90% of Surveys Complete! Also, Ringo Nominations End June 25th!
almost 4 years ago
– Sat, Jun 20, 2020 at 05:53:04 AM
Hello again, dear backers! All of us here on the Western Deep team hope you are doing well.
Over the past several weeks, we've been keeping in touch with our printer to ensure that the sample books are as close as possible to the original printing of Beyond the Western Deep: Volume One (after all, we want them to be able to sit next to each other on a bookshelf and not look out of place).
We've also been sending out production art to manufacturers for the stickers, patches, pins, and prints. This is unfortunately the slow part of the post-campaign process--waiting for the things to be made!
You saw it in the subject of this update, but I'm happy to announce that 90% of our backers have already filled out their BackerKit surveys and locked in orders, which is really helpful for determining production quantity!
An extra-special thanks to folks who purchased add-ons. Between the Kickstarter and the add-on pledges, we've more than cleared 200% of our funding goal!
We absolutely encourage the remainder of our backers to fill out the BackerKit survey as soon as you can. If you've lost the link or have had trouble accessing the survey, please don't hesitate to send me a message through Kickstarter. Re-sending survey links is actually super easy!
Lastly, there are only six days left to nominate comics and comic creators for the 2020 Ringo Awards!
Beyond the Western Deep is updated every week at westerndeep.net, making it eligible for their Best Webcomic award! If you head over to https://ringoawards.com/, please consider casting your ballot for Beyond the Western Deep!
Thank you all for your incredible support!
Surveys Are Sent!
almost 4 years ago
– Wed, Jun 03, 2020 at 10:46:38 PM
Following a very successful smoke test with a subset of our backers, we hit the "DO IT NOW" button yesterday to launch all BackerKit surveys! If the survey link hasn't made its way into your inbox, be sure to check your spam/trash folders! And of course if it isn't there, don't hesitate to ping us for a re-send.
And remember, even if you weren't able to pledge to the Kickstarter campaign, you can still pre-order the books and other merchandise straight from our BackerKit Pre-Order Store right here.
Now that we're officially looking to advance into the "making cool stuff" phase of this campaign, we're excited to say our final printer files are being reviewed, which will be followed by a sample print of each book for our approval. We'll definitely be sure to share pictures of those once we've got them in-hand! Of course we'll also be moving forward on the pins, stickers, and prints--there's a lot to do, and we can't wait to jump in!
If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to ping us via Kickstarter Messages. You can also follow me directly on Twitter @tdcpresents, or visit our comic website for weekly page and news updates at www.westerndeep.net!
Surveys Going Out, Digital Rewards, Discord Invites, and More Updates!
almost 4 years ago
– Tue, Jun 02, 2020 at 06:40:03 PM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
BackerKit Pre-order Store Open! Digital Rewards Going Out Soon!
almost 4 years ago
– Mon, May 11, 2020 at 07:38:06 PM
Hello, backers! I hope you all had a relaxing weekend.
Things have been trucking along here on the Western Deep front! We've finally managed to lock in our shipping and fulfillment partner, which helped us lock in everything we needed to launch our BACKERKIT PRE-ORDER STORE.
https://beyond-the-western-deep-volume-two.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
We've got the Volume One and Volume Two hardcovers there, a handful of the remaining Kickstarter-Limited Volume Twos, prints, pins, and stickers, too! I've gotten a few questions about the Limited Edition Volume Two and I'll just say here: once they're gone, we're not planning on re-printing them. We're calling it the "Kickstarter-Limited" edition for a reason after all! :)
ALSO if you backed a tier during the Kickstarter, you are eligible for the 50% discount for Volume One as an add-on to your pledge. This isn't available in the Pre-Order Store but you'll see it on your BackerKit survey when those go out closer to shipping in a few months. All our physical rewards are expected to ship around the same time and there's no limit to Volume Ones in the store, so I encourage backers to wait for the Volume One add-on discount! Discounts are good!
Lastly, I've gotten a few questions about when the digital PDFs and music track will be going out to backers. We're expecting to have the Volume Two PDF wrapped up very soon (Rachel is just putting the finishing touches on some bonus art, such as the piece posted above!) and expect to send those out in the coming weeks.
Have a wonderful week, everyone!
Funds Received, Minor Updates, and the Ringo Awards!
almost 4 years ago
– Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 05:59:43 PM
Hello everyone! I hope you've all had a safe and healthy few weeks since our last update!
We don't have too much new stuff to report, but I wanted to give everyone an update to let you know that Kickstarter funds have been received, and we're currently in the process of locking in our manufacturing and fulfillment partners (at least one is currently closed for business due to COVID-19). We're also very close to locking in our final Volume Two PDF, which we will be sending out along with the Volume One PDF and Nolan Markey's theme music once we get the BackerKit surveys all sent out.
In addition, we'll also be putting together a system to allow for backers to join our Western Deep community Discord server. If you've ever wanted to hang out with us and partake in the sharing of wholesome, family-friendly memes, then that might be the place for you. Once the BackerKit surveys are sent out, backers will be given a link to our Discord, where they will need to DM one of our moderators with the email address they used to back the Kickstarter. We'll cross-reference that email, and then grant full server privileges after that.
Lastly, I wanted to take a moment to mention to our backers that the Ringo Comic Awards, which are held at Baltimore Comic Con every year, are currently accepting open nominations.
They are one of the few major comic awards that allows for reader participation, so please consider hitting up this link: https://ringoawards.survey.fm/ringo-awards-2020-nominations and nominating Beyond the Western Deep for "Best Webcomic"!
Have a great week, and we'll send out another update in the coming weeks--hopefully along with our surveys and the unveiling of our BackerKit store!
