Steve Rude presents NEXUS: THE COMING OF GOURMANDO in both an oversized Deluxe edition and trade paperback format.
We just got word from the printer that barring delays on their end, they should be able to ship out to us end of March with an in house date by April 5th. We will check back as that date gets closer.
Vootie!!
Jaynelle Rude
The new “ultimate exclusive” only refers to the fact that this is limited (we set the print run based on Kickstarter sales and will not be going back to print) and right now only available on presale. YOU WILL RECEIVE THE 12X17" VERSION OF THE BOOK. THERE WILL NOT BE A 10X15" BOOK PRINTED. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KICKSTARTER AND INDIEGOGO EXCEPT THEY ARE PAYING MORE FOR THE SAME ITEMS.
As a Kickstarter backer your package is both better and less expensive.
The Gourmando project has been complicated from the beginning as the script came in pieces instead of a whole. At the end Steve literally spent 2 years rewriting, editing, redrawing, editing again, only to finally end up with this 90 page book (it was originally 72 pages).
NOTE: I messed up on the sizing. It's 12x17" not 12x15".
The Kickstarter book was 320 pages with the stretch goals added in. Steve stepped in once we got the mock ups and proofs and vetoed the size sending us back to the designer to enlarge the book to 12x17.
The book you receive will be 12x17. There will not be a 10x15 book printed.
Prints, coins, and all other extras are in house. I am signing off on the TPB now - just waiting for one last page that was still wrong.
If you are a Patreon and concerned about the "Patreon Exclusive Discount", I can look at your order and see where you are price wise compared to the Indiegogo. I am always happy to extend offers that were not available when you placed your order.
We are trying to be fair, but we need to fund both this project and Steve is currently working on Thuneworld without compensation.
I’m going to make future Kickstarters more streamlined. In an attempt to make everyone happy I end up confusing everyone. I’m a pleaser and that’s not a good quality for Kickstarters. The next Kickstarter will look more like this current Indiegogo.
I brought on 2 girls part time. 1 is an inventory guru and is going to get everything in the office inventoried, and the other is organized and is helping me keep on top of things better.
Having finally finished Gourmando, and having designers AND and editor in place, we are working in 10 page sections and the designers are able to place pages in the book as we go along so by the time the Kickstarter runs the book is already finished. I wish we were independently wealthy or this could all be done via Dark Horse, but they want finished files and they say the AE is too expensive so they will print a reduced version, but Steve will be working on the book for months with no income. That brings us to running the Sketchbook Kickstarter around the same time Gourmando TPB arrives in house.
The sketchbook will likely look like…
(1) Download only
(2) Unsigned Cover - no extras
(3) Signed cover with extras
(4) Signed cover with extras and blank cover - marker (Free Worldwide Shipping)
(5) Signed cover with extras and blank cover - painted (Free Worldwide Shipping)
I will still do the 3 tier pricing (early bird, supporter, never too late)
Add ons for straightforward rewards (past year book, chronicles, etc), but nothing fancy or difficult. It confuses backers and my shippers.
As noted in our last updated, we have just launched a 2nd campaign at IndieGoGo. Quantities are limited as the book is currently at the printer and the print run is set.
The TPB corrected pages are with the printer and we are expecting a corrected softcover (PDF) for review Monday. Copies should be in house by May as the printer is in the USA so turn around from start to in hands is 4-6 weeks.
The hardcover has been expanded to 320 pages and enlarged to 12x15" making it over double the typical "Artist Edition" size, but it's going to be gorgeous! I am printing a hardcopy of the newly expanded book that I will be shipping to the printer in Hong Kong for color matching. Pending customs or other unforseen delays we should have books in hand by late June/early July. Turn around is 4 weeks with another 4-6 weeks for shipping.
Prices are slightly higher than the Kickstarter run with limited options.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nexus-the-coming-of-gourmando
Thank you in advance for your support! As always we remain true to putting out the highest quality product. Hopefully I will have another update in a week or so letting you know the hardcover is off to printing!
Apologies to everyone for my delay in getting back to things here. An old injury from a rollover car accident flared up so I've been doing physical therapy. I also am bringing 2 new girls on board to help me keep up with things so I've been training them and trying to keep up with the frustration which is the back and forth with the printers! I actually started this update 2 weeks ago.
Do it right the first time...
We finally received a mock up of the Trade paperback a few weeks ago, a color proof of the cover and about a dozen random interior pages for color accuracy. The colors look great as does the cover. The mock up is good. The only problem - The Nexus: Origin looks like a 3rd generation copy! Not sure what happened there, but that definitely has to be fixed before we go to print! If we can get this fixed quickly we should have the trade in hand by early April.
We were able to get the resolution issue fixed and found 2 pages with empty word balloons so those have been fixed. Sending in the final final changes today and hope to actually start printing next week. I will also be posting updated digital files.
This also holds up the version coming from Dark Horse as they are using our files. Our turn around start to ship is 4-6 weeks as we are printing here in the USA.
We finally got the mock up from Hong Kong. The colors were so bad Steve can't even look at them. This isn't our first time dealing with a Hong Kong printer so we were shocked at the quality of the proofs. Our biggest challenge was is their plant was closed from 8th Feb to 21st Feb due to the Chinese New Year Holiday.
NEXT PROBLEM: SIZE
After looking over the size Steve says it's too small and he will forever regret not making it 12x17. The designer went through and changed every single page, is now updating the case and because the color proofs were so bad I am printing and sending the printer a full mock up of approved colors to work from.
We won't send the book to print until it's done correctly with minimal errors and colors are approved. There's nothing worse than beautiful art marred by too dark printing.
This is an exclusive edition and we do not have plans to reprint it so we want to get it right the first time. This also sets the standard for future books.
Gourmando was started in 2014 and will finally see print this year. It's been a long time coming, and we are excited to finally see the nearly 10 year project go to print.
Not everyone qualified to receive the Flexidisc download. If you did not receive it and think you should have please send me a message via Kickstarter or to [email protected] and I'll look at the account and get back to you. I'm trying to teach the new girls how to do that, but for right now it's just me. Uploads, downloads, processing, emails, it's all me with no backup so thank you in advance for your patience and I can't always reply promptly.
I also know the downloads were really big. I was trying to do a happy medium between file size while not compromising quality. The end result was a file that was too big. I had the designer redo the files and will be posting smaller files. I'll do another update once that is done.
To fund the updated costing expense we plan to take Gourmando to IndieGoGo. The packages there will be the same as what was offered here. We will be fulfilling Kickstarter orders first.
Steve is finished with the Thuneworld script and is already working on the art. He and Baron have taken different directions with the story, so this is 100% Rude. Steve is writing, penciling, inking, and lettering. We are giving regular peeks and updates on our Patreon page (Patreon/steverude).
Our Instagram page was hacked and we were unsuccessful in getting it back so we've started a new page... @steverudethedude
With the help of the new girls we are making sure all the inventory is actually in the online store (steverude.com), and Steve is doing weekly livestreams at 2pm weekly on Thursday's (SteveRude.com/closetcollection for details).
The download rewards have been distributed and can be viewed on the digital reward page in their survey.
We are currently anticipating an early March ship date for the TPB and an April ship date for the Hardcover editions.
To access your survey go to https://nexus-gourmando.backerkit.com/.
Once you're logged in you can view your digital downloads and this is also where you can update your address.
Let me know if you have any further issues. The support team at Backerkit can help you faster than I can. They are available at the above link. Click Need Help? View FAQ. There is a button on the next page to "Contact Us".
Vootie!
Jaynelle