Fantasy Novel: Age of Empyre by Michael J. Sullivan

Next Steps: The Timeline going forward
almost 5 years ago – Sun, Feb 09, 2020 at 09:14:23 PM

Hey, all, Robin again.  I'm here to fill you in on the next steps and important deadlines to be aware of.  There are two things that you need to know about. The first is that  Kickstarters have various "stages" and I'm going to fill you in on those.  And second,  we will be using BackerKit - a third party piece of software that aids in the fulfillment of Kickstarter rewards.

Okay so let's look at the timeline.

•  Pledging Stage - 2/4/20 to 2/20/20 - This is the stage we are in now. Usually, this can be sub-divided into two parts (a) goal not met and (b) goal met.  In the case of not met, you are not charged anything and the project creator has nothing more to do.  We, of course, met that in the first 48 minutes so we are officially in the "goal met category.
•  Funds collection Stage - 02/20/20 - 03/05/20 - Since we are funded, all credit cards on file will be charged on 2/20/20.  Note: during this time we will be issuing partial refunds to those people who got caught up in the "glitch" which interfered with the early-bird reward levels. Now, a number of cards will fail (expired, over limits, address changes, lost/stolen, fraud, etc.) and during the next 14 days Kickstarter (and I) will be in contact with the failed pledges to get them paid up. NOTE: Sometimes Kickstarter payments are just "wonky" and even a valid card doesn't go through. No worries. If this is the case, you can always send us your pledge amount via PayPal (or we can make an invoice that can be paid via a credit card) and we'll credit that amount to your pledge. If after this period your pledge is not paid, it will be marked as "failed." You will still be able to get "back in" to the Kickstarter but you'll have to do so through BackerKit (which I'll explain in a minute.
•  Funds transferred - 03/05/20 - 03/13/20 - This just is an indication that the money doesn't show up with us right away - it can take 3 - 14 business days to get from Kickstarter's account to ours. I picked a "middle number"
•  Data imported into BackerKit and survey created 03/05/20 - 03/06/20 - The "survey" is NOT a customer satisfaction kind of thing. It's the primary mechanism where data is exchanged between you (the backer) and us (the creator).  It is very important that you fill out your survey as soon as possible, or you may miss having your name included in the print book.
•  Survey Stage -03/06/20 - 03/15/20  - You will receive an invitation from BackerKit asking you to fill out your survey.  You'll be able to do several things at this time.
• (a) First of all, if you decided you want to upgrade your pledge level you can switch it in the first step of the survey. So, for instance you could switch from DIGITAL DELIGHT to HARDCORE to receive the printed edition. 
• (b) Second, you'll tell us which name you want to be included in the acknowledgments (it can be your name, a friend/family member's name, or even several names. For instance: "Tom Smith", or "Susan and Frank Johnson" or "Tom, Susan, and Frank Sanderson" or "The Franklin Family" - the only thing I ask you not to include is email addresses or website urls.  You can use "nicknames" such as Stan "The Man" Holmes. NOTE: During the last Kickstarter I saw a number of "name fields" that were "truncated" for reasons I can't figure out.  PLEASE check your name carefully as if we find something that looks "suspicious" we have to track you down and that takes A LOT of time. 
• (c) You'll answer "pledge specific" questions such as which titles do you want for book #2 and #3 of the "THREE BOOK NIGHT" reward level.
• (d) You will be presented with the "add-on" store where you can add bookmarks, tote bags, extra ebooks, extra hardcovers, and tips. If you added on "extra" money in the Kickstarter, those funds will be deducted from your excess. If you didn't add extra money, no worries, there is a way for you to pay for your upgrades and add ons through Backerkit.
• (e) If you are receiving a physical reward, you'll be asked to fill out your address. PLEASE include your phone number (especially if you are overseas as the overseas fulfillment centers require this information - don't worry we won't be calling you on the phone. If you are going to be moving, don't worry. Just put in your current address, and you'll be able to adjust it as we get closer to shipping.
• (f) If you have a negative balance (because you added on items you didn't account for in your pledge) BackerKit will ask for your credit card number. But don't worry it won't be charged yet.
• (g) On the last page of the survey are some social media buttons where you can share your love for the project -- please consider doing so.  There will be a way for people who missed the Kickstarter to be added manually, so people talking up the project will lead to additional funds. The last Kickstarter brought in an extra 581 people through post-Kickstarter process.
•  Lockdown Stage: 03/15/20 - 03/17/20 - During this 48-hour window, you'll have your last chance for making changes to your survey for questions and rewards (address lockdown comes later).  Once lockdown occurs, we'll be charging the BackerKit credit cards for any "additional items created.
•  Digital bonus files sent - 03/18/20 - prior Legends ebooks, short stories, screensavers, and any other bonus material will be sent to backers and available for download through your BackerKit portal.
•  Name Verification 03/17/20 - 03/20/20 - We'll provide the acknowledgment page of the book for you to check/verify your name. If there are any typos it MUST be corrected during this time. Any new backers or changes to names that come after this point will appear in the ebook but WILL NOT appear in the printed materials.
•  File pre-press 03/23/20 - 03/25/20 - Files are sent to the printer and last-pass proofing is performed
•  Digital ebook distributed - 03/23/20 - The ebook of Age of Empyre will be released.
•  Totebag printing 03/23 - 04/02/20 - With the number of totes "locked down" we'll make our order and start the printing.
•  US Totebag mailing 04/03/20 - 04/05/20 - Canadian and overseas tote bags will ship with the books. 
•  Book shipping: 04/15/20 - 04/17/20 - This is not the shipping of the books to you this is getting the books to our Madison VA fulfillment center
•  Address lockdown: 04/15/20 - 04/17/20 - This is your last chance to update your shipping address if you've moved.  You'll get notification about the 48-hour window before the address are set in stone.
•  Spreadsheet creation: 04/18/20 - 04/20/20 -We'll export data from Kickstarter and give it to our three fulfillment partners: US, Canada, and all overseas customers.
•  Book Signing: 04/20/20 - 04/24/20 - Michael will be signing the "non-Age of Empyre books before this (starting after "lockdown") but he'll sign several thousand copies of these books
•  Overseas shipping preparation - 04/23/20 - 04/24/20 - pallets will be built with all the books necessary for overseas and Canadian shipping they will be picked up by a freight forwarder for local shipping.
•  US Shipping: 04/21/20 - 04/29/20 - Individual packages will be assembled, labeled and shipped out. Tracking numbers will be imported to Backerkit.

And that's pretty much it.  The only thing I don't know is how long it will take the overseas palet to get across the ocean (overseas) or across the border (Canada) and then how long it will take them to mail locally. But once we get the books to the forwarder that part of the process is out of our hands.

If you have any questions, be sure to ask!

Robin.

What an amazing start!
almost 5 years ago – Sun, Feb 09, 2020 at 07:01:20 PM

Hey all, Robin here. If you've not backed one of Michael's Kickstarters in the past you may not know who I am, so let me start off by introducing myself. I'm Michael's wife and "helper bee." I handle much of the logistical tasks surrounding the Kickstarter (especially with regards to shipping and fulfillment).  You'll hear from me from time to time via updates.  I would have posted sooner,  but one of our copyeditors was scheduled to get the book today, and I was working on incorporating some line edits and bata reader stuff before sending that out. But since that "transport is away" I can now stop by here.

So, that was a pretty wild ride to start out the Kickstarter, huh?  I watched for the first hour (and tracked it - I'm an ex-engineer so I enjoy numbers). Then I had to go somewhere else, as watching Kickstarter numbers can be a huge time sink and I have a lot to do. This one started out slower than the last one (took twice as long to fund and we were down $4,320 by the end of the first hour and ended the first day with $3,238 less money and 127 fewer backers). But it's had a MUCH stronger second and third day.  Day 2 saw an increase of 15% in both the numbers of backers and the amount funded. Day three ended 23% higher in terms of backers and 20% in income. That equates to an additional 467 backers and an extra $15,400.

When we launched, we noticed some glitching, and Michael told me that a number of people missed their early-bird rewards due to technical issues. We're sorry to hear that, but we are willing to "make it right" by offering the 20% discount to those who were forced into a higher reward level.. Here is a link where you can get full details and give us your email address so we know who to credit.  Refunds will happen right after your credit card is charged and will be $2 for a digital-only pledge and $7 for any pledge with at least one hardcover.

Because of the massive outpouring of early support we received a bunch of added exposure from Kickstarter. The project has:

• Received an editor's pick as a "Projects We Love."
• Was highlighted in the "Fresh Favorites" section of the Kickstarter site.
• Was highlight in the "Projects Taking Off" section of the Kickstarter site
• Is currently the 5th most-backed and 8th most-funded Fiction Kickstarter of all time (it's passed both The Death of Dulgath and The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter and it looks like it will move past Age of Legend as far as number of backers before the day is out, and pass Death on the Nile (another person's project) as far as most-funded.

In other news, I posted the first stretch goal, which will give all backers 11 short stories (and one short told through graphic illustration).  Thes are already written, so besides some formatting and logistics work they won't take long to deliver.

I've also posted a number of FAQ's, so it would be helpful if you check them out before sending us an email or a private message. Your answer is likely to be there, but if it isn't, we post the answer to you and add it to the online FAQ list.

Tomorrow, I'll be posting a "What's Next"  update that will be helpful for people who haven't participated in Kickstarters before. It'll outline the steps from now through fulfillment. The MOST IMPORTANT aspect is  THE SURVEY which is how you communicate to us about things we need to know (like what name you want in the acknowledgments, and where should we ship physical copies.  Our press time for this book is already scheduled and it will be here before we know it, so you MUST do your survey right away. Those who wait will be able to have their names in the ebook but it WILL NOT appear in the printed version. So, please fill out your survey as soon as you can.

Well, I think that is enough for now, I'm going to go and do some administration on the beta read. We'll talk again soon.