A Quick Update: Books and Bookplates!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Oct 19, 2020 at 06:51:51 PM

Hi everyone! 

Apologies for the extended wait between updates--I always like to try and offer up concrete milestones for these, and was hoping I could say with 100% certainty that the books are officially delivered to our fulfillment partner. The expected delivery window was actually between the 14th and 16th of October, so they could very well be on-site and I just haven't received notification because it's the weekend. 

That said, nearly every other reward is produced and waiting with our fulfillment partner. I say "nearly" because we had a spot of trouble with the Bookplates and needed to print up/ship/sign a new batch of them.

Things most certainly appear to be coming in for a landing, and even through all the worldwide shenanigans, I'm very happy to say that if the books did indeed arrive at our fulfillment partner this past Friday (or will arrive sometime this upcoming week) we're in pretty good shape to have deliveries start going out within the next few weeks.

I will be sending out another update when I have confirmation of the books arriving at our fulfillment partner and the bookplates are squared away. So, hopefully very soon!

Thank you all for your continued support--we can't wait for all of you to get your Western Deep rewards!

Surveys and Add-Ons Lock in ONE WEEK!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Sep 09, 2020 at 04:52:12 PM

Hello, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend (and if you were in the United States, a relaxing Labor Day)!

With the books and merchandise all printed and produced, we're coming to the end of our pre-order window. On September 15th, we will be locking down all orders and closing BackerKit pre-orders.

So if you wanted to add additional items to your order, you have one week left before it's locked in. We've still got plenty of the Volume One reprints, and the super-slick Limited Edition Volume 2. Check out my super-quick hands-on of my personal advance copy here:

All physical backers will of course be receiving stickers and mini-prints, but you can add more to your order via the BackerKit store.

Pretty cool, huh?

You can check out the full suite of available add-ons at our BackerKit store here:  https://beyond-the-western-deep-volume-two.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders 

And don't forget that if you're one of the few folks who haven't yet completed your BackerKit survey, please remember to fill it out so we can get you your digital rewards and Discord invite. And if you need the link again, or you didn't receive it in the first place, please don't hesitate to reach out to us via a Kickstarter message.

Lastly, don't forget to give us a follow on Twitter at  https://twitter.com/thewesterndeep!

We're really excited to lock in everybody's orders and start the whole process of shipping everything out. Have a great week, everyone!

Advance Copies, Final Pins and Patches!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Aug 22, 2020 at 06:58:07 PM

Hello everyone! I hope your summer is going as well as it can in these strange times. I know I've found my own to be less...outdoorsy than summers past. But I wanted to take an opportunity today to share some new updates with you that will hopefully improve your weekend!

Standard V1 and V2 Books are ALL PRINTED!

And the Limited Edition Volume 2 should be ready to go in just a couple more weeks. Our printer pulled a couple copies from each printing and overnighted them so we could check out the final product:

The Volume 1 reprint is nigh indistinguishable from the original Kickstarter printing we did back in 2018, and I have to say, finally being able to hold the Volume 2 hardcover in my hands was quite the powerful moment. It's a little heftier than Volume 1, by virtue of a higher page count, and all the interior pages, guest artwork, and bonus material look absolutely gorgeous.

The final copies will be sent to our backer fulfillment partner, Fulfillrite, where they will be paired up with every backer's physical rewards and shipped out to wherever they need shipping! We're still looking good on our original schedule, and I'll update folks once I have some more concrete ship dates for everything.

Pins! Patches!

I'm really excited to show these off, so without further ado:

Hardin and Kenosh look excellent despite their grumpiness! We're very happy with how these final pins came out, and we're DOUBLY HAPPY that you were able to help us hit our stretch goal to add Kenosh to the set. Hardin and Kenosh make a really nice follow-up to the original Quinlan/Dakkan set from Volume 1!

Lastly, the final iron-on patch sets have been produced and are ready for inclusion in every physical backer's order. Check 'em out!

The Aisling patch was NOT printed upside down, don't worry--just mentally flip it around in your head and it's perfect :)

We're really excited to be closing in on the final stages of merchandise and book production, which will take us into SHIPPING! 

We're at 96% Survey Completion!

A mere 4% of backers haven't yet completed their BackerKit surveys! Thank you to everyone who's locked theirs in. We'll be sending out reminders to any backers who haven't completed their survey to lock in their orders so we can get them their stuff without any delays!

Remember, if you have any questions about the survey, or if you experienced technical issues on Kickstarter like payments failing to register, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us!

Don't Forget the Twitter Account and BackerKit Store!

That's right! Please follow us at  https://twitter.com/TheWesternDeep to stay up to date on all Western Deep-related news!

And if you missed out on any of the cool goodies you saw previewed above and want to get your hands on them, don't forget that you absolutely can by visiting our BackerKit pre-order store right here:  https://beyond-the-western-deep-volume-two.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Patch Proofs and Books Approved!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Aug 01, 2020 at 06:08:08 AM

Happy Last-Day-of-July everyone! I hope your summers are faring well--at least as well as they can in these strange times--but I wanted to send along a new update now that we've got some news (and images) to share!

Flag Iron-On Patches

We recently approved a set of physical iron-on flag proofs for full production, and we're all very pleased with the final looks. Check 'em out!

If you backed any of our physical pledge tiers, you should be getting a set of these awesome iron-on patches along with the rest of your physical rewards.

Book Proofs Approved for Production

Rachel received the 'dummy' versions of the Volume One reprint, Volume Two, and the Limited Edition Volume Two for review. We're pleased to say that everything was in proper shape and completely to spec, so we've moved ahead to full production. Things are still looking solid for an October delivery to our fulfillment partner, after which all of the boxes will be packed up and sent out to you.

This is the Volume Two hardcover stacked up against the original paperback version we had published previously. We prefer the matte hardcover, personally :)

And here's the Limited Edition Volume Two side-by-side with the Limited Edition Volume One! The gold foil reflection is a little hard to consistently read in still images, but we can say that the foil we’re using for Volume 2’s limited edition is a shade darker than the one we used for Volume One. 

I love love love the design that Rachel came up with the cover of the limited edition–we even had some t-shirts made with it that we were planning to sell at Emerald City Comic Con before that was cancelled. We’re hoping to save them for our next convention appearance… whenever that is!

Surveys 95% Filled Out!

Out of 551 backers, 528 have filled out their surveys! Thank you all SO MUCH for getting those squared away for us. If you're part of the 5% that hasn't had a chance to do so, please go ahead and fill that out--or reach out to us for a new survey link if you need it. We just want to make sure you get your stuff on time and at the right spot!

Don't Forget the New Twitter!

Updates and news surrounding the world of the Western Deep can be found on our new Western Deep Twitter account: https://twitter.com/thewesterndeep

Please give us a follow to stay up to speed on the latest Western Deep shenanigans! :)

Pins Proofed, Books on Schedule, and a New Twitter!
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Jul 14, 2020 at 06:57:58 AM

Hi everyone! I hope your summers have been faring well. News has been fairly slow on our end, but I wanted to drop an update for everyone to let you all know how things are going here.

First and foremost, I'm happy to say that thus far we're still looking mostly on track for a late-October delivery to our shipping partner (that assumes one round of color/printing revisions). Our printing partner, Regent, has been exceptionally helpful in guiding the process along, and we're excited to receive the proofs for evaluation in the near future.

The pin proofs that we were originally sent used a more reflective nickel coating that didn't match up with Rachel's line art, but this revision uses a "black dye" metal that makes the proofs pretty much identical to Rachel's key art, so we're happy about that! They should also match up nicely with the set we've already produced with Quin and Dak, and consistency is always nice.

In greater Western Deep news, we've just launched the title page and name for our FOURTH chapter in the main series! That of course will be posted Saturdays on  www.westerndeep.net, but we've also got a new way to stay up to speed on all things Western Deep!

That's right, we've made an OFFICIAL TWITTER ACCOUNT! Technically we made it back in September of last year, but we didn't start posting on it until Chapter 4 kicked off this past week.

I'm going to be posting less Western Deep-related stuff on my personal social media and instead focusing on it through this official account, so folks don't have to wade through thousands of tweets and retweets about video games, cats, and food to catch up on the latest Western Deep news :)

You can check out the Twitter account and follow our shenanigans right here:  https://twitter.com/thewesterndeep  

Have a great week, and we'll drop in with more Kickstarter update news as it comes through!