All the Volume 6 rewards are in the mail!

If there's any problem with your book when it arrives, let me know and I'll see about fixing it.

(It's rare! I think there's only been 2 times this whole 6 years that a book has gotten chewed up during shipping. But that's why you print overstock -- just in case.)

And if everything is good, I'll see you in (*gulp*) 6 months, when we come back to print Volume 7!

Finally, a mini-update from our aspiring robot overlords: I asked a bot to make an image for "Celebrating a successful crowdfunding campaign", and got...this:

A hearty "Tani yoi!!!!" to all of you who helped us raise "$10,0,00" for the Volume 6 "Cowiduandiang!" Hope to see you again soon.

The updated version of the Leif & Thorn Volume 6 ebook, with the updated cover art and the missing strip restored, is now available!

You might have gotten an automatic email from Gumroad about it? And if you're signed in, you can always download the new PDF from your Gumroad library page.

Meanwhile, in shipping news: most orders are in the mail, and all but one have been packed up! (The one is for the backer who got all 6 Leif & Thorn books + a But I'm A Cat Person omnibus set. Thank you for your order, hang in there while I track down an appropriately-sized box!)

- Erin Ptah

Latest update: Almost 85% of all Volume 6 orders are either in the mail, or already received!

Some special deliveries:

Mastodon: Lena's book is in

Tumblr: Whathwatwotter has their copy

Tumblr again: Cresselia has the book + cover art + pins!

As always, when you've got your book(s) -- take a photo, share it around on social media, drop a link here. It's a free way to give the series a little extra boost

- Leif & Thorn Volume 6 orders for US backers are 2/3 shipped!

- Had to put off shipping more "just the latest book" orders, because I ran out of the padded mailers I send them in. Good news, a new 100-count box of those just arrived.

- For non-US backers: you should've just gotten the "48 hours left to lock your shipping address" notice. That means the addresses will be finalized on Sunday night, and I can put the first round of those in the mail next week.

- When your book arrives, if you post a photo on social media, drop the link here! The more I can say "Leif & Thorn crowdfunding campaigns always deliver, here are some IRL backers with their rewards", the easier it is for other readers to think "cool, when the next one comes around, I'll feel secure about backing it."

Cheers,
Erin Ptah

The first 1/3 of packages for US backers are in the mail!

With one batch of them, the USPS truck was on standby near the local mailbox right when I walked over, so I was able to put them directly in the truck. Good times.

And after that since there are a bunch of rewards I can't ship without knowing who gets the original Volume 6 cover art...it was time to spin the wheel.

I used WheelOfNames.com for the handy spinning graphic. Every backer who got a ticket has their name on the wheel -- if you got multiple tickets, your name is there multiple times. Pre-spinning, it looked like this:

And post-spinning (plus some, ah, light cropping to get rid of the on-site ads), it looked like this!

Congratulations to Samatha P! The cover art will be shipped with your book, and the rest of your rewards.

More books are going in the mail all this week. Stay tuned.

- Erin

The construction is finished, deliveries have resumed, and the boxes of Leif & Thorn Volume 6 have arrived!

I know you can't tell at this resolution, but the edits I made to the cover art look much better, and I'm really glad I put in the effort.

What happens next? I'm trying something a little different this year...

Backers have been split into two groups: my fellow USians, and everyone else.

Backers from the US: you just got a "time to finalize your shipping address" email! If your location has changed since filling out the survey, you have 48 hours to update it. Once addresses are locked, I'll start packing and shipping.

International backers: you have not gotten the email yet. In practice, I always get to you folks later, so locking your addresses right now would be jumping the gun, you know? Hang in there while I get most of the cheap-and-easy packages out of the house, then I'll circle back to you.

It's been a weird one this year, but we're getting there!

- Erin Ptah

A few days after I made that last "almost ready to order the books" post...a construction project started on the front of my building.

The reason this is relevant to you folks is, they're blocking the mail! Obviously I'm not going to have several thousand dollars' worth of Leif & Thorn books shipped to a building that isn't getting most deliveries.

At first I figured this would only hold us up by a few days. Now we're a week and a half later, and the construction crew is still working, and I figured y'all deserved a status report about that.

Leif & Thorn Volume 6 will be ordered once I'm getting mail again. Hopefully the next post you see will be the "books are here!" update.

In the meantime, enjoy this photo of my Executive Assistant hard at work:

The promised update about the real-world proof copy of Leif & Thorn Volume 6!

As usual, the printer doesn't do all the extra setup to bind these. They just send me a big sheaf of paper, mostly so I can make sure the colors look right:

Which they do!

I'm planning to tweak the cover art, just a little, and send the printer an updated file for that. No need to change the interior, it all looks great.

In particular, a certain print-specific effect came out really well. Noticeable, but soft and subtle:

If all goes well, the next update will be to show you the stack of Volume 6 boxes in my living room. Stick around.

- Erin Ptah

Short updates:

1) Thanks and kudos to Hela for catching an error in the ebook file -- Final Rest 2/20 was missing! Not only that, it's a full-page comic, which means I had to cut a whole page somewhere else.

Good news, there are lots of Sunday one-shots that are easy to move around. So I dropped one of the standalone bonuses about the Neineikuras, and you'll see that reappear in a later volume.

After I get the paperback proof, I'll see if I need to make any more edits based on that, then make the new ebook PDF and re-upload it for you.

2) The mini-prints have arrived! Still wrapped in plastic, to protect them from dangers like "the cat sneezing on them" before it's time to start shipping. (Pictured: the prints + the sneezer.)

3) The paperback files are ready for the printer. Next update will probably be the "here's the proof copy, check it out" post.

In the meantime, I jumped ahead to make the fresh new InDesign document for Volume 7, and to start adding high-res strips.

...and it's basically full? Including a buffer for some planned-but-not-finished comic images, it's currently 184 pages. A couple weeks from now, what I post will have to become the first strips of Volume 8.

We might eventually get a Leif & Thorn book where I don't have all the strips finished months before I start the crowdfunding campaign! But it's definitely not a risk with Volume 7.

- Erin

The Volume 6: Forget Me Not ebook has hit the digital shelves!

Backers who got the ebook, look out for an email from BackerKit with your discount coupon for 100% off.

If you spot any typos, duplicate strips, or other issues in Volume 6, please let me know! The high-resolution files have not been sent to the printer yet -- there's still time to fix any issues before the paperbacks happen.

If you got multiple ebooks, all your coupons will be bundled together in the same email. Any issues with those, just let me know.

You might notice that I uploaded new versions of the ebooks for Leif & Thorn 1-5. The latest files have some typos fixed, and include the remastered "Magical Thorn" strips. The original ebook files are still there, in case you're a completist -- but it's not like I deleted anything inside them, so you can just download the most recent version, you won't be missing out.

Bonus tip: If you've been following Leif & Thorn since the beginning, you might not bother reading the "Previously On..." recap pages at the start of every book. This time? Don't skip the Previously On.

- Erin

Earlier today, I sent the final "you have 48 hours to edit your answers" email to the Leif & Thorn Volume 6 surveys. After that, you'll only be able to update your shipping address!

After the orders are locked, I'll start charging credit cards. And you'll start getting download links for whatever ebook(s) you ordered.

In the meantime! BackerKit has a feature where you can make part of a post backer-exclusive, instead of "all of the post, or none of it." So I'm going to go ahead and share the Backer-Exclusive Wallpaper Download Links below, and we'll see how this feature works in action.

1) Mini-print proof is here! Very shiny, very warm, looks great all around.

2) All Early Bird sketches are finished. If you got one, here's how to see it. (If your link is broken somehow, comment and let me know.)

3) Survey deadline is December 31. Same as it was for Volume 5. If you fill it out later, you can still get most of the rewards -- you just won't be in time to get your name in the thank-you page/post.

At this rate, I should have your Volume 6 ebooks ready for download in early January. (Maybe earlier, if the last few backers answer sooner! But if that's you, no rush -- I still have the "Previously On..." page to finish.)

1) Backer surveys are 75% in -- and I'm almost caught up on drawing Early Bird sketches!

If you got one, and you filled out the survey before Sunday afternoon, open it again and check your confirmation page. You should see the art link added to the "Special Notes" section:

These notes are specific to your survey, so until the ebook comes out, you're the only person who gets to see the link. (Unless you want to show it to someone else, of course!)

There's still half a dozen of you who haven't sent in your prompts yet. And, uh...no rush. I still have to finish up other things about the book (such as the "Previously On" and the character profiles), so giving me extra time for that is totally fine.

2) Speaking of other things about the book:

I posted on the Leif & Thorn website about the transparency effects in the time-loop arc, and different ways I could translate that into print.

If you're all caught up on the strip, give it a look!

(If not -- tread carefully, the post has serious spoilers.)

- Erin

The proof version of the Volume 6 mini-print is on its way! Here's how the art will look:

And I went ahead and got it on the shimmery card stock, because I've done that the past few years and really liked how it looks.

Shipping costs update:

Turns out, BackerKit's "charge the backers exactly what you pay to ship their packages, and delay it all the way until the day you put them in the mail" feature is still in beta! And I've already experimented with enough new features in this campaign, I don't want to pile on one more.

So, we're just putting shipping charges in the surveys. 

Nothing fancy, nothing complicated. Those estimated costs I mentioned on the campaign page, based on country and pledge level? That's what we're charging.

One more admin check to make sure I set all that up right, then you'll start getting the surveys in your inboxes. (Hopefully on Wednesday! ...More likely on Thursday.)

Also -- everyone whose pledge includes physical books, I threw in a little bonus for you. Stay tuned.

- Erin

...And more than half of you have already sent yours back. Amazing.

For the rest: If you can't find the email, or need a new copy, use the "Lost my survey?" button on this page.

If you have other questions, BackerKit has a whole FAQ already written up. And if your answer isn't there, the project's official Contact Support page is the best way to reach out.

With that, I'm off to work on the first batch of Early Bird sketches!

- Erin