Riyria Fantasy Novel: Disappearance of Winter's Daughter

Past Kickstarter T-shrits
over 6 years ago – Tue, Oct 31, 2017 at 03:59:51 PM

Hey all, Robin here. So I got the entire BackerKit setup and I will be pushing it live in a bit (still want to do some testing). There is an approval process so it may still be a few days before you get your portal login in. In the mean time, I'm going to make  available some of the leftover t-shirts from last Kickstarter. QUANTITIES ARE LIMITED. But it does mean that those who wanted Women's cut t-shirts may be able to find some they might like.  

So here's the deal. I'm listing the t-shirts below and if you send me a direct message (here on Backer Kit -- NOT through email), I'll put them in your backer kit shopping cart (essentially making them "reserved.)" Whatever aren't claimed via direct messages will be made available in the BackerKit store when you get your login access and they can be added to your carts be on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Prices will be the same as the T-shirts in the Kickstarter Project for the 1-ink print designs (Rose and Thorn & Riyria), which is $15 for small, medium, large, and XL, and $20 for 2XL - 5XL). The Montemorcy t-shirt is a 3-color printing so it's a little more expensive so add $5 for it ($20 for small, medium, large, and XL and $25 for 2XL - 5XL). You can pay for this through BackerKit, so don't worry if you don't have excess pledge money for add-ons.

So this is what we have:

• Montemorcey Unisex Black: 3-Medium | 4-Large | 5-XL 
• Women's Rose and Thorn Black: 1-Medium | 5-Large | 5 XL
• Women's Rose and Thorn Red: 4-XL
• Women's Riyria Black: 1-Small | 2-Medium | 4-Large | 4 XL
• Women's Riyria Red: 1-Medium | 5-Large | 4 XL
• Women's Riyria Coarl: 3-LG | 3-3XL
• Men's Riyria Grey: 5-Medium | 15-Large | 18-XL
• Men's Riyria Red: 2-Large | 4 XL
• Men's Riyria Black: 1-Large | 1 XL | 2 XL

To refresh your memory about the various designs, here they are here (and you can click on them to get a higher resolution version of the designs.

 

How to become a beta reader
over 6 years ago – Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 09:28:27 PM

In the project comments (or maybe it was the comments of the updates, I forget), someone asked about becoming a beta reader. I told them I'd put the details in the FAQ, but then found out you can't add FAQ's after the project is over, so I'm putting it here.

To become a beta reader you need to:

• Read the book you are beta reading for, rate each chapter on 4 metrics, and provide feedback regarding what you liked, didn't like, were surprised by, were confused by, and what you think will happen next.  You also have to fill out a "final survey" that covers the book as a whole.
• To learn full details, here is a link to a document that spells everything out.
• If after looking at the document you want to still sign up, here is the link to do that.

Kickstarter Wrap Update & Covers Reveal
over 6 years ago – Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 05:48:17 PM

Sorry it's taken a few days all, but we've been exhausted and needed a few days rest. But let's recap stuff.

• We've solved the audio problem, so we'll repeat the AMA -- and yes you can ask the same questions as the last AMA since some of the answers were "buzzed" out. It'll be next Thursday at 7:30 PM EDT here isa link to sign up. Sorry about the audio on the first one, but once we got it settled out it was a lot of fun.
• We ended well!  Hit the $80,000 goal and 2,075 backers. That puts it in #2 most-backed and #4 most funded of all time for fiction projects.  Thanks again for all the help.
• As for the winners of the guess where we end up contest. Dominic Nickel was the closest guess on number of backers - he guessed 2,078 - just off by 3 (.14%).  Todd Maines was the closest guess on amount pledged with $80,036 - just $296 off of the $80,332 raised. (just .37%)
• The printer proofs have been sent out, and yes there were some changes required. We are waiting on the second set of proofs (which we should have early next week then we'll be set to roll the presses. We'll keep everyone updated on those.
• Robin has BackerKit about 90% setup. It looks like it already imported people in so you should be getting access to your self-service portal soon - I'd say within a week.  It'll be important for you to do your surveys right away so we can get your names in the ebook. We'll let you know when it goes live.

Oh, and heres what the final covers ended up looking like:

For those who have read the other books you already know that each one has an icon that represents it. For The Death of Dulgath that was an artist's pallet, representing Sherwood Stow.  For this book it's a gargoyle which will become apparent when you hit the mist-filled streets of Rochelle (the setting of the book) which is littered with gargoyles on just about every building, bridge, and even carved into some of the cobblestones. Why? Gotta read the book to find out ;-)

I think that's about it for now. If there is anything you're curious about that we've not covered, feel free to ask here.

A video interview with Michael and Tim
over 6 years ago – Fri, Oct 27, 2017 at 05:19:19 PM

Hey all, Robin here. In our last day of recording in Newark, New Jersey, Tim had a few minutes before rushing home, so we cornered him to do a little video interview. I didn't want to keep him too long (it had been a long grueling week), but I thought you guys might enjoy seeing Michael and Tim together. So here goes.I should warn everyone. This was done with a handhold iPhone and so it's really shaky. Sorry about that but I had no way to set it in one place and record.

About the AMA
over 6 years ago – Fri, Oct 27, 2017 at 12:57:46 PM

Hey all, sorry we had audio issues for the start of the AMA - we eventually got it solved (tried three different microphones). Also, a lot of messages scrolled by so fast that we couldn't keep up with them. So...we'll be repeating the AMA in a few days and now that we know which microphone works, we hopefully won't have the buzzing issues. Gotta look at the schedule and see what day/time works best for the next AMA - will keep you updated.