Gamebook store

Wednesday 29 May 2019

A slip of the pen


The Kickstarter campaign for the fifth Blood Sword book, The Walls of Spyte, offered a genuine collector's edition, as I only ever plan on printing the 225 copies pledged for by backers. That's the colour hardback version of the book. The paperback will be available for anyone to buy in a month or so.

Of those hardback copies, about 50 needed to be signed. Engage brain before putting pen to paper, I should have told myself. In particular, check the spelling of each backer's name before writing it in one of those expensive collector's editions. Oops.

Well, I have about a dozen copies still to sign and I only made one mistake. That copy (with the klutzed flyleaf carefully removed) is now up for grabs on eBay. So if you missed the Kickstarter and you've been kicking yourself for that, here's your chance -- a probably never-to-be-repeated chance -- to get one of these exclusive hardcovers.

Oh, and while we're here I might as well mention that the latest issue of Librogame's Land has an interview with me. You can find that right here.

20 comments:

  1. It's over 100GBP...
    They could have bought it for 50 at the time of the Kickstarter.
    I wonder how many people had ebay search filters for Walls of Spyte but had no idea you were doing this.

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  2. I blithely imagined that, in an age of social media, it would be easy to get the word out to everyone who'd be interested in a Walls of Spyte hardback. Of course, a moment's thought would have told me that for that to work I'd need more than a Facebook and Twitter account. D'oh. So I expect there will be quite a few folks out there who missed the Kickstarter. That 100 quid offer suggests so, but I did say there would only be as many copies printed as the Kickstarter backers pledged for. There might be one or two left over from the final box, but that's the lot. Unless of course I ran another KS for a second print run, but tbh running a Kickstarter is more time-consuming than I expected so I'm in no hurry!

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    1. Money to be had in the pocket, Dave. C'mon be a good chap and get us the other four Bloodsword books in colour and hardcover please :)

      You made one dream come true, how about the other four?

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    2. If only there was money to be made from Kickstarters, Nicholas! Unfortunately with any physical product the manufacturing, postage and admin costs soon eat up any "profit". But maybe I'll do another one when I retire, assuming Brexit hasn't annihilated my pension!

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  3. When does the paperback go on sale on Amazon? That's the one I want most.

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    1. Just as soon as I've received, signed, and sent out the last batch of copies. That should all be done by the end of June.

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    2. Good enough and an excellent reason to look forward to July beyond fireworks on July 4 AKA "Good riddance, you bloody Colonials Day."

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    3. That reminds me, John: did you guys want your President back. Only he's barely off the plane and already he's insulted both the Duchess of Sussex and the Mayor of London, and under normal circumstances we'd chuck a fellow in the Tower of London for that.

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    4. Speaking for the majority of the population that voted against him, "Nope."

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  4. Cripes, that copy sold for £158. When you factor in the postage too, the buyer could have had six unsigned copies or three signed copies and change if he/she had known about the Kickstarter while it was running. If I ever run another Kickstarter, I'll obviously need to do a better job at getting the word out -- though how is another matter. If I was any good at all at marketing then I'd be releasing a new issue of Mirabilis every couple of months, after all.

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  5. Replies
    1. You're welcome, Andy. And btw, today's the day that the paperback edition goes on sale. Everyone who buys that should be thanking the Kickstarter backers who made it possible.

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    2. Given I've purchased that as well, I've been able to give myself a good pat on the back and got a pint in for me for good measure. Things got a bit weird when I started criticising me for still not having read your Frankenstein or buying the Falcon reboot, so I talked me into buying The Good The Bad and The Undead having also clocked that (about five years after you first mentioned it, as I remember).

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    3. Oh, but TGTB&TU is Jamie's. So no compensation for you still not having read Frankenstein, Andy!

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    4. Share and share alike! Frankenstein novel as the next Kickstarter, perhaps?! I only purchased TGTB&TU after vainly looking in The Walls of Spyte acknowledgements for my own name and coming across Ashton's. Marketing works in mysterious ways, evidently.

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    5. Goodness, Andy, you had me seriously worried that I'd goofed and missed your name out, but after a hasty search (while preparing profuse apologies in my head) I see that you're there after all. Phew.

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    6. Just my poor grasp of the queen's lexicon, Dave. No need to worry! It didn't look right in the first instance, but after the pint I bought me (or is it brought), I had far less inclination to check it out. Thanks for the correction. I realise I've taken a major risk on lexicon. Probably my worst decision since putting a ton on Penny Mordaunt being next PM.

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    7. No need to apologize, Andy. My mistake -- or, tell you what, let's both blame the English language for having two completely different meanings for the word "vain". I'm planning on learning German and I hope it's more logical than that.

      Mordaunt? Nah, she's not insane enough. (Just to clarify: in any game of Call of Cthulhu she'd be classed as SAN 0 and sent to the asylum, but by the standards of Tory party leadership candidates she's just not nearly mad enough.)

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    8. I only backed her (I'm assuming, I only vaguely remembered it the next morning) on the basis she was the only one I'd never heard of who was reasonably prominent in the betting, so it had to be her by process of elimination. I'll stick to equine betting in the future. Although, given I'm synonymous for backing horses that win the next time out when I'm not on, put her in your notebook.

      Not that I have a strong political opinion, if it were me I'd say second referendum, stay in or hard Brexit and just have done with it one way or t'other.

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