Fantasy Novel: Age of Empyre by Michael J. Sullivan

Important Next Steps
about 4 years ago – Mon, Feb 24, 2020 at 11:12:59 PM

Hey all, Robin again.  I just wanted to give you some status updates and to remind you about some things we may still need from you.

• Kickstarter charged the credit cards, and over the next few weeks, they will be trying to get people to "fix" cards that were declined for one reason or another. We had 80 failures and 43 have been corrected over the last few days.  If you are one of the 37 still having problems, you can always send your pledge amounts via Paypal (use address [email protected]) and we can get you processed that way. I've sent a Kickstarter message to all people who errored out.
• Surveys have gone out, (as have BackerKit Invitations)  and our thanks go out to all the people who have answered them so quickly.  Right now we have 2,639 answered and 939 to go (73% completed). It is very important for you to answer these surveys especially if you (a) want to be included in the acknowledgments (b) are receiving one or more physical items (because we need your mailing address) (c) are getting a tote bag (because we need to know how many to order or (d) are getting any non-Age of Empyre books (because we need to know how many to order).  
• If you haven't seen your survey, check your spam folder for an email with the following subject: "Response Needed -- Get your reward for Fantasy Novel: Age of Empyre by Michael J. Sullivan"
• There were a small number of people (16 or so) that were not reachable by BackerKit (because of some problem with the email addresses). I've sent Kickstarter messages and emails (look for subject: "A problem with your Age of Empyre Kickstarter Fulfillment") to all of these people with a link to your BackerKit record so you can fill out your survey.
• I've started issuing the refunds for the people who missed out on the early-bird levels because of Kickstarter glitching that occurred during the first few minutes after launch. This is fairly time-consuming, so if you don't see yours yet, no worries, you will. I'll make another update once all the credits are applied.
• To ensure that people aren't overcharged, I'm checking all records with add-ons and in some cases making adjustments. For instance, some people have added on the Age of Empyre ebook because they weren't aware it was part of their reward tier. Or some people added on an extra hardcover and were being "double-dipped" for shipping that would be lower once combined with their other books. Watch your inboxes for emails that have the subject: "Change made to your Age of Empyre Kickstarter Pledge" or "Possible problem with your Age of Empyre Kickstarter Pledge." So far I have checked 176 records and I have an outstanding queue of 263.
• I've found a number of names that appeared to be truncated (or may have a typo). When I run across one, I'm sending emails with the following subject: "Checking on your name for Age of Empyre" - please keep your eyes out for them
• Speaking of names.  I've done two extractions from Backerkit (the first with 2,418 records and the second with another 219), and started working on the acknowledgments section. You can find it posted here.  Please check to ensure your name is properly included. NOTE: Especially if your name has non-US alphabet characters because there is some extra processing that has to be done for those characters to ensure they appear properly in the ebook.  If you only recently filled out your survey (sometime after 4:00 EDT yesterday), then your name will show up in the next extraction.
• There are 80 people who have used this survey to get an "after the fact manual add." And I'm going through those in between some of the other administration things mentioned above. This manual process will take some time, so if you are looking for your manual add and have not seen it yet, please bear with me.  

That's a long update so here is a TL:DR summary:

(a) If you haven't filled out your survey please do so as soon as possible, please do so right away so your name can be included in the acknowledgment. (b)If you have filled out your name,check how it appears here to make sure it is okay. (c) Watch your inbox for any emails with the following subject lines, as it's me needing more information from you or telling you about a change to your order

• A problem with your Age of Empyre Kickstarter Fulfillment
• Checking on your name for Age of Empyre
• Change made to your Age of Empyre Kickstarter Pledge
• Possible problem with your Age of Empyre Kickstarter Pledge
• Response Needed -- Get your reward for Fantasy Novel: Age of Empyre by Michael J. Sullivan

We'll keep you posted!

And done!
about 4 years ago – Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 02:52:15 AM

Robin and I would like to say

to backers both old and new for making this our best Kickstarter ever (and that is saying something)!   Now the real work begins. We'll be in touch shortly regarding surveys and downloading digital rewards.

Last Day - alternate tote design preview
about 4 years ago – Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 01:14:40 AM

Michael and I are back from Key West for the final day of the Kickstarter. While we are still tweaking the design,  I wanted to share with you where we are with regard to the alternative tote design. We drew inspiration from a "Sullifan" comment and Cory has designed a crest that takes imagery from both Riyria and Legends. Avempartha and the Gilarbrywn make appearances in both series. Magda is exclusive to Legends and Hadrian's three swords, the roses,  and Royce and Hadrian riding into Medford are exclusively Riyria.  

 We greatly exceeded the previously (very successful) Kickstarters so mine and Michael's thanks go out to you all.  For those interested in numbers.  Here are some stats for you:

• 3,161 hardcovers sold (1,952 Age of Death & 1,209 "other" books
• 3,559 ebooks sold (3,446 Age of Death & 113 "others"

New Stretch Goal Posted
about 4 years ago – Sat, Feb 15, 2020 at 10:51:51 PM

Hey all, Robin (again).  Michael and I are currently in Key West...a vacation planned long ago to give me some time off from the last Kickstarter.  I'm not online much, but I did jump on today because we passed a stretch goal, and to post a new one. (Go to the Kickstarter to learn what it is!)  So far we are doing great!  We passed Age of Death in the number of backers, and we aren't too terribly far away from passing it in total amount funded.

Also,  due to popular demand, we've added a new add-on such that you can get ONLY the signed Age of Empyre bookmark (instead of the full set). This is mainly for people who received bookmarks 1 - 5 already.  They are just $1 for US and $3 for overseas, so if you want to change your add-on allocations based on that, please feel free to do so.  We'll be back before the Kickstarter ends, but we traveling with others so getting Internet time is catch as catch can. So if you don't hear from me, that is why.

Well done, all!
about 4 years ago – Mon, Feb 10, 2020 at 09:44:01 PM

So, you did it!  You pushed this Kickstarter to be one of only 7 fiction projects to top the $100,000 funding goal. What's even cooler? 3 of those projects have been mine, so we have 43% of them! I gotta admit that when the first project hit $100,000 (in the last few days of funding) I thought, "Wow, that was cool, but it'll never happen again!" And yet the second one made it in far less time (15 days rather than 20) but this time . . . it was just 6 days. That's beyond amazing!

So, the first stretch goal was reached and a new one has been posted. It's a behind the scenes look that really couldn't be done properly until all the books were out there. I hope people will be excited about it. It should be an interesting peek inside my brain, Robin's genus, and what goes into taking an idea to a fully produced and final form.

Oh, and speaking about excited! There are two other "specials for Kickstarter Backers" that I hope to be rolling out.  They involve others, and we are in the early stages, but if all goes well, we'll be able to announce them before the end of the Kickstarter. If not, we'll save them for the next one.  But I'm very excited by both.

Robin and I want to thank all the people who are out there on social media spreading the word about the Kickstarter, your enthusiasm is contagious. If we keep brining in others, who knows what levels we'll reach.