The purpose of the Death March Kickstarter was to raise money to commission gorgeous interior artwork for the first novel in my upcoming fantasy trilogy, as well as produce a hardcover version.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
General progress + Cover Spread
over 6 years ago
– Fri, Jun 01, 2018 at 05:25:54 PM
The Full Spread
Hey everyone,
Now that the dust is settling and 90% of you have completed your BackerKit surveys (thank you!) I want to review where we're at, give an outline for pledge fulfillment dates and review a couple of things..
First off, Andreas has completed the full spread for Nightmare Keep, and this will be used for the paperbacks and hardcovers. Colleen over at Ampersand will be crafting the back cover, but the artwork is done and Andreas is now rolling straight onto Book 3.
Scheduling
Here's how things look in terms of getting the completed ebooks and physical copies out to you guys:
Interior Art:
Ben began working on Death March's interior art as soon as we funded, and has already delivered 2 of the 5 commissioned pieces. He believes he'll have all 5 done by June 22nd, at which point he'll start working on Nightmare Keep's art.
Layout:
Ampersand will have the layout completed for all three books (for ebook, paperback, and hardcover) by June 15th. At that point we'll simply be waiting on Ben to for the interior art. Once June 22nd comes Ampersand should be able to insert the artwork and the completed ebook for Death March will be available for download. Call that June 30 to be safe.
I will then upload the PDF's for the paperbacks and hardcovers and order test copies. I imagine those will come within a week or two, and barring any issues I'll then order the the backed amount. I'm thus hoping to have Death March paperbacks and hardcovers by the end of July and ready to mail out to everyone.
Covers
Andreas will begin the cover for Killer Dungeon next week, and should have it completed by the end of June.
Summary, or Tldr:
Death March ebook with custom layout & interior art: mailed out by end of June
Death March paperback/hardcovers: mailed out by end of July
Nightmare Keep ebook with custom layout & interior art: mailed out by end of July (depending on Ben)
Nightmare Keep paperback/hardcovers: mailed out by end of August
Killer Dungeon ebook with custom layout & interior art: mailed out by end of August (depending on Ben)
Killer Dungeon paperback/hardcovers: mailed out by end of Sept
*Remember, if you chose to wait till all your physical copies were printed so that they can be sent at once, you won't be receiving anything until the latest date so that I can bundle them.
Getting hold of Books 2 & 3 early if you've paid for them through BackerKit:
If you have purchased the ebooks for Books 2 & 3 you can message me directly at any time and I'll send over the early MOBI/EPUB version to your email.
In the meantime, I'm giving the last 10% of my Backers another week or complete the BackerKit survey, and then I'm going to close it and finalize all the orders. At that point I'll email out a link to everyone who purchased them so that they can download early versions if they so desire.
If you've read the books and want to leave a review, I'd greatly appreciate it. Reviews make an indie author's world go round, and I'd love for you to take a moment even to just drop in a star rating. You can do so here on GoodReads:
New piece of interior art
over 6 years ago
– Mon, May 28, 2018 at 05:40:51 PM
Hey everyone,
Ben just sent over the second piece of interior art, and I was all set to share it here as an update when I realized that some people might consider it a spoiler.
So instead I'm going to host the artwork on my website, and link to it here for you to head over and take a look if you're curious. If you'd rather come across the art within the book as you read the finished version, simply ignore this link ;)
BackerKit Survey Update:
316 of you have completed your survey
60 folks remain who need to do the same
A soon as those 60 finalize their surveys I'll lock down the portal and start finalizing orders for the different formats.
This omnibus edition contains the first three parts of The Chronicles of the Black Gate series, and is over 1500 pages of epic heroic fantasy.
When his hated liege lord dies in battle against invading heretics, Asho thinks his dream of becoming a knight has become a possiblity. However, with war engulfing the empire and old enemies seeking the destruction of his new Lady, Asho soon realizes that he may have to sacrifice everything - even his dreams of valor and honor - if they are to survive.
Driven into exile and hunted by countless foes both mundane and demonic, Asho must rely on his burgeoning power and the unlikeliest of allies if he is to survive - and decide if he wishes to save the empire from the ancient secrets that are tearing it apart, or bend his will to destroying it.
BackerKit Survey Guide
over 6 years ago
– Thu, May 24, 2018 at 05:28:12 PM
Hey everyone,
I've set up the BackerKit survey and hope to send it out soon. BackerKit advises that I wait until all credit card charges have cleared to ensure only those backers who have paid for their pledges are able to receive them. Toward that end I'm working with Kickstarter on the twelve pledges that are currently not clearing. I hope to have this issue resolved asap.
In the meantime, I want to provide you with a quick survey guide so you know how to navigate the portal.
What is this survey?
BackerKit is going to send you an email. When you click on the link provided, you will be taken to your portal. This is basically a series of pages where you confirm your pledge amount, choose any add-ons, confirm your shipping address and so forth. You can always revisit the portal to change your details until I lock things down - and I'll give plenty of advance notice before doing so.
Address
This is the most critical aspect of this survey: please enter an accurate address, and remember that if this changes I must be notified. I may be sending out hardcover copies of Book 3 a month or two from now, and if your address has changed in the meantime it will result in a headache for everybody. Don't forget to notify me of changes!
Add-ons
Please note that one of the key features of the portal is to give you the chance to modify your pledge. You can purchase more items (hardcovers, audiobooks, bookmarks, etc) as well as adding the Death March eBook without interior art for immediate reading.
Getting the Death March eBook asap
I'm waiting on Ben Juniu to finish the art, but don't want you guys to have to wait till the end of June to read the book. Thus if you're happy to read a simple version of Death March, without custom layout and artwork, you can 'Add-on' a FREE copy of the ebook to your shopping cart for immediate download. Look for this icon in the add-on menu:
The Death March eBook w/o artwork Add-on
Add that to your shopping cart to download it immediately. Later, when the artwork/custom layout version is available (end of June) you'll be able to download that version as well.
Stretch Goal #4
Since we funded past the $13,000 mark everyone will have all six ebooks added to their shopping carts automatically.
Shipping
International shipping is expensive. Please note that I don't intend to make any profit from the shipping fees, and will refund any excess balance after I calculate the shipping costs. Thus if you are buying all three hardcovers and want them shipped to Australia, you will be charged $25 x 3 = $75.
I AM offering the option however to wait to have all physical copies of the book shipped at once in the hopes that will result in lowered shipping fees. You can select that option in the survey, and I'll hold onto your copies until everything is printed and can be shipped at once. Your choice, though I can't guarantee what kind of savings there may be if any.
Again: all excess shipping will be refunded to you once I've actually weighed and printed your shipping labels.
Questions?
This is my first time setting up the BackerKit portal. If I've made any mistakes or if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to message me or comment here. I'll work with you right away to figure/fix things.
Cheers,
Phil
Cover for Book 2
over 6 years ago
– Wed, May 23, 2018 at 08:16:07 PM
Nightmare Keep
Hey everyone,
While I work with BackerKit to get the portals and surveys set up I wanted to share the cover to Nightmare Keep, Book 2 of Euphoria Online. Andreas tells me he's still going to tweak a few things, but we're mostly there.
