Unboxing video!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Nov 09, 2021 at 11:10:03 PM

Hi everyone!

Domestic and Canada backers: If you haven't already received notification (or -- better yet -- your actual package in the mail), be on the lookout for an email from Backerkit with your tracking number! You should have also already received a message from Quartermaster with your tracking info, but now that info is also in your Backerkit for reference.

Many of you have already reported getting your stuff -- thank you for sharing your excitement! 😎 We love it when you love it! If anyone is less than satisfied with their package, please send us a message (and if it involves any sort of damages, please be sure to send pix to Quartermaster so we can look into what might have happened, to prevent anything like that in the future...)

International backers: Your items are well on their way to the three respective hubs in the UK, Asia, and Australia, and are still looking good for a December ship date. Once the items arrive at their respective hubs, they'll be able to give us more concrete dates.

And now -- SPOILER ALERT -- we have an unboxing video!

Full disclosure: my wife will usually back our campaigns so that we can experience the process and fulfillment (packing conditions, notifications, delivery times, etc) along with the rest of the backing community, so what we're opening in this video is an actual, typical SMALL WORLD box from Quartermaster. Yours may differ somewhat depending on what you ordered, but this is roughly typical of 80% of the orders from the campaign.

(Note: we specifically deferred our Peach edition cover so that more would be available for the community...)

If you want to stay surprised, DO NOT PRESS PLAY! You have been warned. 😉

Orders going out NEXT WEEK!
over 2 years ago – Sat, Oct 23, 2021 at 12:35:58 AM

Hi everyone!

Just another Friday night here at Neurobellum Inc, almost 8:30 pm and still working, engaging with you, our awesome supporters! It has admittedly been several weeks since our last update, but we've got genuine news:

DOMESTIC ORDERS ARE GOING OUT NEXT WEEK!

After some hiccups and emergencies (that we'll go into below), Quartermaster tells me they should start sending out Domestic and Canada orders next week... as soon as Monday!

That also means that international order inventory will be shipped to their respective hubs next week as well! UK/EU, Australia/NZ, and Asia inventory should reach their respective fulfillment centers by November 8th. Those hubs have all the data formatted and ready to go, so they should be able to turn shipments around in a matter of days of receiving. 

That's the good news. Now for the bad news.

(Sorry, did I mention this was a good news/bad news update...?)

The truckers lost a palette.

That sounds like such an excuse, like the corporate version of "the dog ate my homework." I know.

But believe me, after more than 10 years in publishing this is the first time this has happened to me:

We shipped 3 palettes of SMALL WORLD goods to Quartermaster, but only 2 were delivered.

As soon as that was reported, we immediately set out to locate the missing palette. According to Quartermaster receiving, it accounted for nearly $20k worth of purchased inventory. At the very least, we needed to make an insurance claim! But worse than that was that it contained nearly half of the limited edition Peach Momoko variant print run. And a reprint will take 4+ months.

We raised the roof trying to find this palette somewhere between St Louis, Nashville, Savannah, and Orlando. So far nothing. We immediately shipped what we had left in stock to QML so they could continue processing orders.  But unfortunately, we found ourselves exactly 165 copies short of the Peach Momoko variant cover.

This was our dilemma, the one that has delayed fulfillment by a week.

But we sorted it out... to the best of our ability.

"Wait. What does that mean? That sounds ominous..."

Not entirely, no.  Hopefully not for most of you. Or any of you, if our compensation offer is sufficient. Let me explain...

We found ourselves 5 copies short of the ZAYA SLIPCASE (which was already out of print when we offered them). 

We also found ourselves 165 copies short of the Peach Momoko variant cover of SMALL WORLD. We have sufficient Toru Terada covers, however.

We discussed many approaches to how to choose which orders to fill and which to address, and the consensus was "first come, first served." So the shortage will only affect the last 165 orders that we receiveeived. That's fair, right?

So if you were one of the last 165 backers to order SMALL WORLD, we will be sending you a copy of the retail cover edition by Toru Terada.

And if you were one of the last 5 orders to include a ZAYA slipcase, we will be including a copy of the new Trade Paperback edition, and refunding you the cost difference accordingly.

We understand this may be disappointing news for some of you, and if you are severely affected by this product swap, please message us and we will do what we can to satisfy you. Know that the book contents between editions are exactly the same. And both editions are beautiful. But if you are a collector who specifically bought into the campaign for the Peach Momoko cover, let us know and we'll work something out on top of the swap.

In the meantime, however, the book you get is about to be on its way. 😎

That said, that also means there are no more Peach Momoko variant copies or ZAYA slipcases left, so...

A word about replacements...

We're proud to say that the overwhelming majority (easily 99%) of backers of our last dozen campaigns have been happy and excited by their packages. Recently, Quartermaster Logistics has done an amazing, professional job packing everything (perhaps even over-protecting stuff with excessive bubble wrap and big boxes)... but we prefer that side of "safe". 😊 

QML's customer service is great, too -- if you have any issues with anything they've sent, you can email [email protected] and they will take care of you as best as they can.

That said, while they will take your claim, there are some limits to what they can replace. Not only because some stuff (like limited, free bonus items) might no longer be available, but also due to what we refer to as the "reasonable handling threshold."

We take pride in our product and book designs. And Quartermaster treats things with the utmost respect and care when packing. And while they choose to ship through reputable providers like FedEx, there are always -- ALWAYS -- dozens and dozens and dozens of hands touching your package between QML and your doorstep. And not all of those hards are gentle.

This is why Quartermaster uses so much bubble wrap inside such large boxes.

But dings happen.

And by dings, I mean just that -- a bumped corner or spine. The corner of a print creased.

Sometimes worse.

When it is worse -- torn spines, exposed cover boards, creased or deformed pages, waterstained contents, missing items... what we call "gross damages" -- QML will replace those items (if still available) without a problem.

Replacing mere "dings," however... well, that gets very costly, especially with the escalating rates to ship both replacement items back and forth. The total cost of replacing a single book can negate not only that sale but THREE OTHER SALES (depending on the cost of shipping). That may not sound like much if you're talking to a large publisher, but Magnetic Press is not in that league (yet). We're two folks trying to grow. And that growth can be hampered when asked to replace a perfectly good book because of a mere, hardly-noticeable-to-most blemish that could happen at any point in delivery.

We love books. We love making books that are worth holding and gifting and keeping on a shelf. We understand wanting a book to be presentable.

But "presentable" covers a lot of ground. That saying "don't judge a book by its cover" also applies to books.

The real magic of a Magnetic Press book is the content -- the amazing, unique art and stories we're trying to bring to market. The authors in Magnetic's family are among the most talented creators in the world. And we love spotlighting them with each campaign.

And when we have to replace a book that truly, within all reason, may not really need replacement, it takes a sale (THREE sales, actually) out of those authors' pockets.

These books have traveled literally around the world to meet you. Printed in a factory in China, trucked to Shenzhen, loaded onto a boat that crosses the entire Pacific Ocean to Long Beach, offloaded for inspection, loaded back onto a truck to board a train to Chicago, offloaded onto another truck to St Louis, checked into our warehouse, then re-packed onto another truck to Quartermaster in Florida. Then wrapped and packaged and handed to FedEx who pass it among who knows how many carriers before it finally hits your doorstep. And if you are overseas, you can add a second boat and warehouse cycle to that mix. It is a lot of miles. Can you imagine taking the journey your book has taken? 😁

So if you receive a book with a freckle or nick, please consider the overall condition of your items in light of all of those miles traveled. It is happy to be in your hands. Love it as much as it loves you. 🥰

Some of you might have already read that "reasonable damages" schpiel above from the recent MONOLITH campaign update -- to you, I say "sorry...?" 😊

To the rest of you, I hope that doesn't raise any worry. We really do take pride in the quality with which our last dozen campaigns have been received. Barring the occasional obsessive-compulsive collector. But, hey, we've been accused of OCD ourselves, so it's all relative. 😊

Thanks for your support everyone! This was a long update, but hopefully an exciting one in the end! 

BIG Update! Orders locked, points awarded, digital downloads, original Small World pages for sale, and SMALL WORLD OST news!
over 2 years ago – Sat, Sep 25, 2021 at 04:52:36 AM

Hi everyone!

Whew, when it rains it pours...! It has been a relatively quiet number of weeks for SMALL WORLD (which is fine -- we certainly had plenty of other distractions in the meantime), but we've got a TON of stuff to share in this update!

First, if you haven't already noticed, the Backerkit has been locked and all inventory and order info has been sent to Quartermaster. They hope to have everything assembled so that North American orders can go out very soon. I'm waiting on an actual estimate from Quartermaster now but it should be hot on the heels of MONOLITH, which is going out worldwide next week. In fact, I believe the international orders are going to those hubs in the same container as MONOLITH! Don't quote me on that, but if Quartermaster can confirm, then that means we're really catching up with some of the past shipping delays...!

Second: 

Ambassador Points have been awarded!

In case you missed the mention on the campaign page, everyone who pledged to the campaign will receive a number of Ambassador Points equivalent to their final pledge. What are Ambassador Points?  They're reward points that can be collected and redeemed for discount codes on our webstore, and a great way to further support Magnetic Press (and get some more cool books at a great price!

If you are already a webstore customer and part of the program, just log into your webstore account (which should be the same email address as your Kickstarter/Backerkit account). You should see those new points added to your balance under the heading "SMALL WORLD Kickstarter Reward Points."

If you don't have an account on our webstore, your points have been entered, but you will need to complete registration to use them. 😊

For a walkthrough of how to register, just follow the steps in this update from a previous campaign: 

You can use points for discount codes, gift cards, and pretty soon exclusive collectible items that you can only get using points! It's definitely a fun program that we'll be building on very soon!

If that weren't enough news...

DIGITAL REWARDS HAVE BEEN DISTRIBUTED!

You may have already received an email notification from Backerkit informing you of your Digital Downloads now added to your Pledge Manager Account. If you log into Backerkit, you will find them there -- just click the big blue button in the middle of your account screen that says "Get Your Digital Downloads" and it will take you to a page with your links. The book PDFs are hosted by Gumroad so you will have to use the discount link to grab those for free. (Please note that there are a limited number of downloads using your code, so please do not share it.)

This includes the PDF versions of SMALL WORLD, MEKA, NAJA, and ZAYA, as well as the sketchbook, and two separate .zip files: one containing the many prints and postcards as .jpg files and the other containing the soundtrack.

Speaking of the soundtrack...

The SMALL WORLD OST is on Spotify and Apple Music!

Not only can you find and stream the SMALL WORLD soundtrack EP from the Bandcamp link sent earlier, but now we're on APPLE MUSIC, ITUNES, and SPOTIFY! (Amazon Music and other services coming soon...) The main track was even factored into this week's (admittedly algorithmically generated) New Release playlist for fans of the genre (and keywords). So while you're getting the .zip file of .mp3s as a download, here are a few ways you can stream it on the go... 😎

We also took some pix of the Limited Edition 7" clear vinyl singles before forwarding them to Quartermaster for fulfillment -- they turned out doooooooope...

If you're one of the lucky (or should we say forward-thinking?) backers who scored one, congrats. 😉

If you're still looking for more exclusive and limited SMALL WORLD artifacts here's more news:

TORU will be selling original pages from SMALL WORLD!

Starting this weekend, Toru will add patches of pages and pieces of art from SMALL WORLD to his webshop! These are all traditional media, ink and paint on artboard, and of course they are all ONE OF A KIND. 

You can find out more information here, but according to Toru:

"The contents are

(1)Illustrations for the cover(front and back, A3-B4) of the Petit Monde BD: ¥66,000

(2)BD(comic) pages (without speech balloons and dialogue,A3-B4): ¥44,000-66,000 (single page) / ¥79,200-89,100 (double-page spread)

(3)Illustrations for the inside cover of the Japanese edition(B4): ¥55,000"

Check out his webstore for even more amazing stuff!

NOTE: These are all being sold by Toru directly, from Japan, so we aren't able to bundle any purchases with any pledge shipments...

That's it for now (as if that weren't plenty for one update), but we'll post with shipping news once we have more details from Quartermaster. In the meantime, if we haven't said it lately...

Thank you!!!

Locking Addresses! Bonus Bundle Pix! Shipping targets! And your next favorite book is now LIVE!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Sep 09, 2021 at 06:39:41 PM

Hey everyone!

Busy week here as we get the final arrangements in place with Quartermaster to start shipping packages in the next few weeks! We have locked orders on Backerkit, so if you have not completed your survey (I'm looking at 28 of you in particular), please do so in the next 48 hours! If your package cannot be included with this initial shipping effort, you may be asked to pay additional shipping fees to cover any special one-off postage rates! (This is especially true and costly if you are an international backer...)

If you are not sure if you finished your survey, you can either message us or log into https://smallworld.backerkit.com/

Quartermaster has received most* of the books and bonus items and have started assembling the "Stretch Goal Bundles" collecting all of the unlocked goodies into a single packet. Here's a few pix --

* The only remaining bonus item that Quartermaster is waiting for are the original sketches (which I have right here, and the 7" vinyl singles, which are also here in our office, but as separate vinyl, jackets, posters, and sleeves, which we will be assembling today (pix in the next update!). 

Everything will be in Quartermaster's hands next week, and domestic shipping could be ready to start the week of Sept 20th. Bulk shipments to the 3 international hubs should also go out that week, hopefully, to arrive at their destinations securely within 10-14 days. Given another week or so for those facilities to packing those orders, they should hopefully start going out locally by mid-October. We will, of course, keep everyone updated as each step is met.

In the meantime, you may or may not have seen mention of this latest development:

We just launched an abbreviated, 10-day-only Kickstarter campaign for FALSE GUARD by the author of the award-winning ASTER OF PAN, Merwan! And if you are a backer of either the CARBON & SILICON/SHANGRI-LA or CARBON GREY RPG campaigns, you can get FREE SHIPPING!

Described as "THE KARATE KID set in a FINAL FANTASY universe!", it is 216 pages of amazingly choreographed action and drama by the author of the award-winning ASTER OF PAN, Merwan!

We're also offering some recent and upcoming releases as Add-ons, each with their own CAMPAIGN EXCLUSIVE LINEN PRINT!

You can learn more about each of those bonus titles at www.magnetic-press.com.

Thanks! We hope you'll join us for the (short but exciting) ride!

SMALL WORLD OST by Neurobellum is live!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Aug 23, 2021 at 02:22:50 PM

Hey Everyone!

Hope you're having a good weekend -- we finally got some free mindshare to put the finishing touches on the original 5-track OST EP inspired by SMALL WORLD (which was unlocked as the Bonus reward for hitting 500 backers)! It's currently available to listen to (for free) on our Bandcamp page: 

We will provide a .zip file of high def .wav files along with the rest of the digital rewards, but that won't be for a couple more weeks as we lock down final order confirmation for final fulfillment.

This kind of global underground beat-heavy soundtrack may not be everyone's flavor, but we had a ton of fun making it (after having such a blast reading it for the first time...). 

Hope you dig it! 😁