Shipping Update #1
almost 2 years ago
– Fri, Jun 17, 2022 at 09:09:01 PM
Greetings Backers!
We have now entered shipping season, which is when I put orders into boxes and send them out to you. For shipping updates I give a TL;DR numbers only version which can let you check the progress on shipping your particular pledge level. After that I give a more detailed update on the progress of shipping, sometimes with pictures.
TL;DR Shipping progress statistics
Level 1 XDM gets a PDF: 475/505 shipped (11 unanswered surveys, 19 with audiobooks)
We're getting bookplates signed this week. We focused on single book orders first. Friday we'll start sending out orders with add-ons but which don't have bookplates or sketches.
Details
Shipping season is a familiar experience for all of us here at Chez Tayler. When the kids were little the experienced it as an influx of chicken nuggets and fast food. Now they're my work crew so they experience it as work days ...after which I buy them fast food. I don't know how much longer I'll have only my adult children on the payroll. A few of them are poised to launch into college classes and other jobs in ways that will make them unavailable to me. But for this time, it is only Taylers at the warehouse.
Having a crew that is familiar with the work really helps us be efficient. (There is no such thing as unskilled labor! I become very aware of this any time I watch someone new to my shipping crew struggling with a strapping tape dispenser.)
Before I can even schedule a work day, I print postage. Perhaps I'll write up the process for that in a different shipping update. Here was our stack of 580 labels + packing lists.
A stack of mailing labels and packing lists
Once we get to the warehouse space we set up a line. The goal is for the work to all flow in a single direction to prevent people from having to cross each other's paths. One of the challenges we had was that the pallets of books were dropped into the middle of the workspace. We solved it by treating the pallets of books like they are tables and setting up work stations on top of them. This will create new challenges later as we deplete pallets of books, but it lets us get started. Here is a top view of our line.
A top view of a warehouse space with stacks of boxes on either side and work stations down the middle.
The stations are set up to flow from the bottom of the picture to the top. We have a walkway all around the pallets of XDM2e books in the middle. The first station is box building and foam ripping.
The back of a person sitting at a table and taping the bottoms of boxes. Stacks of foam are also visible
The foam sheets are perforated and custom cut in a way that fits neatly into the boxes to cushion the books. We had this foam custom cut for Planet Mercenary. We're going to run out of it before we're done shipping XDM2e so I'll have to come up with an alternate cushioning method which doesn't involve paying for and waiting for a giant shipment of custom cut foam.
Next is the filling station.
Stacks of XDM2e books being placed into boxes.
The packing sheet and label for each box are placed inside with the book and re-stacked to be ready for the final stuffing and taping.
A closed shipping boxe with a tape dispenser on top of it.
This station is where we pull out the mailing label, shove some shipping paper on top of the book, tape the box closed, and then apply the shipping label. Boxes are then stacked to await a trip to the post office. We've taken 5 carloads to the post office so far and filled about 15 of these orange mailing bins.
Large orange bin on wheels that is full of packages.
One of the things I planned early on was a location for where to toss empty boxes because taking time to collapse boxes as we go slows down the process of getting packages out the door.
An aisle way between pallets of books that has a few empty boxes in it.
We're getting to the point where we need to make time to clear up the empty box mess.
The aisleway is completely buried in empty boxes.
One of my jobs at the end of a shipping day is to review the stocks of supplies and make sure we have enough on hand for the next shipping day. If we don't I re-order.
A tape dispenser next to several full rolls of tape and half a dozen empty rolls.
Thus far all of the orders we've packed have been simple, just a single book. On Friday we'll start working with more complex orders. We'll have to change up the work stations to adapt for it, but we know how to do that.
It has been a solid start to shipping. By next week I hope to have the signed book plates ready to go. They're in Curtis' hands at the moment, then he'll pass them to Tracy who will pass them back to us. After that Howard and I need to set up for sketching books.
It is good progress.
I'll have another shipping update for you next week. Thanks for backing our project!
Sandra Tayler and the XDM2e team
Books Have Arrived!
almost 2 years ago
– Tue, Jun 07, 2022 at 11:37:49 PM
Greetings Backers!
This morning our warehouse looked like this:
Warehouse with boxes of books stacked to the sides, an empty space in the middle.
And now it looks like this:
Same warehouse space as before, but this time there are four pallets of books stacked in the middle.
We have our bulk book shipment, and that means I can start sending out packages to all of you!
TL;DR: Shipping happens in stages according to package contents. Packages with signed book plates or with sketches will go out as we get the book plates signed and the sketches done. There will be a full status update on shipping progress sometime next week (June 13-17).
What comes next
Shipping will happen in stages according to package contents. I've ordered boxes and am in the process of lining up my shipping assistants to make Friday June 10 be our first shipping day. We have 850 packages to send out that only contain the XDM2e hardback book. We'll probably get half of them done on Friday and the other half next Monday. After that I'll start sending out more complicated packages.
We'll be dropping off the book plate file at the printer tomorrow morning. Once I have those in hand, I'll need to chase down Tracy, Curtis, and Howard to get all of them to sign each book plate sticker. We might be able to schedule one signing event with all of them, but it might also be three different signings with me couriering between. Figuring out scheduling for this is on my list.
Also on my list is logistical planning for the book sketching. Howard has 325 sketches to do and we want to allow some customization for the sketches. We're currently formulating a plan for how to make that happen.
I'll post a full status update on shipping and deliverables sometime during the week of June 13-17.
Thanks for backing our project!
Sandra Tayler and the XDM2e team
Our Advance Copy Arrived!
almost 2 years ago
– Mon, May 30, 2022 at 11:58:15 PM
And it is beautiful!
A copu of Tracy and Curtis Hickman's XDM X-treme Dungeon Mastery the X-ceedingly X-treme Second Edition Illustrated by Howard Tayler, Edited by Sandra Tayler with an Introduction by Jim Zub
We love the soft touch cover and the way everything turned out. It was really nice to put the first edition and second edition side by side.
First and second editions of XDM X-treme Dungeon Mastery placed side by side.
One thing that is very interesting is that the new edition is slimmer than the prior edition even though it has 32 more pages and almost twice as many words.
Two books next to each other showing the relative thickness of both books.
This is purely a difference in paper choice. The paper in the first edition is "toothier" which means each page takes up more space. With current paper supply issues it was not possible to match that paper and the result is a slimmer book that has smoother paper, but the book has WAY more useful information inside it.
We're really excited to get this book into your hands. I haven't gotten an estimated delivery date for the bulk shipment, but as soon as it lands we'll post again and we'll shift over into sketching and shipping mode.
Thanks for backing our project!
The XDM2e Team
Status Report #22
almost 2 years ago
– Sun, May 22, 2022 at 12:16:06 AM
Greetings Backers,
Welcome to your regular status report.
TL;DR: Bindery says they'll be done with the books by May 25. This puts the onset of shipping in the first half of June. Accessible PDF, ePub, and mobi files will be done at the end of June. Tracy is squeezing audiobook recording in around his other responsibilities. Howard has started work on his next project. Your next update will happen when books arrive and we launch into shipping/sketching. Now is a good time to update your mailing address: https://xdm-x-treme-dungeon-mastery-2nd-edition.backerkit.com/ Details below.
Thank you to everyone who updated their surveys! Surveys are now locked. If you need to make corrections to your order, email [email protected] and I'll fix it for you. You can update your mailing address any time between now and when we start shipping simply by logging in to your survey.
Most of you have filled out your surveys. Thank you! If you're one of the 37 people who haven't, specific step-by-step instructions for the survey can be found here. If you didn't get your survey email, or have lost it, you can go to this link to get access to your survey: https://xdm-x-treme-dungeon-mastery-2nd-edition.backerkit.com/
Deliverables List
This is the comprehensive list of things we owe to you as part of this project.
XDM2e Hardback book: At the printer now!
XDM2e PDF: Preliminary version available now. Finalized versions including the accessible PDF, and hopefully ePub and Mobi formats will be finished at the end of June.
XDM2e audiobook: In process. Tracy is squeezing recording sessions in around planning for Gen Con (including a Killer Breakfast event and a Dragonlance unboxing) and for the release of the new Dragonlance novels while also holding down a job writing adventures for The VOID.
Signed Bookplates: We have a preliminary design, but we need to have a copy of the book in hand so that we can finalize the sizing of the bookplate against the exact size of the spot in the printed book.
Desktop Backgrounds: Some are available now. We'll aim Howard at doing more of these in the coming weeks.
Sketches in books (or on separate papers): These will be hand drawn by Howard Tayler. We can't get started on these until after the printed books arrive in our hands. We'll collect information on customizing sketches as we get closer to being ready to sketch.
PDF of printable character stand ups: Complete! You can download this from Backerkit.
Quest for the Tavern PDF: Complete! You can download this from Backerkit.
Attack on Santa's Workshop PDF: Complete! Available to you as soon as you fill out your survey.
Game with Tracy for the 6 backers who picked that level: Complete!
Streamed book Illustrations: as complete as it is going to get. Sorry we didn't deliver more of these. Howard's Twitch has recordings of past streams. We've prioritized getting illustrations done over streaming the creation of illustrations.
How the past weeks went
Lots to report in the past month even though we've been quiet with updates.
Sandra did enough learning about adding Alt Text and making PDFs accessible to realize that while she could do a bodged together job, everyone would be better served if she hired an expert instead. So we engaged our accessibility consultant Yubi Coates to create accessible digital versions of this book. The PDF versions will be beautiful and we're hopeful that, once all the invisible structure work is done so that screen readers can read the text, images, and footnotes in the proper order, that this same structure can be ported into ePub and mobi formats. Neither ePub nor mobi is good at handling illustrations. No matter what we do there will be some wonkiness in the result. If this porting doesn't work as we hope, I have another possibility for creating ePub and mobi as well. Our expert will complete their work near the end of June.
Once she handed off the PDF, Sandra had time to focus on the updated version of Quest for the Tavern and the character stand up PDF. Both of those are complete and now available for you to download via Backerkit. https://xdm-x-treme-dungeon-mastery-2nd-edition.backerkit.com/
Tracy continues to squeeze in audiobook recording around his other responsibilities. He'd set aside time for the recording specifically in February, but then he got sick in a way that made his voice hoarse and had him coughing a lot. The cough and hoarseness lingered for nearly two months. So now audiobook recording is overlapping Dragonlance promotional work and Gen Con preparations instead of being nicely compartmentalized. One way or another Tracy will get the recording done. Delivering on promises is hugely important to all of us at team XDM2e, so we'll keep working on it and keep giving you status reports until the work is done.
Howard's work on XDM2e has been in a lull these past six weeks. He has used that time to write a novella in the Schlock Mercenary universe titled Shafter's Shifters: Chassis of Chance. We've been posting this for Patrons at the $5 tier during the month of May. The final chapter will post on Monday, so now is a great time to subscribe to our Patreon and read the whole thing. Howard is hard at work on the second novella of an expected three. When all three are complete we'll see about crowdfunding print versions.
Work on these novellas will be put on hold as soon as XDM2e books arrive. The vast majority of Howard's energy will go into sketching books for several weeks. We're considering options for how to offer some personalization for the people who are getting sketches. We're also considering streaming Howard doing the sketches. We'll post a separate update about the sketching when we've made decisions.
Sandra has been in touch with the printer and the latest news is that the bindery will be done with the books before May 25. I'm hoping that I can coax them into grabbing a copy off the stack and mailing it to me sooner than that. I'm always nervous about the resulting product until I can hold it in my hand. I need to look at an advance copy and decide that I am happy with it. Then I need to pay the final amount. Then they will ship the bulk of the books to me. I'm not certain how long it will take to have the books transported from Indiana to Utah. Theoretically it should be less than a week, but trucking companies are struggling with staffing issues so it might be longer.
You can expect the following updates in the next four weeks:
Excited post when we finally get to hold a finished book and take pictures for you.
Post with pictures when the shipment of books arrives.
Post describing how sketching is going to run and giving info for the streaming of sketching.
Shipping updates weekly once we start shipping out books.
Thank you so much for backing our project!
Sandra Tayler and the XDM2e Team
XDM2e Preliminary PDF Ready for Download
almost 2 years ago
– Wed, Apr 27, 2022 at 06:07:05 AM
TL;DR If you have a PDF version of this book as part of your pledge, you can download it now by logging in to Backerkit using your survey link. Additional versions of the PDF and eBook will be available to you later. Next full status report is May 20.
Greetings Backers!
You can now download a PDF of the book's interior pages if you have a book PDF as part of your pledge level. You can finally read the entire book!
I've pushed a button in Backerkit which should send you an email with a download link sometime in the next 24 hours. If you don't get that email, or don't want to wait for it, you can use your survey link to login and download the book now. If you've lost your survey link, you can click this link: : https://xdm-x-treme-dungeon-mastery-2nd-edition.backerkit.com/ and enter your email address.
Please note that while this PDF is exactly as the interior pages will be printed in the hardback book, It is not the finalized PDF version. I spent much of this week trying to learn how to make the PDF accessible with alt text and other features. What I learned is that I should hire an expert to make sure it is done right instead of bodged together inexpertly. So we're releasing this version now, and we'll give you another version later. We'll also be giving ePub and Mobi versions to everyone who has an XDM2e PDF in their order.
While my hired expert is working on the accessible PDF and a different expert is helping with the ePub and Mobi versions, I'll be turning my attention to updating Quest for the Tavern and creating the PDF of character stand up art.
Thank you all for all of your support. Hope you enjoy reading the book!
