Fulfillment Update - More Bad News
about 4 years ago
– Fri, Mar 04, 2022 at 07:09:09 PM
Hey Everyone,
Some more bad news today.
Missing Books
We have around 550 copies of Skies of Fire #8 that have gone missing somewhere in transit between the UK and the USA. How we got to this situation is a bit of a story...
First of all, we've already reordered the books from a USA based printer. They will be printed and hopefully delivered to Quartermaster Logistics next week.
We printed in the United Kingdom for the majority of the orders because of the paper supply shortage plaguing the printing industry in the USA. Our printer, Mixam, is based in both the USA and UK and advised us to print in the UK to save on costs. We went this route, but somewhere in transit with DHL we lost over half the order (all of the Skies of Fire #8 issues) and had significant damages for the books that we did receive (the Skies of Fire #8 variants).
We've been working behind the scenes to resolve the issue - documenting the damage and getting to the bottom of where the books have gone. In the meantime, we tried reordering the missing books from Mixam USA to cut down on turnaround time, only for them to inform us that we wouldn't be able to print offset because of a lack of paper (!)
I just got off the phone with Mixam USA and the solution was to switch to printing on demand digitally, at an extra cost of about $1,100. In the meantime, we're going to continue talking to Mixam UK about the missing books, hoping to get a refund on the order.
All told, this probably adds another two weeks of turnaround time to fulfillment. We're now scheduled to fullfill in the beginning of April 2022. Just another episode in the heck of a year(s) we've all been collectively going through.
Silver lining; our next project, CBR + PNK: Augmentedwas approved to launch!
CBR+PNK is a tabletop RPG boxed set that comes with 5 pamphlets that contain everything you need to play. Based on the Forged in the Dark engine, CBR+PNK is designed for one-shots in an action-packed, dystopian future.
Here's a preview of the campaign page.
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Behind the scenes, we petitioned Kickstarter to allow us to launch with the following letter:
Your support and words of encouragement over the last few weeks has been immense - not just in helping us get approval for the project, but for our own mental well-being. It's been tough, but we're hanging in there and doing everything we can to continue making awesome stuff.
We're also planning the Skies of Fire: Book II campaign, which hopefully will launch right after CBR+PNK: Augmented concludes.
Thank you all for the love and support. Hope you can help us launch CBR+PNK: Augmented to its fullest potential. Universe knows we need some W's after the recent L's we've had :D
Talk soon,
Ray and Vince
Fulfillment Update...
about 4 years ago
– Thu, Feb 17, 2022 at 03:14:33 AM
Hey Everyone,
Some not-ideal news today. I got off a call with Quartermaster Logistics today and while they confirmed that everything has arrived at their warehouses, they have us on the docket for a late March fulfillment date. So officially we are delayed a few more weeks.
I've asked that they do everything in their power to expedite that date, going into some of the financial details of Mythopoeia at large. Basically, this is a very challenging time for our fledgling company. We have three outstanding projects nearing fulfillment, but are bottlenecked because of general supply chain issues that have pushed everyone and everything's timetable far back, including with Third Party Logistics. We can't launch anymore new projects until we fulfill our existing ones, so we're also largely at a standstill when it comes to cashflow.
Quartermaster told me that typically February is a slow month, but with everything that's happened they're busier than ever with delayed projects rushing into their warehouses, including ours. I relayed the above to them, and they said they would do everything they can to try and push so we can get going.
We're doing everything we can to push on this. It's been an incredibly stressful few months but it's the reality of the world right now. Thank you for your continued patience and support. Never fun writing updates like this but let me know if you have questions, comments, or suggestions below.
Otherwise, keeping the eye on the road one day at a time...
- Ray and Vince
Fulfillment Update
about 4 years ago
– Thu, Feb 10, 2022 at 04:33:34 PM
Hey Everyone,
First of all apologies for a lack of updates in the last month. It's been a busy few couple of weeks with us gathering all of the internal documents, merchandise, and manufacturing needed to fulfill not just this campaign, but our previous one for Glow: Book 1.
That said, we very nearly almost have everything in place at our fulfillment partner warehouses to begin shipping. The only thing missing at this point is some postcard sets which I'll send over their way this week.
Once that's in place, we're hoping to get shipping underway and completed in the next few weeks. Thank you for your patience as we work through this. Third Party Logistics is something we're working with for the first time, and the learning curve has been steep.
That said, I think we're nearly there and once everything in place hopefully it's go-go-go.
We're doing everything we can to ensure that we still fulfill this month. Thanks again for your patience and we'll update soon when shipping is underway.
- Ray and Vince
Fulfillment Update: Survey Locked, Book Printing, Digital Downloads
about 4 years ago
– Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 03:09:48 AM
Hey Everyone,
Hope you had a wonderful holiday season. Here at Mythopoeia we're back in the swing of things, working on fulfilling three projects simultaneously. It's going to be a hectic few weeks, but we're ready to get down and dirty to kick off 2022 right!
Survey Locks, Book Printing
You may have noticed over the past few days that your orders have locked in BackerKit. That is because we are getting ready to print books and begin fulfillment! We are currently finalizing our order with Mixam, the printer for our single issue comics. An interesting tidbit about supply chain issues: because of paper shortages, it's actually cheaper for us to print all of the comics in the UK and have the majority shipped to the USA this time around. Go figure.
We're going to lock in our print order this week, and hopefully have the books at our fulfillment centers in two weeks time. From there, we're hoping for a smooth fulfillment process with our logistic partners, Quartermaster Logistics and Bezos.AI.
Fingers crossed.
Digital Downloads
Digital downloads are going out via BackerKit as we speak. You should receive an automated message containing your download instructions.
Before chomping down on issue #8, Vince and I recommend going back through the first seven issues so you can enjoy the whole story. Of course, this isn't a requirement, but a special request from the creators who have spent the last couple of years on this project :D. Regardless, please enjoy! We're so excited to have you all read the complete series.
We've also included the digital inks of all eight issues for your enjoyment. We recommend you take a look at these if you're an aspiring artist or just art fanatic. I say it every campaign, but I truly believe that what Pablo has achieved with Skies of Fire is remarkable. We're so proud of the work we've put into this series and I hope it shows.
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That's it for today! Enjoy the comics! We'll keep you apprised of the book printing / fulfillment as updates roll in.
Thank you all! Here's to a great year ahead!
- Ray and Vince
Happy Holidays!
over 4 years ago
– Fri, Dec 24, 2021 at 02:42:07 AM
Hey Everyone,
Happy Holidays from all of us at Mythopoeia!
The funds for this project have cleared and we've just sent out the BackerKit Surveys. Please when you get the chance fill out your information. That'll help us determine what we need to print this time around.
https://sof8.backerkit.com/
From there, we'll be ordering the books (around 3-4 week turnaround), and then it's off to our fulfillment partners to send them out!
As far as digital release - we're going to lock everything on 12/28/21 and release shortly thereafter. Will post then.
Stay warm out there and talk soon!
- Ray and Vince
