Thanks to everyone who's filled out their survey! We now have only about 20 folks who haven't filled theirs' out. I just pressed the button to lock existing orders, so that means you have until Sunday to put in any addition addons. You will be able to change your address until shipping starts in late August. After that, you can send me a message if anything changes.
We've got some amazing books coming out this year, so stay tuned! You'll get any eBooks before the official release date, and I'll be getting paperback books to you as soon as I possibly can. Thanks again for backing the campaign!
If you want even more Space Wizard books, be sure to check out Lesbians in Space: The Anthology, starting September 5th with BackerKit's Booktopia!
The books arrived at the Caurette warehouse and the busy bees of Team Caurette are preparing the shipments :) I will update you once all the books have left the warehouse. Just to let you know: Even will visit the warehouse in early August. So the books with sketches and original art will likely be just a bit later with their new owners.Â
One of the things I like to do when giving updates on a project is to provide a TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read) section at the top of the update. If you're wanting only the most relevant information delivered quickly, you can just read the TL;DR and move on with your day. If you like more detail, you can read the whole update. So with that intro, our first
TL;DR:Â
I provide a deliverables list and an expected timeline for the project.Â
Those at mentoring and consulting levels should hear from me this week about scheduling, but actual meetings will start happening in late August or September.Â
I will be on a road trip to Gen Con July 28 - August 7 which will impact work on this project. If you're going to be at Gen Con we're booth 1145, or you can take a class from me. List of classes here.Â
Surveys will go out in the first half of September.
Pre-order Store is now open! (Existing backers can add on items to your existing order via the survey when it goes out.)
This update is a Full Status Report. I'll only do these every month or two. Most updates will be smaller and more narrative rather than list-full.
Your next Full Status Report will be the week of Sept 30 - Oct 4. I expect to give shorter updates every week or two between now and then.Â
And now we dig in to details!
Deliverables List (and status of each item)
SLSC Print book: Currently in the hands of a developmental editor. I've identified 7 more chapters that need to be added to the book, which might increase the word count by 20k or more. I'm hoping to get 1-2 chapters drafted before my Gen Con departure, but there are a lot of claims on my attention this week. SLSC ebook: This will be produced and released within about a week of when I send the physical book to the printer. SLSC Audiobook: I will begin production on this as soon as the physical book is off to the printer and the ebook has been delivered. Custom Designed Notebook: I will be working on this in tandem with revising and editing SLSC. I already have ideas for how to arrange some of the activities on the pages. Notebook (for creativity bundle): I've ordered samples for this blank notebook. Once they arrive I can decide whether this will be a spiral bound notebook or stitched. I do plan to let people with creativity bundles choose to upgrade their blank notebook to Custom Designed if they wish. Bookmarks: Design work on these will begin after Gen Con and after I get the new book chapters drafted. Notecards: Design work on these will begin after Gen Con and after I get the new book chapters drafted. Sticker sheets: I need to get samples from a vendor. I have an idea I'm excited about, so I'll be exploring the feasibility of it during August. Thank you Postcard: Design work will begin in October. Giveaway books: Once I have received my shipment of books I will set up a process where people can get these books for free. Lecture bundle: After I return from Gen Con, I will get these lectures recorded, edited, and uploaded. I want to have them available to you by the end of September. Consultations: I will be reaching out this week to begin scheduling. Group Mentoring: I will be reaching out this week to begin scheduling. Individual Mentoring: I will be reaching out this week to begin scheduling.Â
Timeline
This is the current plan. I will keep you updated and informed about any changes, delays, or exciting news.Â
July 22-26: I’ll be reaching out to those at the mentoring levels to start setting up appointments and groups.
July 28-August 7: I'll be on the road to Gen Con.
August 9 - September 15: Drafting chapters, getting them beta read, firming up the core text of the book so it is ready for line editing and proofreading. Design work on the sticker sheets, bookmarks, and other items in the creativity bundle. Â The survey to collect your address and order information will also go out during this stage. I'll start work on recording lectures with the plan to have all of them available by the end of September.
September 16- October 15: Line editing and proofreading. It is possible that both of these can happen in one pass, but it is more likely that they’ll have to happen sequentially. Work will begin on the Custom Designed Notebook, bookmarks, notecards, thank you card, and other ancillary items.
October 16-31:Â Layout and design for the print book and ebook. Send the book off to the printer. Once files are in the printer's hands they will give me a specific timeline for delivery. Same with the items ordered from other vendors.
November 1-5: I hope to have the ebook ready and distribute it to everyone who has an ebook in their pledge.Â
March 2025: Shipping books to you! (Hopefully sooner than this, but I’ll keep you posted.)
Current state of things:
The pre-order store is now open! If you know someone who wants this book, but missed the funding window, they can place a pre-order here. Feel free to spread that link far and wide. The store is currently rudimentary. I will be adding more items and sprucing everything up over the coming weeks. As a backer, you will be able to add on more items via your survey which will go out in early September.Â
It is the week before Gen Con. We road trip cross country to get to this event and then run a booth for four days. I want to get started on drafting some chapters for SLSC this week, but realistically I'm probably going to spend my writing time finishing up the three presentations that I'm giving while at Gen Con (tickets still available!) Since several of these presentations are also going to be what I record for the Lecture Bundle, I'm still doing work that moves this project forward. Â
I'd like to believe that I'll work on things while I'm on the road, but the reality is likely to be that the creative challenges of finding food I can eat (I have a medically restricted diet), helping Howard navigate his chronic fatigue, and connecting with friends and fellow writers will all prove too distracting.Â
I usually experience a creative surge once I recover from convention exhaustion, so I have high hopes for productivity in the second half of August. I'll need to take full advantage of that if I'm going to keep on track for my production schedule.Â
I'm very excited to bring this project to you and I'm looking forward to keeping you all posted about the journey to get there. Thank you for being here! SandraÂ
We have an impressive 85% completion rate on the surveys so I'll be locking the orders this Friday 07/26. Then I can start sending out existing ebooks that people have backed! If you can get your survey complete by then, even better! I sent out the eBooks for Talio's Codex a few days ago, so let me know if you haven't gotten yours.
We'll be leaving for Scotland at the end of July, so if you're attending WorldCon this year, make sure to say hi! I'll start shipping out physical books as soon as I get back, starting with the ones that are already released and following quickly with Talio's Codex and Space Station X.
For now, check out our NEW campaign for Lesbians in Space: The Anthology, starting September 5th with BackerKit's Booktopia! I'm also going to be partnered with Aimee Cozza, who's writing The Warm Machine, about gay robots falling in love!
Be sure to follow and back both campaigns, because if you do, you'll get some extra bonus rewards! In fact, a bunch of our campaigns will be featuring a collectible card set, so you can back all of them to get the whole deck. Gotta catch 'em all!
Thank you so much for showing up enthusiastically to support this book. Crowdfunding is always a question asked of the world at large. It is me saying "I want to make this thing, does anyone else want it?"Â I am so glad that in this case, with this book, the answer is yes. I'm glad I get to finish the writing and production on this book. I'm glad you all will get to read it. I'm glad that it will continue to exist and be a resource for people long after this project is fully delivered and complete. Â
Thank you!
Some Closing Stats
$39,330 total for the project 1140 Backers (when I was going to be happy with a few hundred) 913 paperback books sold (Which is enough to apply upgrades to the offset printing) 67 giveaway books
What's Next?
Today: I've got some steps to take in order to switch from live project to pre-order store. I've also got digital thank you notes to post in a multitude of places. And I plan to order celebratory sushi for my family.
Backerkit will collect your pledge money. If there is any trouble with payment, you'll have at least two weeks to square it away with Backerkit. After that period if there is still a problem I can help you. We'll make sure your pledge can go through.
Friday: I'll be a guest on the World Anvil livestream. (Noon pacific time) We'll be talking about adapting your life to fit your capacity with a special focus on chronic illness and neruodivergence.
The Weekend: I am going to collapse into a small heap over the weekend. When not staring at walls, I'm going to take care of things and people around my house who have been neglected during the promotional flurry.
Monday: (or maybe Tuesday) I'll give you a list of deliverables and a timeline for production, surveys, add-ons, etc.Â
Thank you
Thank you for backing the project. Thank you to everyone who reposted any of my many social media posts Thank you to those who vouched for me and my book telling others why you think it will be worth reading. Thank you for the recommendations you have given to people in offline places. Thank you if you pledged for a giveaway book, I'm so glad I'll be able to share those with people who need books and can't afford them. Thank you if you bought an extra copy for someone else in your life Most of all: Thank you for being the sort of person who wants to create things and is willing to restructure your life around that. Creating things makes the world better. Thank you so much for making my creation possible.
WE FUNDED! THANK YOU SO MUCH! That's three crowdfunds for three, y'all.
Right now backers are being charged for their pledges.
Backers will be charged for shipping approx. four weeks before fulfillment. This is also likely when surveys will be sent out to collect necessary information such as mailing addresses, though the surveys may come sooner.
Our current goal for fulfillment is "Winter 2024", so expect to be charged for shipping in late September at the earliest.
Though we'll be much quieter for a little while, if you'd like more regular updates and other fun info, we can be followed on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
IN DETAIL
Hey hey, we're book publishers now! Thank you so much for making that happen.
We have made fantastic progress on the writing for the anthology, with drafts of all six stories already being edited by Jay. This is also a blessedly simpler project compared to the magazine, though no less exciting, and that gives me hope for how fast we'll be able to get the books to y'all.
I'd like to repeat that The New Edge Sword & Sorcery Discord, a great online hang-out I'd love to see your digital faces in, is a fun spot to chat about the magazine our publications, Sword & Sorcery in general, and otherwise connect with your fellow readers, writers, artists, and more.
It's also a breeding ground for goofs like, as you may have seen in our NESS 2024 crowdfund, how Meatball Subs Are The Only Real Sandwich, and the only time I get to eat one is when we've finished funding another publication.
Can we make meatball subs the official sandwich of Sword & Sorcery? Perhaps with enough battle-axe emojis...
I was stunned to be served a sandwich instead of a sub, but there is something fitting about being given a different format for a book crowdfund than a magazine crowdfund reward.
Alright, that's all from me for now. Please make sure to read through IN SHORT for the practical details of what's happening with charging backers for pledges, charging for shipping, our rough schedule and more.
Keep your swords battle-axes sharp, and your sorcery numinous!
With less than 3 days left in this campaign, help spread the word about Dana's newest game and this D-Day crowdfunding project. This could unlock an Achievement level and enable Dan to publish more never-before-seen material about the amphibious assault at Omaha Beach. Thank you!
Just a quick update: if you backed an eBook reward that contains an e-copy of Talio's Codex, you should be getting an email from Bookfunnel with information on how to download it momentarily!
Surveys are 81% complete, so great work (almost) everyone! I'm still waiting for the last few stragglers to fill them out (yes, I'm looking at YOU) so get those in so I can start sending out rewards! Space Wizard has a very quick turnaround, especially with the first few books, and I want to get them into your hands as soon as possible. I have the paperbacks ordered and on the way, but my wife and I will be traveling to Scotland the first two weeks of August for a tour, and then we'll be attending WorldCon (the world science fiction and fantasy convention). I'll be on some panels and have a table in the dealer's room, so if you happen to be there, come say hi!
The first shipments will likely be sent out when we get back, and I hope to have advance copies of Space Station X ready to go by that point as well!
Thanks again for backing the campaign, and happy reading!
I am incredibly surprised to be announcing a surpassed stretch goal for the second time today. I am not certain how an additional 200 backers found this project in the past five hours, but I'm so glad that you are here. Thank you!
We've unlocked the Custom Designed Notebook. It is now available as an add-on for any pledge level that includes physical shipping.Â
You can now go in and update your pledge to add this notebook.
Our last stretch goal for this project is at 35k. If we pass that number I will:
upgrade the book
upgrade custom designed notebook.Â
upgrade the stickers in the creativity bundle from being single stickers to being sheets of stickers,
create a special thank you postcard to go inside every physical package.Â
The upgrades to the book and notebook might be in the form of spot gloss, decorative designs on the interior, or fancier paper. I'm going to have to do some research to pin down the best options to make the books you get even better. I'll keep you posted about process and choices.
Any funds I receive beyond 35k will be spent on paying bills and giving me more breathing room to work on my next book project. I have so many more things I want to write and I'd love to be able to spend less time on freelance work for income so that I can spend more time writing those books, poems, and stories.Â
Thank you all for showing up for this book. It means so much to me that you're willing to trust me to deliver a useful resource. All the best, Sandra
We just passed the goal to unlock the Audiobook! This means there is a new pledge level you can switch to if Audio is your preferred format. Or you can add an Audiobook to your existing pledge using the add-on feature. Thank you so much for helping us reach this point.Â
I'll have more information about the details of the audiobook and offset printing once we enter the production phase of this project.
For now we have a new stretch goal:
Custom Designed Notebook
If we reach 30k before the project closes I'll create a custom designed notebook with pages created specifically for each activity in the book. This notebook will be available as and add-on item for any pledge level with physical shipping. Â
If you miss adding on this notebook before funding closes, you will have the option to add this notebook and any other add-on items when I send out the survey to collect your shipping cost and address information.Â
Spread the word!
I am so grateful for how far this project has come. I get to make this book, which would not have happened without you. We have just over 48 hours left in the funding period. If you're inclined to spread the word, I would appreciate any boost you can give to the project.
