Best guess, reward for Robin, special perks, and a new t-shirt
over 9 years ago – Sat, Jul 18, 2015 at 08:20:44 AM

Well, we are still in "cool down" mode - and a lot has been going on behind the scenes.  Robin has been so busy with Backer Kit that she's not finished tallying up the short story list - but that should be the next update.  In the meantime, I have plenty of other things to share.

Best Guess

The winner of the "Guess where we end up is....Christopher Buzzard with a guess of $72,500 .  For the record my guess was $50,000 and Robin's was $68,150 (although I think hers was more "wishful thinking" than "what she thought was possible"), considering we passed her amount, maybe it was the latter after all.  If you forgot what your guess was, post here or send me a message and I'll look it up.

Reward for Robin

On a suggestion from a backer (Thanks Tasha!) I'm giving Robin a "spa day" -- some time just to herself for total relaxation, massage, and pampering. For those that don't know here is just SOME of what Robin takes care of:

• She's my business manager so she is the liaison with my agents, publicists, publishers, and basically handles all the things that would drive me crazy - this means I can concentrate on writing and get more books written.
• She's my alpha reader and one of the reasons the books are as good as they are is all the great feedback she provides. You'll learn about some of this stuff in the "Writing of the Death of Dulgath" extra.
• She runs all my beta programs, and if you've ever been through one you know how comprehensive they are..and again it means a MUCH better book gets to the readers.
• She's the one who came up with idea of doing Kickstarters and she has designed, created, and handled all the logistics of them. If you think this Kickstarter was "well conceived" you can thank her for that. Basically she does all the prep and setup and then nudges me and helps develop the stretch goals and what not. It was her idea to do the short story competition, and also to have the stretch goals picked by the backers.
• She'll be coordinating with all the vendors for the Kickstarter, the artists, printers, t-shirt silk screeners, and what not...again it keeps me writing while she takes care of all that.
• She'll be either doing the shipping herself, or outsourcing the fulfillment, making sure everyone gets everything they should.

Tasha's suggestion was actually to have a stretch goal where the money raised would give Robin a week at a spa (too long for me to be parted from her).  We (Robin and I) think of stretch goals as a way of giving something to you all, in the form of a cool reward, but it did get me thinking. I'm always getting emails and notes from my readers thanking Robin for all she does (not to mention bringing back Royce and Hadrian for more books), so I've asked Robin to add a "Tips for Robin" jar in the Backer Kit. (Yes I had to twist her arm).  Anyway, we'll take the money raised there and buy her a little memento from the fans to her.  Participation, of course, is completely optional.

Special Perks

As you know, we had to remove our "raffles" as part of the Kickstarter as it's not allowed (even though I've done them in the past, and I see others who do them as well).  So I setup some polls, and a small percentage of the people in the Kickstarter signed up. Now that the Kickstarter is over, and the "raffles" can't be used to entice backers, I'm going to open those rewards to ALL THE BACKERS.  In the Backer Kit there will be a question asking if you want to enter to win. Those who signed up through the polls will get 2 entries so this will give everyone a chance, while still rewarding those who took the time to use the polls. What can you win?  Well there are three drawings: 

• 10 people will get a free download code to receive the audio book version of The Death of Dulgath.
• 5 people will get a VERY early copy of Book #1 of the First Empire. This won't be the final book, but a very rare copy (only 25 created) of Rhune (prior name of the book now called Age of Myth) at the "beta read" stage. This will provide a rare peek into the changes between the original and published version.
• NEW Contest: Do you want to have yourself or a loved one written into the book? Sometimes known as "Tuckerization" this provides you (or someone you love) the opportunity to have a cameo appearance in a book.  Often Tuckerizations are provided as a reward level (and usually with pretty steep price tags) but I want this to be something available to all backers (or at least those who throw their hat in the ring by saying yes to the entry question).

Montemorcey T-shirt

 Wow, that's a lot of updates, but as I said a lot is going on.  Next update will be on the short story competition.  Talk to you soon.

Backer Kit Access
over 9 years ago – Fri, Jul 17, 2015 at 03:05:44 PM

Hey all, Robin here again.  Just wanted to give you an update on the Backer Kit stuff.

• I've setup all the pledge levels and add-on stuff, so good to go that front...but they say I should wait 14 days before submitting it for approval since it takes that long for Kickstarter to deal with its side of credit card processing and fixing for decline cards and what not. This is also about when the funds will get transferred to me and I actually have money for paying for all this stuff we've created.
  
• So, you won't be getting immediate access to the Backer Kit.  It looks like you should get an invite around the beginning of August. I'll let you know when I "submit it to them for approval. And it will usually be 2 business days from then.
  
• We didn't sell out of the limited edition hardcovers so you'll be able to add those if you with from within Backer Kit.  It'll ask you for a credit card to pay for this and any other add-ons you might decide to do at that later point.
  
• I also added a limited number of Blood of Thieves hardcovers. This is an omnibus collection of the first two Riyria Chronicles (The Crown Tower & The Rose and the Thorn). I only have a certain number of copies of these (I have to count but I think about 30) so it'll be on a first come first serve basis.
  
• I'll be sending an email to everyone once the Backer Kit access is live, and I'll also post updates.
  
• If you've contributed to other Kickstarters you are probably familiar with a survey that goes out to give me information to fulfill your rewards - you won't be getting this. The Backer Kit portal REPLACES that process.
  
• It's important for you to answer your surveys as soon as possible after the invite. That's how I'll know how many of each item to buy and in what colors and sizes and such. You'll be able to go in and make adjustments  - or add more items if you wish. but there will be a "lock down" date after which everything will be frozen so I can get the right counts for manufacturing.

Well, I think that's all I have for now.  We are basically in a "waiting period" while the credit cards are charged and failed payments are being retried.  I'll let you know more as we move further on in the project.

Backer Kit Status Update
over 9 years ago – Fri, Jul 17, 2015 at 06:35:42 AM

Hey all, Robin here. I'm still setting up a few items in Backer Kit and then testing the system. I've had to get creative to get the system to work the way I needed it too so I've had a few false starts. In any case. As soon as that is done, I'll submit to Backer Kit for Approval and then you should be able to get into the system and distribute your extra pledge money.

Also, if you wanted to buy an add-on but the Kickstarter ended, you'll still be able to purchase items. You'll just have to use a credit card to add additional funds to cover the costs. I'll be updating soon.

Elvis has left the building...
over 9 years ago – Thu, Jul 16, 2015 at 06:02:41 PM

And Robin and I are going to.  Heading to dinner. Lots of updates tomorrow.

Thank you video
over 9 years ago – Thu, Jul 16, 2015 at 01:28:02 PM

Yes, I'm still really terrible at these things but, I at least wanted to do a more "personal" thank you then just typing words on the screen so here goes: