Journal

Did I say “brisk?” Hello, understatement.

31 Comments

A refreshing 10mph wind might be described as “brisk.”

610 orders in 14 hours is a rather faster wind than that. At the risk of stretching the metaphor just a bit, you guys have blown me away.

The print run is paid for. After paying for postage and design royalties (Steve Troop gets a cut from each book) we will have enough left over to cover the new HP printer, some Christmas shopping, and a full month of my salary. And that’s just based on the orders that have come in during the last 14 hours.

Yeah. Blown away. Thank you.

31 thoughts on “Did I say “brisk?” Hello, understatement.”

    1. Email Sandra dot tayler at gmail, and she’ll figure a way to grandfather you in. PayPal has this “e-check” thing too, which I think might work.

      –Howard

    2. You could always use the “check by mail” payment option. You fill out the shipping/billing info, click “check by mail,” then follow the instructions on where to mail the check. Once the check arrives we clear your order for shipping.

      1. Could i set it up that way, and then paypal the money once it clears from there? I’d probably be using a International money order the other way, and i don’t know which costs less fees for you guys, either paypal, or the money order to get the money back.

  4. You should know by now that you’ve got an awesome product and plenty of people chomping at the bit to get it.

    I mean, really… it’s like holding a can of Ovalqwik in front of a hungry Schlock and wondering if he’s gonna take it when you should really be wondering if he’s going to take your hand with it.

    1. I’m pretty sure that in this case you guys DID take my hand with it. It looks like I’ll be sketching around 800 books.

      Lawks. Grrlblk. Pshmblbmbl.

        1. I did 300 (212 of which were paid up-front. The remaining were extras, and many of those were “upgrades” I snuck in for friends and contributors) last time.

          The first 200 took forever, and I was despairing of ever finishing. Then I suddenly broke through some block, and was able to whip out Schlock at the rate of about 3 books every two minutes.

          This time around I’m going to practice ahead of time on some backer boards (similar surface) until I can do Schlock, Tagon, Ennesby, and maybe a couple of other characters quickly in a single, fluid pass. It’s not how I draw for the strip, but face it… there’s just not enough elbow grease in my poor elbow for me to do it the way I do strips.

          1. I got Legs last time, and she looked pretty awesome. Here’s hoping for Schlock this time! ^_^

            (Seriously, 800 estimated? That’s an awesome amount. Someone’s gonna need to get you some icy-hot patches for your hands, though…)

          3. XD I’m not sure about it just yet. Let’s see who we get in our sketch editions this time. ^_^ I’m kinda sentimental about it, given that it is the First Schlock book I got.

          4. Last time I got Chibi Schlock, and I was much pleased. (It’s nice actually being there when the sketch is being drawn!)

            Ironically, I wasn’t planning on getting a sketch edition the first time, then on an impulse decided to get it. Now I’ve trapped myself into a pattern. I’ll have two sketch editions (starting at the beginning of a series), which constitutes the beginning of a set. Now I’ll be forced to buy sketch editions for every single book! Curses! (In all the nicest possible ways, of course!)

          5. If the fates be kind

            I know who i’m gonna request… 🙂

            I can’t wait to see the final tally of sketch editions… I assume you “paid for the run, paid for the printer, a month’s salary” thing was not counting the 10 bucks for the defacing? Or does it?

            Either way, way to go Mr. Tayler…

            I wonder if there are any Schlockers in your area with a couch for me, or would be willing to get me at the airport/take me TO the airport… Hmmmm… Time to poke the community LJ…

          6. Wow, this is going to be tough.

            For the next book, perhaps use a two- or three-layered system. Say for $25 you can get a copy with a small and simple 1/4-page sketch in it. For $50 you can get a copy with a full-page slightly more complicated sketch. For $100 you can get a copy with a full-page more complicated sketch in color! This would net you more income from smaller and simpler sketches, with a few fancier ones for some extra dough.

            Something like that, anyway. Just a thought. Doing this same thing you’re about to for the 3rd book could end up with 1600 copies to sketch and that could be really painful.

        1. Don’t get ahead of yourself. My “800” was a projection based on trend analysis of the current slew of orders.

          If we hit exactly 800 at 0800 tomorrow I will be pleased by the serendipity of it all, but I will not be surprised.

          1. Well considering I just got order # 2003

            It looks like 900 sketch editions may not be out of the question.

            Good luck 🙂

            Sorry about the hand 🙁

  5. When you said “blown away” I had this image of Schlock with an oversized air cannon. ^_^

    And that’s great news; here’s to the power of “ominous hummmmmm…”

  7. Thank you! Especially for keeping the sketch pre-orders open longer this time around. I was disappointed I didn’t get a sketch of the first book, but I made sure to get the second sketch edition. One of these days I will get you to doodle in the first one. Come out to PA again on a date when I don’t already have something planned. 🙂

    I admire the way you’ve kept up Schlock so reliably for the years I’ve been reading along with making the transition to full time fun (although your drawing hand might disagree).

    1. “I admire the way you’ve kept up Schlock so reliably for the years.”

      I echo this sentiment. Of all the webcomics I read, yours is the only one that’s updated non-stop, every single day as scheduled.

      I’m very glad that you’re getting robust pre-order sales. You deserve them.

      Woot!

  9. As a sketch edition orderer, thank you for making a book I not only want to read but want to consider buying second copies of to throw at friends and go ‘YOU MUST READ THIS THEN BUY YOURSELF ONE!’.

    I note this puts you in a club with Emma Bull, whose ‘War For The Oaks’ is a book I thrust upon others.

Comments are closed.