Beowulf: An Illuminated Wonder Tale

June Update
3 months ago – Sun, Jun 09, 2024 at 09:19:40 AM

May was very productive with getting this project along! The Saxon coin hoard has arrived, ready to go out with the books when they arrive.

Meanwhile, all the books are at the printers. I'm expecting to get the proof copy of the Marshall children's book in the next two or three days, then I'll be mailing those out to the Huscarl backers in the following 1-2 weeks. 

There was one delay with the leather-bound books; there is a five week printing, processing, and shipping period for those books, which I accounted for, but another five week printing, processing, and shipping period for the proof copies, which I did not account for, but which are in the works now. I should have those on hand in the next couple of weeks, but I won't be getting the main shipment of books for the Thane and above pledge levels until sometime in July, probably.

I don't know that the delay will push the fulfillment timeline for Thane and above back at all, but if it does it should be a fairly mild shift.

Thanks for your patience; I can't wait to share some pictures of the final products in the next few weeks!

Heading to Printing, Reward Fulfillment Phase
5 months ago – Thu, Apr 18, 2024 at 04:49:41 PM

Dear friends,
    The main Beowulf text is all ready; I'll be sending that out to the printers this weekend! I apologize for delaying the updates for a few weeks; I tend to go into monk mode during the intensive creation, compilation, and editing period of projects like this. If the setup goes simply and smoothly with the printers (and I have been working with them already in the last few weeks, so I have every reason to expect it will), I anticipate having the finished books in 5 - 6 weeks, then I'll be mailing those out in June! The Marshall children's edition will be a few weeks behind that, as I wanted to get the main book completed and out the door as soon as I could. I'll be updating again when I have a harder timeline for when those will be ready.

All the backers should have gotten a message and email with the download link for the PDF of the color version; I'm finishing the black-and-white version for coloring this weekend, so look for that one in the next 3-4 days. Next up in the fulfillment lineup will be the tumblers for the Kotsetla pledges; I'll be sending those out next week. If you got one of those and a book or coin add-on, or alternatively if you pledged at a higher level and added on a tumbler, I'll be sending those to you together in one shipment once I have all the items. As always, please reach out to me if you have any questions or issues during the fulfillment stage and I'll do my best to get you squared away.

Many thanks!

Joel

Finishing Up the Surveys, Next Phase
6 months ago – Fri, Mar 15, 2024 at 06:11:16 PM

Dear friends,
    We are just about through all the reward surveys; we're at around 95% completion. There are still a handful of backers who need to complete the survey so we can get the necessary shipping information to them. Some folks with certain email providers (Appleid primarily) have not been getting the survey emails, so if you still haven't gotten anything from me or Backerkit regarding your pledge, please reach out to me via messenger so I can PM you your direct link for your survey. We should be locking in our final numbers for all the items next week as we get ready to move into the next phase: pledge fulfillment.

 I've been able to make pretty good progress through finishing up illuminations and getting the art and text formatted together. Once it's all finished up and the final editing process is complete, the main text will be ready to send to printing in the next few weeks. I'll be emailing the PDF files to everyone at that time and start sending out the tumbler rewards. If you got a tumbler plus an add-on or as an add-on, I'll be waiting until all the items are in so I can send you everything in one shipment.

Finally, I have had a couple of people reach out to me asking about marketing agents who are claiming to have worked with me on this project. I did not hire any marketing agents during this project and the email addresses they have been sharing are not mine. These folks are most likely scammers, so please keep an eye out for that and feel free to message me if you have questions about anything.

Thanks!

Surveys Sent
7 months ago – Wed, Feb 28, 2024 at 07:48:35 PM

Dear Friends,
    The surveys have been compiled at sent out for you to fill out shipping info as we move into the fulfillment cycle. If you backed the project and did not receive the survey, please check the spam folder of your email as these should have gone out from Backerkit. I'll be working with them to try to resolve any discrepancies should they arise.

Thanks!

Pledge Surveys and Production
7 months ago – Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 01:05:04 PM

Friends,
    All of the pledges for the campaign have been processed and I'm working with Backerkit to finalize the backer surveys, which should be emailing out to you early next week. This will be where you can add shipping information and any relevant updates on your end. We have also added a Pre-Order site where you can add any items that you might have missed the opportunity for during the campaign period. I will post another update here after I send the surveys out, so please let me know once that one goes up if you haven't yet received yours at that time so I can get any commo issues squared away.

In the meantime, I'm just grinding out the last of the illuminations to get the text all ready for printing in the Spring!

Thanks!
Joel