October update. Shipping probably starts next week. Finally.
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Oct 05, 2023 at 11:31:13 AM
Hi everyone. Happy October. Here's a picture of Halloween Cat. It doesn't show up until Modest Medusa Season 8, so those of you reading the books will have to wait to see it. Sorry!
Anyway, this update is pretty short. I needed to take a few mental health days this week. In the meantime, I've resolved the problem with Backerkit. I was right, I was doing something wrong and couldn't see what it was. The Backerkit staff figured it out and I THINK everything is good to go. So my plan is to charge cards next Tuesday or Weds. I'll be out of town this weekend, so I want to make sure I wait till I get back so you can all contact me if you have questions. So please expect your cards to be charged in the middle of next week. And if you still haven't updated your shipping address, now is the time!
That's it for now. I'll have another update next week after I start putting packages in the mail. I'm still hoping to get all these out fast. I already have a bunch boxed up.
Thank you all for your patience. hopefully you'll all be reading your new books before Halloween!
- Jake
If its not one thing its another...
about 1 year ago
– Fri, Sep 22, 2023 at 03:36:29 PM
I promised you another update this week. Lets talk about all teh little things that can go wrong, shipping and digital rewards.
Lets start with problems: Getting ready to start shipping is not going as smoothly as I expected. I've encountered a few problems. The big one is I can't get Backerkit to actually assign shipping costs to all the items in your pledges. For some reason it is assigning costs to some and not others. This is pretty frustrating, and there's not an obvious solution. I haven't had this issue in the past, and I can't tell if its a bug or I'm missing a checkbox somewhere. I've been working on it for a few days while I wait to hear back from support. Hopefully it will be figured out early next week.
I also made two mistakes a few months ago, and just realized it. The first is that I ordered the wrong size shipping boxes back in May. The Modest Medusa books are slightly larger than 9 x 6, so they don't quite fit into that standard shipping size! Thankfully these were easy to return, and the new boxes have already arrived along with some other supplies. I also got around to opening the giant package of stickers I ordered a few months ago... only to find that instead of a few hundred Modest Medusa stickers the company sent me 20 packs of stickers with their own logo! This also got sorted out very quickly, and new stickers are already on the way. I should have checked both these packages when they arrived months ago, but I've been in "fire and forget" mode all year.
Anyway, that's what went wrong this week.
Shipping: I've done initial calculations for shipping costs, which are listed below. Please consider a few things when you look at this estimate:
- This is just an estimate. Everyone's shipping costs will differ a little based on where you live and what you are receiving. So your final amount will likely look a little different than my estimate. Hopefully it will be less!
- Calculating international shipping is a little difficult. I mentioned before that estimates for international shipping are sometimes more than the actual cost. If your actual shipping charge is substantially more (like more than $1) than what you're charged in Backerkit I will refund you the difference as soon as I mail your package. This is what I did with the Mermaid Hunters Kickstarter and it worked well.
- If you live in the US I will be sending your package by medial mail, since it is much cheaper and takes about the same amount of time.
Okay, so my goal is to get you the best shipping price I can. Here's my estimates. This includes $1.75 for packaging and handling.
United States up to 16oz: $6.00, 31oz: $7.00, 42oz: $8.00, 75oz: $9.00
Canada up to 16oz: $14,50, 31oz: $17.50, 42oz: $21.50, 75oz: $23.00
Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Norway
up to 16oz: $18.00, 31oz: $22.00, 42oz: $29.00, 57oz: $38
So if you got the Season 4+5 Bundle (which was the most popular choice) your shipping charge will probably be around $8 (US), $21.50 (Canada), $29.00 (Everywhere else).
Obviously not great. Shipping sucks.
Digital Rewards: I've been slowly working on the new Modest Medusa PDFs, and they should be ready to release around the middle of next month. The Modest Medusa Digital Library reward includes 9 separate PDFs: Seasons 1-5, 24 Hour Modest Medusa, 48 Hour Modest Medusa, Modest Medusa Learns to Color and Pirates of Yeld. Of course, I also offered the Season 5 PDF separately as its own reward, and the Season 3, 4 and 5 books come with their respective PDFs. So do the 24 and 48 Hour books! In addition to all that, everyone who participated in the Kickstarter will receive the 48 Hour Modest Medusa PDF for free. That's a lot of PDFs!
Here's what you can expect to find in the PDFs:
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Modest Medusa Seasons 1, 2 and 3: I'll be adding a small amount of new commentary, a character index and a selection of bonus art.
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Modest Medusa Season 4: I've re-lettered this book, and I'll be adding a small amount of new commentary, a character index and a selection of bonus art.
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Modest Medusa Season 5: Relettered from the original webcomic. All new commentary, character index and bonus art. Two new backup stories.
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24 Hour Modest Medusa: Now includes the short story "Modest Paints a Miniature"
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48 Hour Modest Medusa: An all new book containing 4 complete stories.
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Modest Medusa Learns to Color: 24 coloring book pages pluse a few comics. I actually updated this with some new images a few years ago, so if you have the original version this one is a little different.
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Pirates of Yeld: Updated to include a larger character index and some bonus art.
Digital Rewards will be available for download by link from Kickstarter. You'll get a message with the link. I'll also be providing links through Backerkit. More details next month!
I think that's it for now. I'll be spending the next few days trying to solve this Backerkit problem, and hopefully I'll be packing books and shipping them before the end of the month. Again, thank you all for your patience and support. We're almost there!
- Jake
Books are finally here! Please read for instructions.
about 1 year ago
– Sat, Sep 16, 2023 at 12:23:31 PM
1700 pounds of Modest Medusa books arrived at my home yesterday. So many books! They're finally here, which means we're finally nearly ready to start shipping! Thank you all for your patience. When I launched this project nearly a year ago I was sure it would be wrapped up fast. A few things going wrong can really stretch a project out!
Anyway, books are in hand and they look great. However, there's a few things I still need to do before I can start shipping. I've been unwell the last few weeks so I'm a little behind. But that's okay. Here's what's going to happen next.
Locking orders and charging cards on Backerkit (including shipping): Late next week (probably on Friday the 22nd) I will be locking Backerkit and charging your cards for shipping as well as any additional add-ons you selected (like the new 48 Hour Modest Medusa book). Once Backerkit is locked you won't be able to add any more items to your order.
I'm calculating shipping charges this week, and you'll be able to check on Backerkit before I charge your cards to see how much it will be (I'll let you know when shipping charges are posted so you can check). I'm trying to get the best rate for each of you, but please remember that shipping is expensive, especially international shipping! I don't have any control over it!
(A note about international shipping: In the past I found that the rate I'm quoted for international shipping isn't always correct. For example, when we shipped Mermaid Hunters a few years ago we found that in some cases the actual shipping cost was a little more than we charged, but in other cases it was actually a lot less. So if the amount I charge you ends up being significantly more than actual shipping costs I'll send you a refund for the difference. Last time the difference was usually less than $1 over or under, but in a few cases it was more than $10!)
Ordering supplies: I've just discovered the boxes I ordered for shipping the books aren't the right size. Fortunately I can return them for the correct boxes, and they should arrive pretty quick. I also need to order some tubes for the prints.
Signing books: I need to sign a few hundred books!
So all that needs to happen before I can start shipping. In the meantime I can start sorting and packing orders at least, which will keep me busy!
I expect to start shipping books on the 25th of this month, and I hope to have most (if not all) of them in the mail before the end of the month. In the meantime here's what you can do to help me get your books out without a hitch:
Update your address: Please check to see if your address is up to date. Especially if you've moved in the last year. The most important place to update your address is on Backerkit, but I'd appreciate it you'd update it here on Kickstarter as well. If you're not sure how, just send me a message with your updated address. I will be double checking addresses before I ship.
Double Check Backerkit: Take a look at Backerkit to make sure your order looks correct. For most of you your order will just include whatever you pledged for in the Kickstarter, plus shipping costs (which I haven't added yet. I'll let you know wheb I do). If you selected any add-ons those will be listed there too. Make sure you aren't being charged for anything you don't want, and contact me if you are. There was an error where some of you were being charged for digital content, but I believe that has been fixed.
Custom Rewards: If you selected a reward that includes a guest appearance or book sketch please make sure you've talked to me and told me what you want. I've heard from a LOT of you but not all of you! Guest stars are beginning to appear in Modest Medusa strips, and will continue to appear into the next season.
I think thats it for teh moment. I'll have another update for you next week. We also need to talk about digital rewards, but I'll save that for next week too.
Thanks, everyone!
- Jake
August update: A little news!
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Aug 21, 2023 at 11:43:22 AM
Hi everyone. I hope you're surviving the Summer heat. I have a little news to share with you today.
Shipping: I've spoken to the printer and the books are on the ship (and have been for a bit). They're expected to arrive in port early next month and should be shipped to me around the middle of the month. The printer stressed that this is NOT an official schedule, and there can always be delays. They'll send me an official date for receiving books as soon as they can. But in the meantime I'm going to move forward with the assumption that books will arrive around the middle of next month. My HOPE is that I can spend the back half of September shipping books and have everything out the door by the end of the month.
Charging cards on Backerkit: I want to wait until I know the date I'll be receiving books to charge your cards on Backerkit. As I said above, this will probably be early next month. So expect your cards to be charged for both shipping and any extra purchases you've made in Backerkit. I'll make sure to give you a week's notice before that happens.
Some of you have told me that even though you only pledged for digital rewards (like a PDF) Backerkit is still asking you for a credit card. To be clear, it should not. I am looking into this. I don't want you to give your CC info to Backerkit unless you're actually paying for something, and I don't want you to get charged for something you didn't agree to (although I don't T HINK you would be charged). In the meantime, if you're having this issue please double check and make sure your reward doesn't include a physical item that needs to be shipped. One person who contacted me about this didn't realize they had pledged for a book as well as a PDF. Mistakes like that can happen, and are not too late to fix!
Update shipping address: Make sure to update your shipping address! It's been months since the Kickstarter and I know some of you have moved. Please update your address in Backerkit. If I have more than one address for you I will contact you and ask where to ship your package.
Book sketches: I'm still waiting to here from a few of you about custom book sketches. The sooner you can tell me what you'd like, the better!
Guest stars: A lot of you pledged to be guest stars in Modest Medusa. I introduced our first Gust Star from this Kickstarter last week! I hope to fit most of you into the next season, which will run through the rest of this year and next year. I will contact you when you appear in the comic.
Thats it for now! Thanks so much for your patience. Hopefully my next update will be early next month and all about shipping!
- Jake
Quick update: Backerkit questions!
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Jul 20, 2023 at 04:20:40 PM
Hi everyone. I hope you're staying cool. Some of you have had questions about Backerkit. Which is good! So lets address them real quick:
1. Didn't I already pay during the Kickstarter? You did! Your pledge was fully paid for when the Kickstrater ended and the funds were collected. Thanks! However, I have not yet charged you for shipping fees, and I'll be doing that through Backerkit. Additionally, you have the option to add extra items to your order through Backerkit, and if you do I'll charge you for those at the same time I charge for shipping.
2. If I only pledged for a digital product, why does Backerkit want my shipping address? Backerkit SHOULD NOT ask for your shipping address if you only ordered digital products like the PDFs. There's an option to turn off "ask for address" under these projects and I forgot to turn it off. I've done so now, so it should no longer ask unless you add a physical product like a book or stickers to your order.
3. If I already paid for my pledge when the Kickstarter ended why does Backerkit want my CC info? Everything you pledged for during the Kickstarter is already paid for. Thanks! Backerkit does need your payment info so you can be charged for shipping or any add-ons you select in Backerkit. If you only pledged for digital items like PDFs Backerkit SHOULD NOT ask you for your CC info. However, just like I said above, I forgot to turn this option off. It has been switched off now, so Backerkit should only ask you for you CC info if you need to pay for something.
4. Why are you waiting until August to charge for shipping and add-ons? Shipping prices fluctuate, and a possible UPS strike is on the horizon. Instead of trying to predict shipping costs and charges in advance I'd rather wait until I'm ready to ship your packages and charge you the precise amount (plus a small packaging fee). I did this with the Mermaid Hunters Kickstarter and it ended up saving backers a lot of money. Well, it varied from backer to backer. But I remember my total shipping costs were about 15% less than I anticipated, which was great!
5. Why can't I buy a digital version of the 48 Hour Modest Medusa book? Good news! The digital version of the book is free for all backers! You'll get it next month when I release all the digital content! Its great. You'll love it!
Those are all the questions I've had so far. If you have any more please contact me here, on Backerkit or at [email protected].
Hopefully I'll be back next eek with an update on shipping.
Stay cool!
- Jake
