"F&G" stands for "Folded and Gathered." This is basically our last chance before binding to make sure that everything is correct, with the entire printed book gathered into signatures (the eight-page folded units that will be sewn into the binding), but not yet bound with the cover.
This is EXACTLY how the interior of the book will look, on EXACTLY the paper stock that we'll use, straight off the industrial printers that manufacture do the entire 4500 unit run. FedEx delivered it, we reviewed it, and we approved it. Now, after the dozen or so people who have read and re-read the book cover to cover signed off, we get to find out in just a few short months how many typos we all missed. (NONE. The book will clearly be perfect, right? RIGHT??)
Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, Misty and Larry are looking at a box of 4500 signature pages and girding themselves to sign every one of them. (If that isn't a labor of love, I don't know what is.) As soon as they can.
As you know, Misty and Larry are both also passionate about the many rehab birds that they care for. And some rehab birds are more traumatized than others, which makes them dangerous even for experienced handlers. The upshot is that Sweat Pea and Peaches have attacked both Misty and Larry over the last month, which has meant stitches for Misty and serious band-aid management for Larry. Misty was bitten twice, with two fingers now healing. And I'm not going to repeat Larry's bloody injury story.
Please send them good vibes, a healthy pace of recovery, and cool weather. We're not entirely sure how long the signing is going to take—especially since Misty needs to balance signing things with writing the next book with letting her hands heal—but we'll update you as soon as the signed plates are on their way back to the manufacturer.
I'm thrilled to share that Veronica Giguere's "Grandmaster" audiobook downloads will begin distribution shortly.
If the audiobook is part of your order, you should receive an email from BackerKit within the next 24 hours.with the link to your downloads. If you're tech-savvy and confident, please feel free to proceed without reading further.
HOW TO DOWNLOAD YOUR AUDIOBOOK
We're serving the 1.7GB "Grandmaster" audiobook file via a direct download link from Limewire. You do not need any special software to download the book. We recommend downloading on a desktop computer, rather than a mobile device.
HOW TO UNZIP YOUR AUDIOBOOK
The "Grandmaster" audiobook comes in a .zip format, which puts all of the pieces into a single file. If you're on a desktop, you can right-click and use the "unzip" or "decompress" command to open the files. If you're on a mobile device, it should offer you a way to unzip the files there. (For example, on iOS you can add it to your system's "Files" app and it should automatically decompress.)
HOW TO PLAY YOUR AUDIOBOOK
Once you have the files, you can play them in any application that plays audio. Our recommendations follow:
We've passed another milestone in the book manufacturing process: delivery of the Art of Grandmaster cover wet proof with 1/s matt lamination + gold foil blocking.
The cover looks gorgeous in person and we've approved it for production. Foil can sometimes be tricky to get right, but every bit of it looks sharp and shiny.
We're excited today to share that the manufacturer has sent a detailed revised timeline for the production process on Grandmaster.
May 9 - Confirm start printing the interior pages, insert and ends
May 28 - 2pp insert sent via air mail for author to sign
Jun 02 - F&Gs sent for approval
Jun 05 - F&Gs approved to bind
Jun 10 - Signed 2pp insert returned by
Jul 29 - Advance copies sent for approval
Jul 31 - Advance approval needed by
Aug 04 - Bulk copies ready (book to dockyard)
Aug 11 - ETD
Sep 04 - ETA – DTD CA 91745
This effectively means that we can expect fulfillment to begin in September of this year. It's a little later than we hoped, but works very well with our team's availability.
It does mean that we'll have a wait a bit on launching the campaign for Deluxe Arrows, since we want this book in your hands first.
Regarding backers outside the USA, we still intend to split our freight shipments so that the books with a final destination elsewhere in the world won't pass through the States.
A Quick Note on Gamers Emails
We've asked BackerKit to split our account, so that you won't receive any more emails about the Gamers campaign. We expect that split to be completed today. Thanks for your patience!
When a mysterious FedEx package arrived on my doorstep recently, I wasn't entirely sure what was inside... but I had my suspicions, so I took a few unboxing photos, just in case. And it turned out to be entirely the right choice -- the manufacturer had send a full set of color proofs and ozalids (positive color test prints).
Before sharing the photos, the big information is that I only found one print error, which was a mistake we made during export. That correction has been made and we've approved the project for the next stage of manufacturing!
Also, I really wasn't prepared for just how large Art of Grandmaster is compared to Deluxe Grandmaster. The art prints in the big book are going to look incredible on your walls! (The final Art of Grandmaster has a gold foil title, which you won't see in these proofs.)
Because we're using sewn binding, rather than glue, the pages are grouped in sections of eight sheets. You'll notice how we carefully adjusted the page count so that the color plates would fit perfectly between the other segments, which was satisfying to see in person.
The final image shows how the vellum signature page will fit in front of the title page. Because I held it up to the light, you can see the text from the back of the signature page as well, but in the final book that rear text won't be visible through the paper.
With these approved, we can move on to the next stage with the manufacturer, keeping a wary eye on the evolving import and tariffs situation. If anything is guaranteed, it's that everything in the world of freight and shipping will surely change again by the time we're ready to start mailing your rewards. We'll keep you updated at each step of the way!
First of all, the manufacturing process has begun for Grandmaster and Art of Grandmaster. All of the files are at the printer. We expect next steps to include
Digital Proofs
Hard Proofs
Final Approvals
Full manufacturing
So far we've made a half-dozen small, technical changes at the request of the manufacturer, mostly to conform files to the correct bleed and color space. For example, one piece of B&W art was processed in the digital file as 4C black (black from mixing colored ink) and now it's been provided in 1C black (just black ink).
We're prioritizing the vellum signature page, which will be sent to Misty and Larry, then back to the factory for insertion into the book.
Secondly, we've confirmed that (for now) the tariffs will NOT affect import of Grandmaster to the USA. Books and printed materials are not covered under the emergencies act, so they remain subject to the existing 7.5% tariff, which we budgeted for.
However, due to uncertainty with the USA for import/export, we are planning on fulfilling all non-USA orders from a fulfillment center in Hong Kong. This means that these orders will NOT enter or depart the USA. We're sourcing all manufacturing from Canada and China. After running the numbers, we do not expect shipping prices for backers outside the USA to be affected. While you may still need to cover VAT, by skipping the USA we expect to avoid any additional charges.
Our current plan for backers in the USA continues to be fulfilling from our warehouse in Los Angeles. If that remains the case, shipping costs for US backers shouldn't change either. If US tariffs on books change, though, we may need to revisit our plans and budget for US fulfillment. Thanks for your patience while we navigate the chaos caused by Trump's trade war.
We have also finalized the specs for Art of Grandmaster. It is significantly larger than originally planned, with perforated pages, bonus coloring pages, and a foil-printed cover. However, the trade off for the larger size and better paper, which we gained by consolidating manufacturers, was losing the individually-numbered covers. Thank you for understanding.
Miraculously, and despite the global chaos, we remain on budget. Whether we'll be able to ship orders in June as originally planned now depends on the speed of manufacturing. We'll keep you updated as the factory slots us into their production schedule. It's likely that international orders will ship first, since they won't have to cross the Pacific Ocean on a ship.
In other news, we expect delivery of the audiobook soon and look forward to distributing it!
We've also quietly been working with SJ Tucker on multiple new songs. She's been in the studio the last few weekends and has sent over some gorgeous unmixed files for us to review. We can't wait to share "Threes" with you!
Finally, we're getting ready next week to launch our next campaign, for The Gamers: Attack of the Pwns. This fantasy comedy episode of the long-running Gamers series was co-written by Larry Dixon and you can learn more about it here.
