Sullivan's Sluggers' Is back on kickstarter

PeanutButterMustache

It sounds like Mark Smith goofed when he was calculating the shipping cost for sending these monster omnibuses' overseas. His mistake is my gain. I missed the original kickstarter on this project and was super ticked!! Now he just restarted the kickstarter for a limited time to cover those shipping cost, and I got me a book!!!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1940696606/sullivans-sluggers-baseball-horror-graphic-novel-e?ref=category

John_Steed

Awesome turn of events - for folks like me that supported this from the start.....

A couple of weeks ago I got this:



Mark Andrew Smith says:
For International Backers:

I made a huge error in calculating the actual shipping price for international because I used another book that was doing well on Kickstarter at the time as my template and on that books international shipping option it said "International Orders Please Add $10" and as it was doing huge numbers at the time I said to myself "Hmmmm this is how it's done" and followed that.

Which was completely off and shipping is much much more. With sending a book next door to Canada being about $25 a book and that's next door.

WIth the upgrades to the book the shipping costs went up hugely and costs all around. The book packaged is 3.8 lbs, without packaging 3.5 pounds.

What I should have done, was to ship out on a boat 200 or so books from the printer to Europe and then break them up from there. But I was so pleased with myself at the time having wrapped tedious printing to make sure all of the details of the book were perfect that it wasn't on my radar.

THE BIG THREE ARE:

EUROPE
AUSTRALIA
AND CANADA

I've now got to figure out the most cost effective way to ship out for international to make up the difference.

So now I have this huge international beast to wrangle and take down. But I'm exhausted from shipping so many US orders and really punch-drunk to make it to the end of the fight here.

So I'm going to need your help.

1) I'm interested if any of you know of Fulfillment Houses in the Europe or in Australia that I could partner up with to send the books in bulk and then ship them out from there.

What would be the best place to ship out from in Europe or Australia?

2) We might do freight, by boat, or ship larger boxes and then break them up by country with a partner there. Do you know of any good services for this or do any of you work with freight services or have experience with it? The books are in California in the Bay Area.

3) Is/Are there a comic shop(s) in Europe or Australia that would like to team up and we ship more books out for them and get their help. I could also run a Kickstarter campaign for anyone interested in helping as a thank you, for promotion, in exchange for help.

4) Diamond UK might be another solution that I'm looking into and following up with.

5) I could ship for Canada in clusters at a much cheaper price, and then people can travel to nearby centers to pick up their books.

Do people have any suggestions for these points if I do this option?

6) People traveling to countries from the US where we could ship them out books, and then they drop them off in the countries with just a few orders such as Mexico, Brazil, Israel, The Russian Federation, Philippines, Japan, and New Zealand.

If any of you have any good ideas, solutions, or can help please e-mail me Mandrewsmith@gmail.com

Mark

Glad the new Kickstarter thingy might get us the book after all.

PeanutButterMustache

Hopefully it will help. It looks like it's doing pretty well at this point!

Mr_Cosmic

Thanks for the heads up...Just put money down for the book.

Torchsong

You won't be disappointed. I got my copy in the mail a week ago - it's positively beautiful...but fair warning it's HUGE! You'll have to adjust your shelf space to accommodate it. :)

John_Steed

Torchsong said:

You won't be disappointed. I got my copy in the mail a week ago - it's positively beautiful...but fair warning it's HUGE! You'll have to adjust your shelf space to accommodate it. :)

where is the ENVY button?

PeanutButterMustache

Aaaannnddd....... That was short lived. Kickstarter suspended Sullivan's Sluggers. I just got this email below.

Hi there,

This is a message from Kickstarter Support. We're writing to inform you that a project you backed, 'Sullivan's Sluggers', Baseball Horror Graphic Novel Ext. KS, has been suspended by Kickstarter. Your $35.00 pledge has been automatically canceled and you will not be charged. No further action is necessary.

As a policy, Kickstarter does not comment on specific reasons for a project's suspension to the creator or backers, but included below is information from our FAQ regarding suspensions. Project suspensions are not reversible.

Thanks,
Kickstarter

Why would a project be suspended?

A project may be suspended by Kickstarter if it:

Violates or acts inconsistently with the letter or spirit of the Kickstarter Guidelines or Terms of Use
Materially changes the stated use of funds
Makes unverifiable claims
Exhibits actions that are more closely associated with fraudulent or high-risk activity

John_Steed

well - they still got my money and I don't have the book X(

PeanutButterMustache

John_Steed said:

well - they still got my money and I don't have the book
X(

If Mark Smith has overstock and that was his reasoning for relisting his kickstarter why doesn't he just open an online store and sell them for his kickstarter price? That way he could raise the money and get those books for overseas backers shipped out?

LibraryBoy

More on this at The Beat here and here.

Torchsong

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/03/07/james-stokoe-pulls-out-of-sullivans-sluggers/

This is the most likely reason for the suspension of the kickstarter. There's some bad blood brewing between the two creators and there's some doubt Smith will make good on getting the books out now.

John_Steed

Mark Andrew Smith better never shows up at a European comics convention...or anywhere at all X(

Mr_Cosmic

Wow, what a mess. I was really hoping to get a book this time around.

Torchsong

Don't lose hope. The doubt is all being said by the "other side", not by Smith himself. I'd say he's got to do right on this whatever it takes or he can pretty much kiss any future work goodbye.

LibraryBoy

But after all the blow-up over Aqua Leung and now this, you have to wonder how many people will be willing to work with Smith on future projects.

nweathington

Unfortunately, it still seems to hold true that very few comic book creators are also good businessmen. It looks like Smith made some honest mistakes, but then made things worse by ignoring or perhaps just not understanding the terms of his Kickstarter campaign. And now he’s compounding his problem with his statements. Stokoe is handling his end very professionally. I can’t say the same for Smith. I’m sure he’s speaking out of frustration, but as a writer he should know that words have consequences.

Torchsong

It is an unfortunate part of the "creative game" anymore that you must have a least a small head for business if you're going to put your work out there. From understanding tax law to keeping abreast of shipping rates, to getting to know your audience, it's not just sit down and create stuff anymore.

mwhitt80

I have a kickstarter question, did anyone here have a successful "campaign" in 2011/2012? I've always been a little curious if you did, did you get a 1099 from KS at the end of the year?

electric_mayhem

http://markandrewsmith.tumblr.com/post/44784296514/about-james-stokoes-involvement-with-sullivans

Torchsong said:

Don't lose hope. The doubt is all being said by the "other side", not by Smith himself. I'd say he's got to do right on this whatever it takes or he can pretty much kiss any future work goodbye.

the guy has burned bridges in the comic community fandom...

My life fell apart and took all kinds of turns because of Stokoe’s pace with the book. It was fuel for the fire of me getting divorced in Korea because of money and trying to turn comics into a career and having prospects other than being an English teacher forever in South Korea. So I’ve suffered enough.
Stokoe was a grown man, he agreed to do a job for a certain amount like many of you do every day, and took three years to finish that job which was only to deliver art for the book. He was paid for the job in full. I offered to pay more but he declined. I don’t look at him like a brilliant artist but more as someone that built a house for me, finished, and moved on to what’s next. If things went smoother on the book that wouldn’t be the case but they didn’t.
I can understand the sting on his end from the perception that this Kickstarter made a billion dollars and that people think I should write him a check for half of it but this guy ruined my life. No one cares when books don’t make any money which most of mine haven’t for the past ten years under Image.

Huh? nah son.. It don't work that way..

John_Steed

That guy is a huge Schweinehund and slightly zurückgeblieben!!!! >:P

John_Steed

LET'S BRING IT HOME FOR INTERNATIONAL BACKERS.

"PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-get-sullivan-s-sluggers-out-to-international-backers/x/1600208

When I did Sullivan's Sluggers on Kickstarter I used another campaign as my template that said to for international orders to add $10 for their copy, with the size of the project the costs grew and grew, and it would have been and underestimated the costs of international shipping asking backers for just $10 a book.

The book grew in size/uprgrades to an omnibus edition and the costs of shipping (3.5 lbs) jumped up a lot with the extra weight.

International shipping prices from the USPS skyrocketed this year as well.

It being my first time publishing I didn't freight directly from China to the UK, EU, and AU which would have saved a lot of time and money and now I have to freight the books from California to these destinations and it's so much more expensive than shipping out from China.

All of these factors added up to a huge price jump.

I need to raise more funds to get the book to international backers.

That's where you come in.

I need you to spread the word about this Indiegogo campaign to get US backers to pick up the book. It costs $5 to ship a US book and each book sold in the US gets a book out for international backers. If I can move 400 books or US backers the problem is solved.

There are around 600 international books to go out.

Please spread the word about the Indiegogo campaign to get this Kickstarter to the finish line and show your support.

I'm doing this Indiegogo campaign to raise the difference by offering the book to US backers so that I don't have to ask international backers for more and so that I can ship out the books to international backers at the original price of just $10 added for shipping.

Each US order gets the book out to an international backer because the books are printed and there are no extra costs other than shipping and handling in the US.

The plan for international shipping is to ship to Canada direct. To do Australian shipments via M-Bag by location sending in bulk and for the UK and Europe to freight and then tag team over to a distributor there.

My goal is to wrap up the original Kickstarter in the next two months, get this book behind me, and move on to new projects that are better planned knowing what I know now.

I'm offering Sullivan's Sluggers for a month for US BACKERS who missed out the first time for a chance to get their own glorious 200 page Deluxe Omnibus Sized Hardcover (3.5 lbs) with a thick quality slipcase cover, a print in the inside front cover, a baseball card sheet in the inside back cover, dangling bound in ribbon bookmark, and a three page fold out monster gate fold."

Planeis

Im confused by this plan....

PeanutButterMustache

The bottom line is (I fear), that if this new indiegogo campaign doesn't get funded that the international backers from the original kickstarter campaign won't get their book. MAS is asking for a goal of $16,000.00. I agree with john_steed we need to bring this home for the international backers. Regardless of our personal feelings towards the creator we as a community need to come together and get these books out overseas. Once all of us get our books you never again have to look, think or purchase anything MAS is involved in ever again!! I've been conflicted myself lately over backing this project and if it's true that my contribution will get one overseas backer his book then put me down.

John_Steed

:x

Hellsfire

This is weird. I've seen projects not be sent out to people despite being funded, but I've never seen some of their people getting what they funded and the others not.

Personally, I should think he should eat the $16,000 or what he's probably going to do, not give the people their product. Seems wrong to ask people for more money to fund something that's already produced to pay for the international shipping for some of the people that didn't get their product in the first place. I hope that makes sense because doing more crowdsourcing for something that's already created and that people are owed makes as much sense to me.

Planeis

I read it several times. I don't get it. I'm not trying to be negative, it just seems like he's trying to crowdfund shipping. Why doesn't he just do it. I'm not saying he's rich or anything. But $16k is not an insurmountable number.