December Update
over 5 years ago
– Tue, Dec 04, 2018 at 01:20:34 AM
Greetings backers!
I just wanted to post a brief update on the status of the shipments.
Fortunately the printers have agreed to replace the damaged books at no cost. So right now a new shipment is headed here. This is a huge relief for me, as you can imagine. It's been a pretty stressful couple of weeks.
I am making arrangements with the freight company and fulfillment center to get things moving as quickly as possible once I have all of the new books ready to go.
Thank you everyone for your understanding through this small ordeal. It's too bad that it resulted in a delay and that you'll all be getting your rewards a little later than I had hoped, but I am glad that it appears to be resolved now. I'll post another update when I have more news.
- Matt
November Update 3
over 5 years ago
– Wed, Nov 21, 2018 at 01:22:42 AM
Greetings backers!
I hate to deliver bad news right before the Thanksgiving holiday. While I was hopeful in the previous update that you would get your books before Christmas, I realize now that will almost certainly not happen.
It took a week to sort through the massive stack of boxes you saw in the photos. Unfortunately, a very large number of the books were defective. So many in fact that I need to get them replaced.
A few print errors are to be expected in large orders like this. I padded the order order numbers based on my experience from my previous Kickstarters. In addition, printers make overruns, so the final tally of books is higher than the number ordered. Still, even with the padded numbers and overruns, the number of misprinted and damaged books is severe.
After thorough inspection, it's clear that the damage took place at the factory, rather than in shipping. I'm not sure why or how they got by quality assurance, but I am in contact with the print company now trying to make sure that everything gets made right and that the books are replaced. Unfortunately, being Thanksgiving week, everything moves a little more slowly right now.
I'm sure you can guess that I am pretty upset about this. I'm very sorry to everyone who was hoping for a Christmas delivery. I want to assure everyone that you will get your books. It will just take a little bit longer that I hoped it would.
I will begin fulfillment of some of the orders very soon. I'm limited to the number of undamaged books that I have, so I will pack and ship orders until I run out of books. Hopefully by then I'll have a new shipment on the way, but at this stage I don't want to give a date only to have to revise it again later.
Thank you to everyone who commented on the last update about how excited you are to get them. They're coming, just a little late! I'll post another update when I have more information.
- Matt
November Update 2
over 5 years ago
– Fri, Nov 16, 2018 at 07:34:44 PM
Greetings yokai lovers!
I promised pictures and today I am delivering some pictures!
It took some time for the books to clear customs and make their way from the port of Nagoya to my home. Earlier this week a truck came with 1.5 tons of boxed books. Fortunately it wasn't as big an issue to unload them here as it was in the US during the last Kickstarter, as I didn't need a loading dock (Japan seems to be more used to smaller scale truck deliveries than the US was).
Anyway, I hired a few movers to get everything off the truck and into my storage area. Here you can see the massive stacks of boxes:
As you can see they're even spilling out into my front hall way! The rest of my house is full of other boxes, including bubble wrap and packing materials.
This week has been pretty busy, working all day morning-to-night signing books. My hand hasn't cramped yet, fortunately, but my back is getting sore! But it's fun. And going through each stack country by country is so interesting, because there are yokai fans literally all over the globe! It's incredible to see how wide spread all over this planet you guys are!
These stacks show about 1/5 of the signed books, sorted by country. The rest will be signed this weekend, packed next week, and shipped off to the distribution center following that!
Not pictured are the other rewards, including prints, shirts, bookmarks, and so on. Those are still in boxes waiting to be sorted into your packages. I'm lucky to have some family members willing to help with book inspection and reward sorting!
I'll have another update soon, with a few more photos and an update on shipping.
Matt
November Update
over 5 years ago
– Thu, Nov 01, 2018 at 02:22:01 AM
Greetings everyone!
Today marks exactly one year since The Book of the Hakutaku was funded! I'm happy to report that your books will be delivered before too much longer!
Currently the books are split into two chunks: the ones that are going straight to backers, and the ones that have to be signed by me before shipping out (that's why the signed books were more expensive than the unsigned ones).
Right now two palettes of books are in the port of Nagoya waiting to clear customs before they can be delivered to my house. I am expecting them any day now, I just have to wait to hear from the freight forwarders. This part is the reason there was a delay last month; Japanese import laws are much more strict than American ones are, and this time around since I am in Japan I faced a few additional hurdles. However, those hurdles are cleared now! I'll have some photos of the massive pile of book cartons to share with you when they finally arrive!
After they arrive, it's just a matter of signing the books, sorting all of the rewards and add-ons (clothes, bookmarks, postcards, prints, etc.), packing them up, labeling the boxes, and then forwarding them on to the fulfillment center. That sounds a lot easier than it is, but I will be enlisting family to help me with the sorting to make it a bit more manageable.
I'm using a fulfillment center for the first time this year. In past Kickstarters, I did all the mailing myself, and it was extremely difficult and hard work. In addition to the monumental task of loading and unloading over a thousand packages to the post office, there's the problem of writing all of the customs labels. That was by far the most difficult and taxing (mentally and physically) part of the previous Kickstarter, so I am very glad to use a fulfillment center this time around. They are currently expecting to mail your packages in the last week of November/first week of December, which means (fingers crossed) you should all have your books and rewards before Christmas!
Thank you all for the comments and the understanding during the delay we had in early October due to the Japanese import regulations. I appreciate how positive and supportive you have all been.
I'll post another update soon when I have the books to show you. Thanks for backing my project and making this one year journey with me!
- Matt
October Update
over 5 years ago
– Wed, Oct 03, 2018 at 02:20:02 AM
Greetings yokai fans!
It's been a while since the last update, and I hate to leave you guys hanging. Here's a quick update on what's been happening.
I have received the advance copies of the book, both hardcover and paperback. They look awesome! Take a look:
The Night Parade and Evil Spirits advance copies also arrived and look similarly amazing. The gold foil on the slipcases is especially nice!
I know the burning question on everyone's minds is WHEN WILL I GET MY BOOKS! I understand and I want to get them to you as fast as possible. Unfortunately there was a snag last month that has caused a bit of a delay.
What I have learned is that Japan has some of the strictest import laws in the entire world. I have been having trouble legally importing the books because I am a sole proprietor rather than an incorporated business. It's been a huge hassle hunting for a freight broker who can accept the books at customs and take them to me, and that has caused a bit of a slow down in the anticipated timeline. It will be resolved soon, but I just wanted to let everyone know what the delay was!
In the meantime, I have been busy with the remaining rewards. All of the yokai apparel is here and looks fantastic. The happi coats are very festive, and the t-shirts and hoodies are bold and beautiful! (Apologies for the lack of a professional model/studio...)
Other than the delay getting the books out of the plant and into customs, everything is moving along smoothly.
I will send out links soon for another update to the ebook with a few more names that got accidentally cut off. And I'll keep you guys posted on the status of the books as they move closer and closer to you!
- Matt
