Jamison Stone's Blog, page 20

TLA International Shipping Update and PATREON

First off, International Backers, rest assured, your books are on their way! Due to the increase of book size, and a few other factors, (yay for upgrades!) not just printing, but also shipping is more expensive than we had previously budgeted the Kickstarter for. I tried to negotiate with UPS, USPS, and FedEx about this, but shipping prices are hard to haggle on. Domestic shipping prices did not change much, but for international, it has made a huge difference. On average, about an additional $15, and for those of you who live in Australia/Asia, about $20 extra. Suffice to say, we are losing a lot of money sending you your books. But, we chose to upgrade the books and give you an even better product, not you. That was our choice, and we will not punish you for it!

BUT, if upon reading this, your hearts whispers to you, saying, "Damn, that really sucks for these guys, they have worked so hard on this project and now losing a lot of money because they upgraded our books. We really should do something--even if it's very small, just as a thank you for the upgrade." Then oh boy, do I have the PERFECT option for you! Pledge $1 on our Patreon page!

If each of you international backers gives us a $1 monthly pledge on Patreon, then in 1 year we (almost) will have recouped our losses AND you will be getting SUPER AMAZING exclusive Patreon stuff, too! And if you pledge $5, then we will be able to work full time on art and grow Apotheosis Studios into a much larger team! AND if our domestic backers (nudge, nudge) pitch in, well, the sky is the limit! 

So, all jokes aside, we are losing a lot of money on this, but despite that fact, are sending you an amazing book from our heart to yours. If you then can find it in your heart to help support our work on Patreon, it will mean the world to us. Thank you. You can click HERE to learn more about Patreon, and I have included some awesome samples below of our upcoming graphic novel entitled Shadow of the Moon. For $1 a month, you can enable us to continue working on this, and at $5 a month, you will enable us to work full time and get our next book out to you even sooner! Thank you!

Books Are Shipping!!!

It is finally happening! The Last Amazon books are shipping!

So far, all USA domestic backers (who answered the survey) have had their books shipped! International orders are next, and all should be out by next week! After backers who answered the survey have books shipped to them, I will reach out individually to folks who did not answer the survey (and then I will do website orders.) If you have not yet answered the Kickstarter survey but are reading this, please tell us your address so we can ship you your books asap!

Out of the larger shipping box, the individual books look like this:

And then I sign then, re-pack them, and they look like this below! Yay!

Because David is in France, it's just me unpacking, inserting bookplates (signed by David and me), inscribing each book with backer's names, and then re-packing with thank you letter and shipping labels.

And yes, you heard me right, I am inscribing each and every book for you all. We did not promise to do that during our Kickstarter, but as always, I put myself in your shoes as a Backer (I have been an avid Kickstarter user since 2011 and have backed 49 projects) and I always deeply appreciate it when Creators go the extra miles for their Backers. I have a feeling you all will feel similarly :)

Inscribing is a lot of work, but I truly do enjoy it. Except when Tal Klein is concerned. Tal, if you don't know him, is a good friend of mine, Super Duper Backer of this project, and author of The Punch Escrow (great hard sci-fi book, check it out!) Well, when I signed Tal's book fate decided to step in and this happened:

No joke, when I wrote this dude's THREE LETTER FIRST NAME my Sharpie exploded metallic gold ink all over my hand. The image does NOT do it justice--the stuff was squirting everywhere! When it was all over, I felt like I had just auditioned for Goldfinger 2 and DID NOT get the part...

As you can see below, I was able to finish the inscription for Tal, but I think there are metallic gold flecks floating in my blood stream as I type this. Thanks, Tal...

Well, I've spent many long hours at this workstation signing books for you all and have a fair bit more to go. It's long work, but to be very honest it feels wonderful. Yes, at the end of the day I am utterly exhausted, but it is a truly wonderful feeling. Even when I look down the table at the huge stack left to do, knowing you all will get your books soon gives me that extra push to get more out the door before I have to go home and collapse.

Speaking of collapsing, I'm going to go do that now. (Please excuse any typos in this post I am exhausted.) Regardless, I am so happy you all will be getting your books soon!

Thank you and, most importantly, ENJOY!

Books Have Arrived!

Thrilled to announce that our shipment of The Last Amazon books, posters, and prints have arrived!

Pictured above is our first pallet carefully being lowered by our driver! After delivering our books to a temporary staging space in a friend's garage, our driver asked what was in the boxes. He said he could tell how happy I was to get them which, according to him, is very rare for deliveries of this size.

I opened one of the boxes and showed him a copy of our book. He was blown away by the art! He read the book for a bit and said he was so impressed by The Last Amazon and the story behind how we (creators and backers alike) made it all happen that he got a copy, too! So cool! I was thrilled to sign a copy for him and add him to our story of how The Last Amazon came to be!

After the driver left (thrilled to show his new book to his wife!) I then had to manually transfer each box to its next resting spot for signing and shipping out to you all! Moving each box personally was no small feat, but I have never been so happy moving boxes! Also, whoever invented Hand Trucks deserves a metal! 

Here is the final stack below, all safe and sound! No books were damaged in delivery which was awesome!  Words cannot describe how excited I am for you all to get your copies! 

Now that they are all here, it's time to sign and ship them out to YOU! Seen below is our workspace, currently all clean. But starting tomorrow, I will be signing books and shipping, so there will be books everywhere! I'll take more pictures as I begin signing and shipping! So exciting! 

What an amazing journey this has been--and it's not over yet! Say tuned for more news soon! None of this would have been possible without you all. THANK YOU!

Shipping Dates! Finally!

Happy New Year, everyone! What a great way to usher in 2019 with The Last Amazon's shipping dates!

Below are two dates, but the most important is that we will receive the books here in Colorado on January 30th. From there we will be signing and shipping each and every book out to you all individually which will obviously take some time, too. I am also told that there might be a slight delay at customs, however, I doubt that will be too much of a worry.

SHIPPING INFO:  

Vessel: MOL Brilliance V028E 

ETA Los Angeles port: January 15, 2019 

ETA Colorado - Door: Friday, January 30, 2019

Although I am not sure as to how many books I can personally sign and ship out in a single day, my guess is that it will take me two to three weeks to get all the books out, meaning you should get your books by mid-February or early March. Most importantly, once they arrive here in CO, we will do everything in our power to get them to you all ASAP!

So, cross your fingers for favorable winds and calm seas for the MOL Brilliance (seen above) because The Last Amazon is on its way!

Lastly, I also will be sending out surveys over the next few days, too. So please keep an eye out for that so we know where to ship your books! Thank you again for your support! We are SO EXCITED for you to all get your copies! Yay! 

Shipping Update and Prints

Hello! While I am certain everyone is focused on the upcoming holidays, I wanted to give a QUICK update on shipping timeline and share the remaining 4 prints with you all.

For the past 5ish months, I've been in near constant contact with our overseas printer and I am amazed at how many times they keep pushing back our delivery date. Despite this, the books, posters, and prints are all done and waiting to be shipped--and look amazing. I'm told I should get final overseas shipping info next week. So, that's really good news! 

Once I get the final ship date, I will let you know ASAP and send out backer surveys. Also, if you would like any of these prints, please PM me. It's easy for us to add them to your order, so just let us know! The prints are larger than industry standard at 11" x 17" (inches) and printed with very high-quality paper and ink. They look fantastic!

We'll start individually mailing out books and other rewards to you all once they arrive in our studio space and we finish signing them (don't worry, that will not take long!) The Last Amazon will be in your hands soon! Thank you all again for your support. We have many more awesome projects planned but are super excited for you to enjoy TLA!

 Happy holidays, everyone! We should have another update soon with more info!

Update, Update, Who's Got The Update?

First off, excited to share the four of our prints with you all! We have a total of eight, and if you would like to add them to your order simply PM me! I will be posting them below intermingled with our shipping update text!

OK, timeline update: So, as you know, our printer has suffered several major setbacks and delays, causing the release of The Last Amazon to be pushed back several times now. This is incredibly frustrating for everyone involved, readers and us creators alike!

Luckily, I was just told this week that they are finishing the bindings on our special editions, which was the last step because interiors, bookplates, prints, and posters are all done! Because of this, books should be shipping out to our warehouse by the end of next week. I am still waiting to hear how long it will take for them to arrive (we have two pallets traveling by boat from China) but once they arrive, we will then individually sign and mail out each book to our VERY patient Kickstarter backers! Yes, that's you!

As I'm sure you saw from the Paris trip, the books, however, look fantastic and well worth the wait. Still, we are so very sorry for the delay. For future books, we are exploring other options to avoid these delays again. 

Speaking of future books, while we have been waiting for The Last Amazon to be printed, our team have been hard at work on our next graphic novel called Shadow of the Moon. For more information on that project, please take a look at our brand new Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/ApotheosisStudios We'll have much more info in the coming weeks, but are excited to share what we have been working on over the past few months as we wait for the printer! Again, so sorry for their delays! 

Physical Press Proofs, Paris Comic Con, and Patreon!

Dear persons of great patience, we had a profoundly productive period across the Pacific in Paris where we passionately presented our Press Proofs and Patreon page with pride! 

Wow, that's a lot of "P" words! Well, we've had a very busy month finalizing all details of printing with Mark Vierra. The process of getting press proof copies for Paris Comic Con was strife with setbacks and many issues, sadly. Although I am told this is very common, the print shop had massive delays which we are still trying to sort out. Because of this, we don't have a solid ship date. Luckily, I was told yesterday that the interior pages of the book are all printed and sewn, bookplates will be done tomorrow, and we are now waiting on covers and posters/prints. This is great news and as soon as I get a solid ship date, I will let you all know!

Regardless, and this is the most important, Mark and his team did a WONDERFUL job on the actual books despite their delays, and David and I are thrilled to be able to present them to you! They are, in and of themselves, truly a work of art!

Also, Paris Comic Con was a BLAST! And, yes, I know France is not technically across the Pacific... But that does not start with a P, so, look at some more cool pictures of us presenting The Last Amazon at Paris Comic Con!

As you can see, Paula (David's wife) and I are sporting official The Last Amazon cosplay suits designed by our very own David Granjo and printed and constructed by our good friends at Aesthetic Cosplay. 

The Cosplay suits came out really well and if any of you fellow cosplayers want to snag one, PM me for pricing. They are really epic! We will eventually have 4 color options on our website: green, blue, red, and grey, each with a different pattern and damage design so you can show off your inner Amazon! So cool!

It was a long trip (and I caught a cold!) but we had a truly wonderful time promoting Last Amazon in Paris. People really enjoyed the book and I know you all will feel the same. We have put so much heart and love into this epic graphic novel, and when you hold it in your hands, I know you will feel how passionate we are about this project and our growing studio!

With our creative work on The Last Amazon completed, we are now in the same boat as all of you and must patiently wait for the printer to finish production. In the meantime, however, David, Carlos, and I have been hard at work on our next epic graphic novel entitled Shadow of the Moon. To learn more about that awesome book and our growing studio, please visit our Patreon page by clicking here. While you are there hit us up with a "follow" or even better yet, become our patron!

Again to all supporters of The Last Amazon, whether you were first, last, or anywhere in between, you wonderful Amazons allowed this all to happen and for that, we are eternally grateful! Thank you!

TLA's First Review and Interview!

Super excited to say that The Last Amazon has received its first review and interview! 

Lori of Lori's Book Loft gave us an official review of "Spectacular" and continued, saying, "I love the introduction into this photo-realistic novel and felt the pace flowed very well. It grabbed me at “1 Warning found’ and held me with patterns of data, and many outstanding illustrations." -- Lori's Book Loft 

So proud of our first review! Lori then asked us for a full interview which you can read here: http://lorisbookloft.blogspot.com/2018/10/author-spotlight-on-jamison-stone-who.html

She asked some awesome questions and David and I had a blast answering them. We go into details about our "metamodern" philosophy, how we created TLA, and future projects, as well. 

Click HERE to read the full interview. Enjoy!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! - TLA Press Release!

So excited to announce The Last Amazon Official Press Release is now live! 

If any of you awesome community members have any press connections or media outlets, please send them our press release to help spread the word! We also have many additional promotional media images available which I am happy to send via email (my email is on the press release, just have them drop me a line!) Additionally, please let your connections know The Last Amazon Team and I are available for interviews, as well. How exciting!

You can download the press release as a jpeg above, or click this link for a high-resolution pdf: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xEf3tnBM2VwOn2G9kukKRWthXLc1_kQZ

We are so thrilled to release our book on November 1st--not only to you, our wonderful community, but the rest of the world, too! With your help, we hope to spread the word (about the end of the world) far and wide! Thank you for your support!

Colorado Springs ComicCon

Just got back from Colorado Springs Comic Con. I had an absolutely amazing time meeting so many fellow fantasy/sci-fi fans and fellow readers and cosplayers! This was my first time at CSCC and it was so wonderful bringing Rune of the Apprentice, The Last Amazon, and Shadow of the Moon to so many new friends and fellow fans!

The cosplay at CSCC was really great, and is a constant reminder of how fandom can bring people together no matter their background, creed, or color! The ability to share one's passion and love for awesome storytelling and artistic craftsmanship always fills me with such joy! 

In the next few months, we will be launching The Last Amazon in a VERY special convention. David and I are so very excited for the big unveil, so stay tuned for more info soon! So freaking exciting!

In the meantime, enjoy these CSCC pics! It was great meeting everyone in Colorado Springs and I'm super stoked for next year!  (Especially because we will then have our physical copies of The Last Amazon! Yay!)