art and two of the most intriguing, three-dimensional characters I’ve ever seen.
Thank you so, so much! And I probably will be taking a week or two off in the near future — I’m super cognizant of burnout potential! Thanks so much for understanding.
Awww! What a sweetie. They look so adorable at that age. It’s nature’s way of keeping them safe when they get big enough to contribute to your going gray. ^_~
Don’t sweat missing an update or two. I personally don’t mind as long as you let us know about it, and you definitely have a great reason. =) Hope the anniversary was everything one should be.
Don’t worry about it. Lots of inferior webcomics have much more irregular updates, or missed updates, and no-one bats an eyelid. Your comic is not only of an impeccable quality, but you have done incredibly well to keep the updates regular so far. You should be patting yourself on the back for having not skipped an update more than twice!
Let me tell you Erin… I just spend ALL morning reading your comic from INK… jajajaj I am at work (dont tell anybody) and I am amazed about your work, your art, Im not so “ilustrated” as Arnly7 but for sure is one of the best comics I read/see/taste… dont feel bad about delays…. a good work will always be accepted and waited.
I will follow you now on. Im declared as a Fan
Pero que tira comica tan deliciosa!!!!! Felicitaciones.
what beautiful child1 You are blessed. mean while don’t fret about missing a deadline. this little guy takes first place!