After a couple more rewrites, the physical editions of American Geniuses: Volume One are in my hands. We're preparing for fulfillment to begin in January. Here's what you can expect.
Addresses will be locked and cards will be charged. You'll receive 48-hour notifications.
Corvyn will ship Canadian and other International packages directly.
We'll mail the US-bound packages to the ZOE warehouse in Seattle for domestic fulfillment.
The updated PDF of the digital edition will be distributed via BackerKit.
If you pledged for a print of a panel or a page, Corvyn will be in touch via email to help you choose which one you want!
Thanks for your patience while I obsessively rewrote a few more times until the flow felt right. I'm very proud of what we're sending out, and the print editions feel luxurious.
I'm thrilled to share that distribution of the American Geniuses PDF begins today!
Keep your eyes on your email for a digital download link from BackerKit.
Natalie, Michelle, and I are so incredibly grateful for your patience while we expanded the first issue to a full 32 pages. We're all perfectionists, but we think that we caught every little issue.
HOWEVER, if you find a mistake that we missed, we'd love to hear about it, so we can correct if for print. Because we're going to print ASAP.
Thanks so much for your support! Ben, Michelle, and Natalie
If you've been following along on our Discord server, you've seen the new pages drop as we've completed them, along with line art and an updated script. For everyone else, here's the latest news!
We're excited to share today that after taking a look at the upcoming script pages, we're increasing the length of Issue One from 24 to 32 pages. Pages are done through 26, so we only have a few more to go. We think that these extra pages will be a more satisfying arc for the first issue, fully setting up all of the adventures that are to come.
Additionally, in preparation for a public launch on Webtoons and Tapas later this year, we've begun adjusting the layout of existing pages for vertical mobile reading. This means that digital rewards will not only include a PDF of the print layout, but the larger vertical format for scrolling reading.
Here's an example of how vertical pages will work. We think that this will be a great way to focus on the incredible details that Natalie has added to every panel. Her background as an oil painter really comes through in these images!
Finally, we're continuing to monitor the political situation in the United States, for both story and practical reasons.
From a story perspective, since many of our teenage characters are immigrants (some of them undocumented) and some are also LGBTQ, some story elements that were stable a year ago have become more dangerous. For example, Alejandro is a Dreamer, and his safety is now at risk from increased ICE raids. The more that we reflect the America that people are living in today, the more we have to acknowledge that the danger for these characters has increased exponentially, especially once they attract the attention of various government and military authorities in Issue Two. Stories don't have to be real to be true, so even though our characters are imaginary, we believe it's important to reflect the truths that people like them are experiencing every day in America. As such, we'll continue to update upcoming pages to reflect the turbulent period of history that we've entered.
From a practical perspective, this project is small enough that we don't expect tariffs to have a significant impact on fulfillment. However, we'll keep you updated as we get closer to shipping, including contingency plans to print and ship from Canada if necessary, or even to split manufacturing/fulfillment to different countries.
In the meantime, please join us on Discord if you haven't already and thanks for supporting independent storytelling!
It looks like there are a small number of digital backers who had physical patches added to their pledges for cross-collab rewards. If you're one of them, our shipping tables quoted you a ridiculous shipping price.
To fix this, we're filtering those backers in our pledge management software and manually adding shipping credit, so your patches will ship for free. We apologize for the inconvenience!
We should have the fix implemented in your accounts within 24 hours.
I'm so happy to share that we're ready to send backer surveys. The smoke test—a small number of surveys to make sure everything is working properly—will go out today. The rest will go out on Monday. We're also emailing links shortly to invite you to Discord!
Discord Access
Our Discord server is ready for you. That's where we share new pages, discuss the project, and manage ongoing fulfillment of your rewards. While it's not necessary to join Discord, it's certainly recommended.
Discord can be used in your browser, as a mobile app, or a desktop app. All versions can be acquired from www.discord.com.
Save your login and password so that you can get into Discord whenever you need.
Discord has two primary types of communication: private messages and private group chats, and Servers, which are more like real-time forums for communities. The link in your survey (we'll also send an email) will give you an invitation to the Discord Server for American Geniuses. If you click the link after you’ve logged into your Discord account, it will let you into the Discord server.
Progress Report
We have a number of new pages to share with you. Natalie has storyboarded through most of the first major set of events and is currently inking and coloring. I'm being a perfectionist and tweaking the dialogue about twenty times (and will probably do so again based on your input), but you can absolutely read more of the story now. We're already getting those pages into the Backer channels on the Discord.
Unique Rewards
If you pledged for a signed page or panel, please keep your eyes open for a panel or page that speaks to you. We'll make a unique, signed print of the final version of the art that you choose, but you'll definitely want to coordinate that with me (hopefully on Discord, but you can use BackerKit if you prefer).
Research
If you're in a Researcher tier, let's check in once you're on Discord. You can share specific interests, or just wait and see what pops up and activates your "someone is wrong on the Internet" spidey-sense.
Physical Fulfillment
While this is a pretty straightforward campaign to fulfill, we still need to make sure that the first issue is perfect. This is where your input and ideas will come in. The best way to track our progress is (you guessed it) on the Discord server.
