Memoirs 2E Hardcover Deposits (CLOSED) · 2:42pm Jan 11th, 2016
Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a good weekend. Saturday offered us the opportunity to do another live Q&A session and it went wonderfully! We had a ton of great questions and will hopefully be providing a recording shortly. There were three key announcements there:
1. We are moving ahead on the Memoirs of a Royal Guard 2nd Edition Hardcover printing (more below)
2. Crystal and I have hinted at an entirely new story. This will feature a new protagonist, a different setting, and will be co-written by the two of us.
3. Crystal discussed the rework and reissue of Horsey's Ponyville Adventures. It will now be "The Princess in the Mirror."
Memoirs of a Royal Guard 2nd Edition Hardcover Printing
We are moving forward with the hardcover printing of Memoirs. I've done a LOT of number crunching and it looks like I'm right in the same ballpark as similar projects. Plus this will be my 4th printing and I'm comfortable with the numbers. I've also put together a spreadsheet so that you can see them too. No mystery here!
Deposits closing February 20th.
The current price is right around $37.87 each shipped in the US. Less your $15 deposit that ends up with a balance of $22.87.
Here is the current process of how this will work.
Note: If this goes well and there is interest we will also be printing Crystal's Wishes 1 and 2, Secrets, Hopes, Trials, and maybe even Azurite
1. If you want a book you need to make a deposit ($15.00). Deposits are refundable until Painted Wave starts on the cover. That will be in roughly four weeks. Starting February 8th deposits are non-refundable UNLESS the project falls apart and we don't print. In that case we will refund every penny!
2. Deposits will be taken up until roughly March 7th. By that time we should be in a "go or no go" state. As long as we get at least 15 fans interested we're going to do this. If we can get to 30 the price will become quite reasonable! Alright, so you guys are going fast on this. If we can get to 60 deposits the price will be what I'd call awesome! We already have 45 as of this blog update. The more folks that make deposits the cheaper the final price will be.
3. After March 7th I'll open the book order. Anyone that made a deposit will have that deducted from the final cost of the book. If you don't order you forfeit your deposit. This is because pricing is based on order thresholds. If I'm expecting 30 orders, base everyone's price on 30, and then we only get 25, the 5 books still must be purchased or I have to go back and ask the other 25 for more money and I'm not going to do that. The deposits will offset the risk. Shipping will be unique to you so it could be more or less than the $10 quoted. Non-US assume more. A LOT MORE (no less than $22.50).
4. All books will be signed and numbered.
5. It is HIGHLY unlikely that there will be a second print run. Highly, highly, highly, highly unlikely. If you want a book this is it folks. There will not be a combined book, second run, or second chance most likely.
6. All "profits," if there are any (and I actually expect to be out of pocket a little bit), will be donated to charity.
Please don't delay or put this off if you genuinely want a book. The sooner we get the deposits in the sooner I can quote an exact price. Please send funds in USD!
Current Deposits: 67
The primary order site is complaining when I try and enter my Postcode. I am assuming that it only works state side?
Guess I'm going to have to use PayPal.
(what do you mean by higher fees? you wont see all $15 I send?)
Well, there's you another order, I simply went with a guest account so I hope that doesn't cause any issues.
3679543 Hmm, it won't let you do international? Let me look into that. Paypal charges everytime someone sends money, yeah. So the primary site is $0.41 for the deposit where as the paypal is $0.90. The fewer costs that have to be encured the lower the price!
3679553 I think you might be the one that was a "donation?" It has a name and email so that works fine for me.
Gah! Only print there will be?!
*Zooms to store to buy VISA card.*
I just hope I can afford the deposit and the actual book.
3679558
I donated via Paypal. I sent £15 not $15. Put it towards the charges, and keep the change :p
3679582 I saw that. We'll discount it off the back end of the final price :D
3679580 I wish that weren't the case but that is the most likely the outcome. We have a lot of great fans but probably not enough to yield two print runs ;)
If we hit 30 deposits with this one I'll be ecstatic. If we hit 60 I'll be blown away!
3679596
3679596 Alright, later on I'm going to get a card and get the deposit to you.
I have a few questions if that's okay. :P
I want to get this book but I can't pay the deposit at the moment. Is there a limit of how many books you can print? So say you can only have 30 people sign up?
I'm guessing since I don't live in the US or Canada I'm still good to buy the book?
Would I just send the $15 via paypal using the provided email?
Thanks :)
3679624 You have about a month on the deposit and then some time after. Don't stress for sure. We will be sort of limited on the printing only to make sure it is fair and not crazy.
Basically the deposit lets us know before the final order how many to order and how much the balance of each will be. There are also thresholds where the price drops (15, 30, 60, 120). So, let's say we only get 25 deposits. That puts us in price tier 1. Then when we open up orders we actually get 35 books which pushes us into price tier 2 which lowers the price of all books. Now we have a profit (which we absolutely do not want) and people have overpaid.
We won't be doing individual refunds for tiny amounts which means more to charity but I'd like to get this as close to "real cost" for everyone as possible.
But, again, if you have to save until the final amount, I won't bite your head off or anything ;) Life would just be better if we can get everyone interested to do the deposit before the order time so we know, as close as possible, what the true price is.
3679558
Should have a Gmail address with my user name here plus some numbers.
3679543
3679556
Same thing for me, the site you have linked, squareup, only lets me put in a zipcode, postal code doesn't fit.
I will send through paypal though.Sent through paypal, rip CAD to USD conversion.
sent 16$ to cover paypal fees, ID 3KA33109SS977642M
More pony book? Yes please! *signs up*
Oh, wow. That sounds super exciting! I heard some mention that it'd be geared more towards an adventure-type of plot?
19 people so far... 11 to go... LETS HIT 30 PEOPLE
3680092 first 30 then the world!!!!
When I said you guys should write actual books, I really didn't expect it this soon... you're making me wish I had money again. Stupid college being so bloody pricey. I'm going to try at least.
Course, I've also never used paypal
So when you say second edition, how far are we talking from original Memoirs? Proofreading grammar and enhancement of general things you didn't fix with the original release or actually changing stuff to either fix/smooth plotholes or completely change how the conflict gets to a certain point? This probably wouldn't affect if I buy the book or not, but I want to know regardless.
3679687 Looks good!
3679962 Thank you! ^_^
3679975 Huzzah!
3680091 Yes, we're going to try to do more "adventure" instead of slice of life for sure.
3680092 I think we've hit 20!
3680106 Hahaha yeah... well ;) We do what we can! Hopefully it won't be too painful a process to use ;D
3680156 I what to preface by saying I'm not George Lucas ;)
Primarily this. Despite how much editing we did. Despite how careful we were. I'm shocked to still find errors. Errors everywhere. I'm hoping to reduce them dramatically for the print version.
Little bit. When I feel I wasn't clear or, based on comments, it was clear I didn't get across what I meant. It is kind of a second shot to convey what I meant the first time. I am also adding little bits here and there to clarify lore or smooth things easier into Secrets.
Nah, no major rewrites (in my opinion).
3680095 i had to
[youtube=-SBw6nVvJSo]
3680092 21 now. Just placed my deposit.
Don't rightly know if I did it right, but I placed two deposits regardless. (I did mention saying I was after two copies)
I love charity as much as the next guy but if there are profits it's probably only going to be like a couple dozen dollars or something right? just keep it! you deserve it
3680414 Looks good to me.
Well... we're 6 from the next cost break!
3680433 Very much appreciated! Legally though, I'd be frightened to keep even $0.01. This book contains characters that are trademarked and copyrighted by Hasbro. Yes, it is our story but we borrow heavily from MLP FIM. We would be "selling" Princess Luna. Yes, I do want everyone to have the least expensive experience possible for sure but I also don't want to get a cease and desist and/or sued ;D
If we lose money or break exactly even there is absolutely zero argument to be made that we were "selling" anything. We simply brought a fan project to life.
3680434
Alrighty then, good luck reaching that!
Unfortunately due to current circumstances, I'm not in the position to order the book. I really want to, but I can't.
Your guys' new story sounds really interesting. Will it still be set in the Q&B universe, or will it be a stand alone story?
3680508 Totally understand the financial side. We'll be at this for a bit so perhaps things will change before the ordering time.
It will be in universe :D I don't want to say too much other than it will definitely be in universe but in not in a familiar setting.
Got my preorder in! Glad to get to be a part of this. Way too cool.
For EU readers, it cost 25$ of shipping to get my copy of Past Sin to France. So you can have an idea of what to expect
Well I'm shocked we moved so fast! We're just two deposits short of hitting the 30 mark. That will reduce costs by over $1.50 per unit. Then we can try to hit the 60 mark. If we make that the things become super affordable at only $38.40 per book shipped in the US! Thank you all for your support!
3680645 Glad to have you ^_^
I recontract with the Air Force tomorrow. Assuming from there it may take a few weeks for them to start paying me again and I'll have some (slightly) disposable income. How late are you willing to accept deposits?
Edit: Nevermind. I reread it and found the final date.
Got a little too excited and started skimming.
In other news, this will be the first (and maybe only depending on if y'all print more) piece of MLP related merchandise I'll have bought. I tend to keep anything tying me to ponies to an absolute minimum and completely digital so that I can avoid the chance of having an awkward conversation about my favored past time. (Seriously, I have two hard drives that I swap out. One for ponies, the other for everything else.) However, your story is so good and hits so damn close to home for me that I'm willing to run to risk of keeping evidence that might expose my interest.
goddamn, wish I could be open about my interest and get some physical books.
anyways, good luck
3680850 You should have plenty of time for sure but if it gets down to the wire I'll be sure we work something out :) Thank you so much for the high praise! I tend to keep most of my pony stuff digital too but at this point most folks around me know. Still, that is huge that this book will be the first!
woohoo 30 deposits get!
3680181 Thanks for clarifying, Anzel. I will be buying the book when I get a few seconds of free time.
Okay so I placed my order. But I has a couple questions. Will you be keeping us updated on the process through Email or will we get updates on this cite? When the books become available for full purchase will we be notified? Also if all goes according to plan when can we expect to see the books arriving? Lastly I made my deposit and it didn't ask for any shipping info, I'm guessing that comes later?
3682646
Typically I'll do blog posts here to keep everyone in the loop.
Without a doubt!
I'm thinking Aprilish. We're making good progress on the written word. Then we'll need to see how long the cover will take.
Correct, for the shipping information we'll wait for the final order phase. What will happen is we'll invoice everyone with the information we have from the deposit. That will come via email.
I'm not sure whether I've just skimmed over that, but by what time do you expect to send out the finished products? I'm asking because I'm going to be moving a lot over the next five months or so and I'd rather know beforehand whether there's a chance it'll get lost in the mail. It tends to happen.
3685865 My tentative goal/schedule looks like this:
Anzel rewrites - Completed by January 29th
Robot review - Completed by February 5th
Crystal review - Completed by February 12th
Format for book - Completed by February 26th
Cover - Completed by February 26th
Final format, final order - March 4th
Shipped to fans - march 11th. Arriving based on location
3685880 I see. Thanks for the information. I'll make up my mind within the next twentyfour hours, I believe.
3685900 Sounds good. We can also ship to wherever you need. The deposit doesn't lock in an address.
3685972 That sounds good. Now all I'll have to do is figure out where exactly to make the deposit. Does the
mean that I Need to use PayPal because I don't live in the US, or is it referring to the regional currency?
3687825 Unfortunately paypal is currently our only option for non-US residents.
3687952 You may raise the deposit count to 46. I'm definitely going to make one, but I'm currently in the middle of something, so setting up paypal how it works and everything else will probably be done by Thursday.
I'm afraid it might take somewhat longer yet for me to make the deposit. I've experienced some minor issues. But nothing to be concerned about.
Okay, so I sent to the paypal one because I know and trust it. I'm in the U.S. so there shouldn't be much else to worry about.
Except that I'll probably be moving at the end of February, so my shipping address won't stay the same (just to a different place in town).
I hope that's not a problem.
3710910 Not a problem at all. We'll be sending invoices during the actual order period for you to fill out. What you put on the deposit isn't super important. All we need is a valid email address to invoice.