FABLED LANDS - collect the set

Wednesday, 25 July 2012

An open secret

Things have been quiet around here for a few days because I've been working around the clock on something. The picture is all the hint you need...
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , ,

25 comments:

  1. Books 5-12 all beaing released in time for Christmas? Is that the secret?!

    ReplyDelete

  2. Well, that's between 12.5% and 25% correct. Moving that mountain a pebble at a time... ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Just one more book and my answer would scrape a 'bare pass' at 37.5%.

      Delete

    2. An extra year, though, and your grade could be looking more like an A.

      Delete

  3. Wow. Most exciting news of the month! I'm still kicking myself for not picking up books 5 and 6 when I saw them on sale once 15 years ago...

    ReplyDelete

  4. Well, Mike, soon you can stop that kicking.

    ReplyDelete

  5. Nice to see, that things start moving.

    Is there also news on the Kindle version(s), yet?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Those are all coming along: Kindle, Android, iOS, Windows. I'm hoping to get the go-ahead from Spirit Entertainment (the developers) to start talking about release dates very soon.

      Delete

  6. This is a public service announcement:
    "Wooooooohoooooooo"
    That is all.

    ReplyDelete

  7. Where can I preorder?

    BTW, why don't you guys just make a kickstarter for volume 7?
    For 5000$ somebody could lend his face for the portrait of the books villain or something.
    If this works, you can continue with kickstarters for volume 8-12 one after each other.
    I'm pretty sure it would work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Jamie is keen to try that, Alexander. We have been astonished to see projects (including gamebooks) raising money with far less of a developed proposal than you would need to land a contract with a publisher.

      However, I'm advised by those who have set up Kickstarter projects that it does take a lot of time, and also that fame has far more effect on your chances of success than actually having any track record in the medium or genre you're pitching.

      I think that last point must be true, as I personally backed a comic book project that sounded original and was by a guy with a lot of talent at writing and drawing comics. But it never reached its target, because the guy doesn't have enough of a fan following. Could we find 2000 FL fans devoted enough to kick in $40 each for books 7 and 8? I think that would be asking a lot.

      Delete

    2. That's right. Although I'm a big fan and keen on getting my hands on the last 6 books, I only check this site for news so often. And since I don't visit any other gamebook or role playing site, I would probably have missed a kickstarter if you had made one in the last two months..

      2000 backers with an average of 40$? That is a bit more than I anticipated for one book. But then again, I don't know anything about the sales of your reprint of 1-4.

      Delete

  8. Actually, I was estimating $80,000 to fund books 7 *and* 8, Alexander, and that's on the assumption that at least half the money raised has to be spent on the freebies: book printing, manufacture of badges, etc, and postage. So, after that's spent, it leaves about $20,000 per book.

    If two thousand dedicated FL readers pledged $10 each, and were willing to forego the Kickstarter freebies, that would just about cover the writing, art, editing and layout of one book.

    It's not that fanciful, I guess, as the pre-subscription model is how books got published back in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Even so, I'd rather find a way to finance the books that didn't involve presuming on FL fans' goodwill.

    Now, as for missing the important news here, there's a simple solution. Just click on the Google Friend Connect button to the right, and you can become one of our 150-odd (not 2000, sadly) true believers :-)

    ReplyDelete

  9. Well, the average I have paid for most kickstarters just to get the result of it, usually a simple digital download, was 15$. I think that would a reasonable price for this as well. Freebies should only come up with higher prices that directly finance them.
    Taking extra shipping charges for foreign delivery is also a good idea.
    And once that book is written, it can be turned into an iOS version as well, to improve profit.

    But that's just me, looking at it from the consumer's point of view withouth any knowledge of actual data ;)

    Anyway, 2012 seems to be a year of new hope, all glory to the mighty internet :)

    ReplyDelete

  10. Fantastic news! Note that between the facebook page, the google followers (sorry I don't have a google login so can't join) and the yahoo group there must be 500 or some members.

    Perhaps you could think about premium deals for those with some spare cash. Obviously signed copies is one way to go. Another might be 'special editions' that are the same size / quality as the origin 6 books so we have a matching set.

    Dave - will these be one of the five gamebooks you mentioned coming out next year? Or were those all WOTT / Blood sword books?

    Either way its time to dust off my books and get another character going.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. None of the six gamebooks coming out in spring next year will be WOTT or Blood Sword, Drake, though we hope to maybe get to those by the autumn.

      Delete

  11. PS - I don't suppose either of you have a hidden room containing a pile of mint condition 'Walls of Spyte' books? About 10 years ago they went for $400 a pop (for terrible condition copies) - maybe that could fund your endeavour!!

    ReplyDelete

  12. I will laugh if Fabled Lands Book 7 gets published before Lone Wolf Book 29, serious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Challenge Accepted, Dave? :)

      Delete

    2. Didn't we decide Jamie is going to write Book 7? Well, he is writing a new gamebook for next spring, so once he's finished that, who knows?

      Delete

  13. I don't intend to be mean to the writer, but I saw this gamebook on Kickstarted called "Trial of the Clone" and it looked like crap. The book was obviously a cheep rip-off of Starwars and the guy's video was lame too. Yet it got 130,132$ backing!
    Now you are a well known gamebook author, who has a unique and original series many have been dying to see completed. If that guy can get over 130,000$ you can can easily get twice that! Go for it Dave!

    ReplyDelete

  14. I saw that one too, and it did seem amazing he raised so much considering he'd never written a gamebook before and wasn't apparently proposing to do anything original. But the key thing is, he's very famous for something else. It's like Neal Stephenson raising half a million for a computer game - he's never designed a game, but he is a well-known author. I agree it seems insane.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Jeez, I've just seen the Trial of the Clones kickstarter. That is absolute madness.

      Delete

    2. I know. He basically said, "Does anybody remember gamebooks? I could write one if you give me money." And even though there are a couple of hundred gamebooks out there that you could buy for a lot less than $30 each, four thousand backers gave him that much to write a new one. Good luck to the guy and all, but it seems utterly insane.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)