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Collector's Boxes Shipping Phase 2 (and printed book update)

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by DarkStarr, Sep 11, 2018.

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  1. Hanneth

    Hanneth Avatar

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    Welcome to the wonderfully backward world of printing! This is a world where you should be grateful that a publisher will even look at your book. How that book will look is up to the publisher because they know best how to layout books to get people to buy them... and save the most on printing costs. If they give you the honour of actually printing and distributing your book, they will demand the rights to it.

    This is why the published copy is called "The Sword of Midras" instead of "Blade of the Avatar." It is also why there is additional content in the commercial version. Portalarium was able to work out a deal where they retained rights to the original story, but the publisher, Tor Fantasy, whould get sole comercial publishing rights and full rights to the new content. To be fair, most companies were probably asking for all rights, or they wouldn't print it.

    Darkstar previously mentioned that they tried to work out a deal to get the commercial book for backers as the printed copy, but could not work out a deal. I am guessing that Portalarium was trying to get them close to cost of printing them.

    It sounds like they have since tried working with Tor Fantasy to print just Blade of the Avatar, but they will not layout the book how Portalarium wants it layed out.

    This leaves Portalarium with two choices. Take the modified layout from the publisher, ot self publish. They have coosen to self publish and I am guessing are shopping around for the cheapest place thst will meet their quality guidelines right now.
     
  2. Jens_T

    Jens_T Avatar

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    I am sorry Hanneth but this all doesn't apply here. The Blade of the Avatar doesn't need a publisher but a printer - and perhaps somebody who does layout beyond the existing PDF. That should be a service paid for by Portalarium. As perStarr Long's comment, they had a "publisher" who had made proposals but they didn't like the layout. Unless Portalarium tried to make a new deal (we give you publishing rights and you print us x copies for our backers for free) it doesn't make sense. If you pay them, publishers print & layout & publish everything you want.
    Self-Publish it is now, perhaps they do a new&different layout in-house, but it still will cost them
     
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  3. Jens_T

    Jens_T Avatar

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    Hi @Serafina @DarkStarr

    summarizing Starr Long's post about 700+ boxes were not shipped with the initial wave as addresses were faulty. As you know that 700+ boxes were not shipped, why don't you contact those users directly? (Or why didn't you contact those users before the first wave started - less confusion and unhappy board postings).
    Some problems like the "Un-Confirm" bug or the address validation are issues, users might not even be aware.
    By telling everybody to wait until Sep 21st and then contact you (before Oct 19) you create a lot of unnecessary work - and another 10 days of waiting for the people in the 700 people group.

    Also I have difficulties understanding how this could have happened after so much time was spent on data cleaning & verficiation before you started the whole shipping with MPO.
     
  4. Bodhbh Dearg

    Bodhbh Dearg Avatar

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    Baie Dankie, Go raibh maith agat and thank you!

    I can't wait for the rest to arrive! ;)
     
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  5. Sir Leonard

    Sir Leonard Localization Team

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    So, I reconfirmed my address (again) just in case. When should we start seeing at least the confirmation e-mails? You said being delivered by september 21, that's 9 days away. As i live outside US and with a not so nice postal service, that can take a while to reach me, so at least a confirmation email and ETA would be nice.

    Thanks.
     
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  6. Hanneth

    Hanneth Avatar

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    I'd like you to explain how what I talked about doesn't apply?
    They tried to make a deal with Tor Fantasy to get the retail version of "The Sword of Midras" for the backers. For undisclosed reasons, this didn't work out. My guess was cost.
    They tried to work with a publisher (not a printer), which would have most likely had to have been Tor Fantasy to get "Blade of the Avatar" printed by them. Dealing with a company you already have a relationship as a company usually makes life easier. The publisher put minimal effort in as they were not going to be anything past that one time set size print. Remember we are still dealing with a publisher here and they do not do what ever you want, they do what they want.
    Now Portalarium are looking for a printer, which is called self-publishing.
    Printers will print what ever you give them, they build their profit into the cost of the printing.
    As for layout, they have Dennis Lambert who I'm sure can layout the book for he printer. He has already done it for at least 2 small books we already have.
    Now you may ask, if they have already printed the 2 manuals, why not just use the same company?
    The simple answer to that is the type of printing. Most companies that do full color manuals, do not print novels and visa-versa.
    Novels are cheaper to print per page than manuals.
     
  7. Rufus D`Asperdi

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    Not that it affect the veracity of your argument, but it was @Scottie that did the layout, I believe... Denis Loubet supplied the art.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2018
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  8. Jens_T

    Jens_T Avatar

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    Thank you for the explanation- if I read you right, it boils down to cost / money that Portalarium didn’t want to invest.
    Your explanations are insightful but I don’t see a contradiction.
    I said the same. But this was all known before and only admitted now. Before it was book size not fitting the box - when at best a dummy with an unwanted layout was available.
    Now they might pay Scottie (or somebody else) to redo the existing layout and then give it to a printer.
     
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  9. HoustonDragon

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  10. Dargalin

    Dargalin Avatar

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    Hi Serafina, where exactly would I check on my account page? Would it show in the pledge tab?
     
  11. Sean Silverfoot

    Sean Silverfoot Avatar

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    Look under Add-Ons,
     
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  12. Themo Lock

    Themo Lock Avatar

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    I don't know if it is because i am in Australia or what, but i rarely received anything i won since day one lol. I would very much like this to not be like telethon prizes and awards and actually get here pretty please, am willing to show some leg.
     
  13. Serafina

    Serafina Portalarian Emeritus

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  14. Brass Knuckles

    Brass Knuckles Avatar

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    When should I be concerned about not recieving my physical rewards?

    Or is that ^^ the date?
     
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  15. Themo Lock

    Themo Lock Avatar

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    I have many times, over years...with like 4 different people having that job. It's ok, i gave up on that stuff, i just want my box set :3
     
  16. Serafina

    Serafina Portalarian Emeritus

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    @Themo Lock Well I have been the primary person for the last two years, so please write in to me and we'll figure this out.
     
  17. Themo Lock

    Themo Lock Avatar

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    Done and sent ^.^
     
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  18. Scottie

    Scottie Master Artisan SOTA Developer

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    Yes, I did the layout for the two smaller booklets in the Box (I'm not sure who "Dennis Lambert" is), and Denis Loubet supplied the art... For the PDF of "Blade of the Avatar" (which is the only version we have permission to reproduce in print), Joseph Toschlog did that original digital PDF layout. But to turn that PDF (which folks have already received) into a printed version, it will need to be laid out again (most likely by me in In-Design). Starr and I did not like the layout of "Sword of Midras" for the reasons he mentioned, and so that needs to be taken into account for this new layout. We won't be using the same printers that did the full-color booklets for the Box, since they don't produce black and white paperback novels (it's a different process entirely), and they are located overseas. We haven't chosen a new printer yet.
     
  19. Rufus D`Asperdi

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    Thank you very much for the details, Scottie.
     
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  20. Ronni

    Ronni Avatar

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    Fortunately, I received my box and are happy with it and luckily, I bought the shipment for 15$ earlier.

    BUT: Are you saying you now ask for 30 $ for a shipment from France within Europe for people who pledged on a very high level long time ago? I can't believe this... sorry but that cannot be true?
     
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