Shipping Updates, Progress Report, and a Small Request
about 4 years ago – Fri, Dec 11, 2020 at 02:56:20 AM

Team Silverlight here with an update on your shipping! We have received such a high volume of questions that we have been unable to respond to you individually in the timely manner we strive for. With most questions being very similar, we are certain many more of you have the same questions. We will attempt to answer them all below, with a TL;DR and small request at the end for how you can help us out!

The Way of Kings 10th Anniversary Leatherbound Edition: 2020 Shipping Updates

Thousands of copies of The Way of Kings 10th Anniversary Leatherbound Edition have shipped to 2020 delivery tier backers. Thank you to all the wonderful, positive feedback so many of you have shared with us and others! Hundreds of books are in the hands (and trucks) of package carriers, making their way to you. Thousands are still in the packaging and labeling process and will be shipped as soon as possible.

In our previous update, Isaac mentioned that this will be an ongoing, time consuming process. We originally hoped all of the books would arrive to backers before Christmas. While many more will still arrive by then, we cannot guarantee speedy shipping. Holiday shipping is at an all-time high this year, and every carrier is encountering larger numbers of errors and delays. This is due to many things, but most especially to how COVID-19 has affected the world. Simply put, more people are shopping online this year for more things, and the shipping industry is trying to keep up with the demand. Our current hope is that all 2020 Way of Kings leatherbound books will be shipped before the end of 2020, but due to so many factors out of our hands, we cannot make any promises that they will. We are working with the fulfillment center and providing every assistance we can, but ultimately we are at the mercy of the changes the world has seen this year. Rest assured that we and the fulfillment center are working diligently to get your books to you as soon as we can.

To help you understand what is going on and answer your questions about the status of your book, here is the process:

1.  The bindery's fulfillment center packs up your leatherbound books with multiple layers of bubble wrap in a strong cardboard shipping box. This is done by hand, with every effort taken to send you a good, well protected product.

2.  A batch of labels are printed out and tracking numbers are created. These labels are then applied to your packages. This process may take up to two or three days after the labels are printed if the batch was large.

3.  Packages are delivered to the carrier.

4.  The carriers are currently overwhelmed with holiday shipping. They may or may not scan and update tracking for your package.

5.  The carriers will move your package along their routes until it reaches you—again, perhaps without updating your tracking information due to high volume.

6.  The carrier attempts to deliver your package to you.

7.  You open and admire your beautiful books!

Swag Pack Update

Multiple swag items are here! We have shared pictures of several of these rewards in the past and will share more in a future update. However, some rewards are still in production. Specifically, as we mentioned in Update #20, the playing cards will be delayed as the company printing the cards is trying to fit our massive order into their schedule. We are using a premier playing card production company, and the quality they produce is very much worth the wait. At this time, we estimate that your swag packs will be shipped early 2021.

The Way of Kings 10th Anniversary Leatherbound Edition: 2021 Update

Brandon is signing the pages for our 2021 delivery printing of The Way of Kings 10th Anniversary Leatherbound Edition. Remember to subscribe to his YouTube channel and watch his livestreams while he signs these! Once he finishes signing these pages, we estimate four to six months to bind the books and prepare them for shipment. Please remember it takes time to create these beautiful books. Your swag packs will ship along with the 2020 delivery tier swag packs, so you will not have to wait for these due to any leatherbound delays.

Surveys

While most backers have completed their surveys, we are still missing a few hundred. The most common difficulty we see our backers encountering is an email error due to signing into Kickstarter with an Apple ID. When you do this, Apple uses a "private relay" placeholder email address that works ONLY with the site you use Apple ID to log into (in this case Kickstarter). This protects you from junk, third-party emails after a website shares your email address. Unfortunately, BackerKit is a third party that receives your email address from Kickstarter, so your placeholder email address will not allow messages from BackerKit, and none of the emails from BackerKit will have reached you. This includes the survey email.

If this is your situation, please reach out to BackerKit support. Include a screenshot of your Kickstarter confirmation (with your backer number) and they can update your email address to your real email address in BackerKit. Once that is complete, you will be able to receive the link to your survey.

Summary (TL;DR)

· 2020 delivery tier leatherbound books are still being shipped. This will continue through the end of the year. Christmas delivery is possible but not guaranteed. Your books are coming!

· We are still waiting on a couple of products before we can ship the swag packs. Expect these early 2021.

· 2021 delivery tiers will receive their swag when the 2020 tiers receive their swag, but 2021 leatherbound books are still many months away.

· If you haven't yet, please fill out your BackerKit surveys!

What YOU Can Do to Help

Please be patient with us. We are working hard, and your rewards are coming. Every fan and customer contact is important to us, and we try to give each interaction with you the time and effort you deserve. However, the overwhelming number of requests for updates on individual shipments and packages takes time away from your store purchase shipments, damage and error replacements, and all the other work we do behind the scenes to make your experience as best as possible.

We understand that the delays of even a week or two can be disappointing, especially at this time of year. We are putting every effort into being one of the top Kickstarter campaigns you have backed, and we have learned so much that we will be able to apply to future campaigns. But in the meantime, we ask for your understanding and patience as we experience the growing pains of a first-time campaign.

Thank you for your patience and for your trust!

Kara, Mem, Lex, Michael, Christi, etc.

Novella Drafts, Bumper Sticker, and More
about 4 years ago – Sun, Nov 22, 2020 at 09:58:14 PM

Isaac here with another quick update on The Way of Kings leatherbound and some of the goodies from the campaign.

Leatherbound Books

More of the 2020 copies of the leatherbound are arriving at their destinations. (We just got a few copies now here at the office, and we’re very pleased with how they turned out.) Prominent YouTuber Daniel Greene did an unboxing on his channel that made our team smile. Thanks for the kind words, Daniel!

Dawnshard Novella Drafts

Dawnshard is out in the world, and our editorial director Peter has had a chance to put together the Novella Drafts digital stretch goal reward, which also comes with the latest EPUB, MOBI, and PDFs of the book. When you get the file, please read the Read Me file first.

In order to get this, you need to make sure that you’ve finished your survey on BackerKit. Afterward, you’ll receive an email from BackerKit with instructions on where to go in your BackerKit account to download the reward when we go live with it.

Journey Before Destination Sticker & Shirt

We're excited to release the design for the Journey Before Destination bumper sticker, which was one of the stretch goals during the campaign. So here it is!

I have a charcoal t-shirt sample that’s been kicking around the office, and I absolutely love how soft it is, and the gray color is beautiful. So when I designed the bumper sticker, I wanted to come up with something that would look good on that gray t-shirt sample so I could wear it. :) Check it out on the store, in slightly different colors than the bumper sticker. We also have a Life Before Death shirt, so I suspect I’ll be designing a Strength Before Weakness word art to match the others at some point. :)

Other Rewards Updates

I just received word that sticker sheets, art prints, and epic bookmarks have finished printing, so those will be on their way to us soon.

As for the coins, I’ve approved the molds, and the factory is creating samples for us. Those should be coming soon, and I hope to post pictures when they do.

Backer Pin and Chicken Scout Merit Patch

And this week we received the backer pins! These things are substantial, let me tell you. I think you’ll be impressed when you’re able to hold one in your hands. We’re very pleased with how they turned out!

Knights Radiant Breakdown

Many of you have been curious as to what percentage of backers ordered the different Orders of Knights Radiant, so here are some numbers for you, based on total Order Packs ordered:

• Windrunner 27.8%
• Truthwatcher 14.0%
• Elsecaller 13.7%
• Edgedancer 13.2%
• Lightweaver 7.4%
• Willshaper 6.1%
• Bondsmith 5.9%
• Skybreaker 4.5%
• Stoneward 3.9%
• Dustbringer 3.5%

Rhythm of War Released

Rhythm of War, book 4 of the Stormlight Archive, was released Tuesday. Happy Book Birthday! In conjunction with the release, there are some fun commemorative swag packs for sale on the store, in case you’re interested.

Thank You

We are grateful for all of you, not just this year, but in every year. Your support helps wonderful stories into the world and allows us to present them in beautiful ways. Thank you.

Dawnshard Ebook and Other Updates
over 4 years ago – Thu, Nov 05, 2020 at 11:05:43 PM

Isaac here with one of our regular updates on where we’re at fulfilling the various pieces of The Way of Kings leatherbound Kickstarter campaign.

Posters

First off, all of the Bridge Four posters have been shipped (to those who have finished their BackerKit surveys, anyway. More on that below). This was a huge undertaking, providing hours of entertainment for Dragonsteel workers who meticulously rolled, boxed, and shipped thousands of posters over the course of several weeks. We’ve watched as many of you have posted on social media pictures of you receiving your packages, and we’re thrilled to see so many of you excited by these. Again, special thanks to Zack Stella for his amazing illustration, and also applause all around for the Dragonsteel fulfillment team in getting these out the door.

Leatherbound Books

The first 2020 leatherbound book sets have started trickling in to our fulfillment center, and some of you will start receiving them soon, beginning with those who pledged for the 2020 numbered books. This won’t be a quick process, but it will be consistent as hundreds of books will be shipped out each week as the fulfillment center preps and boxes each shipment. We’re hoping that all of you who pledged for a 2020 book will receive it before the end of the year.

Dawnshard Ebook

The Dawnshard ebook is almost finished and will be going out sometime late today or tomorrow to all of those who have finished their surveys (see the “BackerKit Survey” section below). If you haven’t finished your survey, you will not be able to access the Dawnshard download.

Huge thanks to Peter, Kristy, Ben, and all of the beta readers, all who contributed in some way to put the ebook together. A large portion of the ebook process falls on Peter’s shoulders, but I hope you’ll see when you get the book that he’s one of the best in the business at putting these together. I’ve never seen ebooks that work better than the ones he’s assembled.

Here’s the process for how you will receive the ebook files. When we get the finished files, we upload them to BackerKit, who then sends you an email with a link to your account page featuring the digital downloads from the campaign.

Digital Art Package and Novella Drafts

Please note that the digital package that includes the drafts of the novella won’t be going out yet. We’ve been spending our time getting the Dawnshard ebook finished, the Dawnshard physical book files put together for the printer, and finishing up sending files for the coins and the playing cards to their respective manufacturers. When we finish up these things, we’ll go full speed ahead on the items for the digital art package, which we hope to be able to send you before the end of the year.

Dawnshard and The Way of Kings Prime Physical Books

The Way of Kings Prime is already at the printer where materials have been chosen, and it’s in line to be printed. Dawnshard will be submitted to the printer at the end of next week. With the uncertainty in the world today with COVID and other factors, it’s looking like we won’t receive these books until after the first of the new year.

Goodie Package

We’ve started receiving some of the items from the goodie package, which will all be shipped together. (We have to wait until all of these items are received before we can ship them out.) The Orders of Knights Radiant pins, as you can see in the photo below, turned out fantastically well. Patches should be arriving soon, and I’ve been sent pictures of the sticker sheets from the factory, and the colors turned out quite nice on those. I think you’ll really enjoy them.

Everything else but the playing cards have been submitted to the respective manufacturers and are in various states of being produced. The playing card designs are almost done, and we’ve been in contact with the manufacturer on that. We’re aiming to submit those files very soon, though we’ve been told that we won’t receive the finished packs of cards until after the beginning of the new year.

In short, we won’t be sending out the goodie packs until we’ve received each and every goodie. Expect those early next year.

Customer Service

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, items get damaged or lost, or email links to download digital items such as the Dawnshard ebook might miss inboxes somehow. Here’s how to contact us so we can correct these sorts of things:

BackerKit - Try Here First

• BackerKit's support is really the first place to go for help. Go to https://thewayofkings.backerkit.com/  and follow the links. Please try here before you go anywhere else. There’s a whole team of support people assigned to our project, so this is the quickest way to get an answer.

Store Contact

• If BackerKit support doesn't have the answer, please try contacting us through our store contact page.

Kickstarter Message

• Another way is to try contacting us through the Kickstarter campaign and send us a message. Please be aware that this is probably the slowest way to get an answer.

We appreciate your patience.

BackerKit Surveys

In order for us to fulfill your orders, we need some information from you, including your updated mailing address. The way you submit this is by logging into your account on BackerKit and filling out the backer survey. A link should’ve been already sent to your email. Most of you have already done this, but there’s still a significant number who haven’t, so if you haven’t received your poster yet, for example, the first you should do is to check to see if you’ve filled out this survey and updated your contact information. That’s where you’ll also make sure your email address is up to date so we can send you the Dawnshard download link.

Thank You

We continue to be grateful for your patience and support of this campaign. We’re doing our very best to bring you high-quality goods as quickly as we can. We love Brandon’s stories and everything surrounding them, and you all are the lifeblood that keeps those stories vibrant and alive. Thank you.

Brandon's FInal Update on the Dawnshard Novella
over 4 years ago – Wed, Oct 28, 2020 at 07:34:12 PM

Hello, all! Brandon here. This will probably be the last update I personally write for the Kickstarter, but there will be plenty of other updates from the team as rewards get printed and start getting shipped.

Late on the 27th, I finished my final draft of Dawnshard. Huzzah! I'm very pleased with it, and hope you will enjoy it.

I've done the hand off to my editorial team, and Peter (as editorial director) will take over from here. The book is short, but it will still take a few days to do the copyedit, proofreads, and ebook conversion. Peter says estimates we're going to try to have the book ready to start sending out to you all sometime next week. So please make sure your email address is up to date here on BackerKit.

The goal is to send you a zipped folder with the story in multiple DRM-free formats. (Kindle users, you should be able to email the proper file to your kindle's email address to show up on your device. For those who don't use ereaders, there will be a PDF of the Word document since we're still in the early stages of the layout for print.)

Eventually included with the digital arts package will be all of the earlier drafts of the book, with changes between drafts highlighted using the MS Word Track Changes feature for you writers (or curious souls) who want to pick apart the revisions and see how the sausage is made. Just do my artist's heart a solid and read the polished version first. :)

For those of you interested in the beta reader spreadsheet, that will probably be sent out with the digital art package too since our focus is on getting the ebook and print layout finished so we can get it off to the printer. Once in hand, you'll be able to see how my team and I do beta reads. It is rather complicated, but it's an extremely useful tool. If you look at the 3.0 draft changes, and look through the beta read, you'll see first-hand how I take feedback in tweaking a book to be better.

Print copies are going to get ordered as soon as we have the book proofread and layed out—but fair warning, it's not looking like we'll get them by the holidays. The printers are saying that COVID has caused lots of delays and backups in getting things like paper.

We'll keep you up to date. When the ebook gets sent, we'll put an update here. And when we have the print copies in hand, we'll also do an update and let you know. (Way of Kings Prime has already been sent to the printer, so it should be ready and waiting to be shipped with Dawnshard copies as soon as we have them.)

Thank you all again for your support on this Kickstarter! I hope you all enjoy the novella—along with Rhythm of War when it releases!

Brandon

Dawnshard Update From Brandon
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 15, 2020 at 10:56:55 PM

Brandon here. I just finished the third draft of Dawnshard, and things are moving along mostly to schedule. The 3.0 was the draft where I incorporated comments from beta readers and my writing group, and they had a lot to keep me busy! I did make sure to make some notes explaining what I was changing and why for the writers among you, who are interested in looking through the various drafts and comparing them.

Next step is the line edit, which is happening right now. (Kristy Kugler, who helped with the editing of Rhythm of War, is working on this book as well.) Once she’s done (likely next week) I will immediately jump into the final draft and polish, where I’ll tighten the language up, slim the novella down a little, and make final tweaks.

Right now, the story sits at 57k words—which is almost double what I was planning it to be. I guess that’s what happens when The Lopen gets viewpoints in a book. A regular novella isn’t enough to contain him. As I mentioned on Facebook right after I finished, technically that makes this a novel. (The cut off between novella and novel ranges between 40k words and 50k words, depending on the definition you’re using. For comparison, 57k words is around the length of The Wind in the Willows.)

I’m hoping to get you the novella before the end of the month, and it looks almost certain that will happen at this point. Even with it being a tad longer than expected, we should have no trouble getting it edited, revised, and proofread before November. The print edition is a little more tricky. We’ve been told at this point by our printer that there’s really no chance we could get it back by December. COVID has interrupted printing schedules and paper delivery far too much.

Unfortunately, we’re going to have to plan on sending the print edition out in January. We’ll still send it in to be printed this month to have the chance at getting it back before Christmas. And if that happens, we’ll be ready to immediately send both it and Way of Kings Prime out to those who ordered. However, don’t plan on this.

I’m very pleased with the story, and think you’ll all enjoy it as a kind of appetizer for Rhythm of War. I should do one more update here on Kickstarter once the last draft is done. (Note that won’t be the last Kickstarter update for the entire project—just my final one on Dawnshard.)

Best,

Brandon