I said I’d have all the internationally-bound GameSpite Vol. 1 paperbacks in the mail no later than today, and by golly I meant it. It took five hours of envelope-stuffing, cramped writing on tiny customs forms, three round trips on foot carrying bags of books to the post office half a mile away, and standing in line for much too long, but it is finished. All paperback books are in the mail, including the ones from the remnant batch I put up for grabs recently. I also found a cache of domestic-destination paperbacks that had somehow gotten mixed in with the international books, and those have been mailed as well.
Whew.
I still need to work through a few dozen hardbound copies that must be inscribed before mailing, but the end is in sight. Then I can start thinking about the next book. Actually, I’m already thinking about it. If all goes according to plan, I’ll probably have that together in May or thereabouts; I don’t think it will be precisely what people expect. And as I’ve mentioned, the next volume will go much more smoothly for me and for everyone else, since I’ll have the books disbursed directly from the publisher instead of serving as some sort of overworked idiot middleman. Give it a try now — the new button in the right column will let you buy a paperback edition of Vol. 1. (They’re $23, but that does not include tax and shipping.)
Now to get to work on sketches and inscriptions…just as soon as my hand uncramps from those customs forms.
I’m not gonna get my hopes up until we see how smoothly the release of Volume II goes, but it would be pretty goddamned fantastic if the release of dead-tree volumes of Gamespite material became a kind of yearly tradition. Well, at least until Gamespite itself mutates into something else or Parish moves to Japan or something.
Anyway, I’m glad that your experience with Volume I didn’t spoil you on future volumes, T-Frog. It’s been my experience with self-publishing that things tend to go a hell of a lot smoother after you’ve got your first publication out the door (and you’ve figured out a more stable infrastructure in regards to getting books into peoples’ hands). Cheers, man.
Congratulations on being (just about) done! I’m thoroughly enjoying volume I, and glad that there’s hope for a second volume. My only minor suggestion for the next one (if it hasn’t already been made): make the text justified.
Aibara
No way. I hate justified text. Ragged-right is the way God intended the English language to be viewed.
Also, the prospects of me moving to Japan are pretty slim, what with me slated to marry someone who has little interest in Japan and all!
Well, Vietnam, then. I hear the food is fantastic.
Not so much the videogames, though.
Looking forward to Volume 2? Good, good. Glad to hear this wasn’t such a disaster after all.
One other suggestion: a table of contents. I know it would be hella long considering most articles are 3-4 pages long, but it’d be nice to know what’s all included in the book.
Well, at least that makes it unique among all my books! (Save for a book on medieval peasants that’s a compilation of essays produced on what looks like an old school typewriter.) I suppose that means using the opulent golden canon of page construction is out of the picture too… mmm huge unnecessary margins that unnecessarily drive up cost.
Oh great, I was afraid that the run was incredibly small and lost hope of getting one. Hopefully the softcovers of Vol. 1 will still be there by next payday.
I’m in for one Jeremy!
I just bought a copy off of Blurb. I missed the first window, so I’m really happy I could still get one. I think it’s really funny that “priority” shipping is $6 cheaper than “economy” to Japan. Huh!?
“Hopefully the softcovers of Vol. 1 will still be there by next payday.”
I intend for these to be available indefinitely. This sales method causes them to be printed on-demand, so there’s no inventory to deal with or excessive costs — it’s all handled directly by Blurb.
Hoo-ray for Canadians!
One of the recipients just had a birthday, and I told her that she’d probably be getting her Christmas gift soon. @w@;;