August Update - Shipping Soon (TM)
over 2 years ago – Tue, Aug 01, 2023 at 10:28:25 AM

Hey Everyone,

Long overdue update here! 

So, since we last spoke the books have finished printing and are now squarely on a boat (a process that took a couple of weeks longer than we expected), and our final invoice to the manufacturer and the freight  has been paid. With that said, we have definitive window that we don't anticipate moving any further with the finish line in sight. 

Fulfillment - September 

Our eta for shipping is September '23. We don’t anticipate any further delays from that date - but hey stranger things have happened. At the current moment we are finalizing shipping rates and will update soon once those are in place on Backerkit.

We wanted this update to include those rates, but it’s been a whirlwind few weeks between San Diego Comic-Con and Gen Con and before we knew it the month of July flew by. Apologies for not updating this past month - we got caught up in the “let’s wait until we have some real news” holding pattern that resulted in radio silence.

San Diego Comic-Con

As far as San Diego Comic-Con went, it was a good time at our new booth in Indie Pavilion Press. Thank you to everyone who dropped by expressing their eagerness to get the books. It was a bit embarrassing attending the show when we haven’t fulfilled yet, and I think that also contributed to the hesitation in putting out an update.

We did have a few sample copies of Skies on hand to display at the booth, but we were only taking preorders for people at the show to be shipped the same time backers would be.

We also had an amazing fan, Jeff Overmars, cosplay as Billy Everett! 

It’s the second time someone has dressed up as one of our characters, and honestly is such an overwhelming honor every time. We never know quite how to react, but it fills us with an incredible joy that’s really hard to express in words.

Thank you all for the support in what is becoming an incredibly long drawn project. Apologies again for the delay in update, but the next one should be right around the corner when we have shipping rates locked.

- Ray and Vince

Greetings from Umbria!
almost 3 years ago – Mon, Jun 19, 2023 at 01:51:50 PM

Quality Control, Proofs, Delays
almost 3 years ago – Wed, May 03, 2023 at 09:10:23 PM

Hey Everyone,

So a lot of you have been clamoring for updates. Not great news - we are delayed again.

Since our last update we've had a lot of back and forth with the printer on sourcing materials and getting new proofs. Initially, the printer said they would take an additional two weeks but we did have a number of things we wanted to see addressed from the samples they sent us and we showed last update. 

Among these were: 

• Soft Spine. We wanted these stiffer and not so squishy. 
• Standard Slipcase. The image was slightly off center in the proof. The printer also thought we were printing these blue instead of wrapping them in cloth to match the spines. 
• Kraft End Sheets. We insisted that the printer source kraft sheets instead of printing them which led to a chase for supplies.  
• Collector's Edition Proofs. We wanted to see the effects of both the gold foil and the white on the cloth covers.

We've been in constant contact with the printer and they're doing their best, but it's been a lot of back and forth over the last few weeks. At the current moment we're still pushing from that second set of proofs after seeing some pictures, but that is the current hold up. 

The good news is we and the printer are getting there and communication has been consistent between us throughout - it's just a little bit longer in terms of QC than we thought.  We're working on it, though, and everyone is keenly aware of the time it's taking.

Updated Timeline

• Lock Printers and Pay Deposit - Completed
• Digital Reward Distribution - Completed
• Book Manufacturing - Been stuck here... May 2023
  Ocean Freight to Warehouses - June 2023
• Backer Fulfillment - July to August '23

Shipping Estimates

As far as shipping rates, definitely still a whiles off from inputing them into BackerKit. We did just lock CBR+PNK: Augmented for shipping and did a post on what those rates ended up being which is over here.  I suspect that Skies of Fire will be slightly cheaper to ship in the USA than that project and a little bit more expensive in every other region. 

----

That's the update folks. Sorry for the bad news. Let me know comments, questions, thoughts below. 

- Ray and Vince 

Proofs & Rebrand!
about 3 years ago – Fri, Mar 24, 2023 at 01:59:53 PM

Hey Everyone, 

We have the first set of physical proofs! 

Proofs

They look pretty good for the most part. There were a couple of things we noticed that we gave feedback on and we're probably going to ask for another round or two before we go into production.  

Also, please note that between the 1st Edition and 2nd Edition Skies of Fire: Book 1 Prints, there will be some differences. We've decided to shorten the width of the clothbound spine.  This matches with our recent printing of Glow: Book 1, but will be slightly smaller in width than the first edition of  Skies: Book 1.

The actual fabric itself is also not 100% the same color, as it was impossible to source that exact same material. That said, they are very close. 

Mythworks Rebrand

We're rebranding! For the past eight years we've been known as Mythopoeia, after the J.R.R. Tolkien poem. We love the word as it encapsulates everything we strive to do: create worlds through mythology, meaning through words. 

But, over the years we've found that many people have a hard time both pronouncing and spelling the word! Seriously, almost every time it gets brought up in conversation it's almost always followed by us correcting someone's pronunciation or them asking how to spell it.

So, with that in mind we've decided to rebrand our company as Mythworks. 

We chose Mythworks because it, too, reflects what we do and believe,

Mythworks can mean many things:

• The works of myth, describing our craft.
• Myths work because they hold the magic of creation. 
• Myth.works is convient to remember and type out, like for a website :)

Behind the scenes, we've also been gearing up for a big revamp of our website, migrating from Weebly to Shopify. We're almost ready to launch - not quite yet, but soon - but wanted to let you all know here first! The Skies of Fire: Collected Editions will have Mythworks branding on it rather than Mythopoeia. 

-----

Alright, that's it for this update! Stay tuned as we grab more proofs! 

- Ray and Vince 

March Update - Skies of Fire: Remastered Edition
about 3 years ago – Fri, Feb 24, 2023 at 10:40:33 AM

Hey Everyone,

We've gone gold! After months of tedious back and forth work, all ~200 or so changes that we had remaining have now been completed, including the aforementioned changes to the last issue of Skies of Fire and the ending sequence. In fact, Issue #8 probably has the most noticeable changes, with most of the others executed being very subtle and probably unnoticeable to the average reader. 

We've updated the Digital Files on the download page accordingly. Please go to the link provided in direct message previously to download the files! DM If you need it again :P 

You can find the full list of changes here. This was the working document we used to track our progress. The links inside might not work, but those were specific screenshots of the change at hand much like the example I used in our last post. 

Timeline

Here's where we're at with the updated timeline: 

•  Lock Printers and Pay Deposit - Completed
•  Digital Reward Distribution - Completed
•  Book Manufacturing -  March to April 23
•  Ocean Freight to Warehouses - April to May 23
•  Backer Fulfillment - May to June 23

Currently locking proofs with our printer. He gave us the OK on the digital files, so now we're going to move onto physical proofs (a must for a project like this) and he's told us that he will need to custom order the clothbound we used for our previous edition in order to match. 

Next update, we'll hopefully have those physical proofs in hand! 

Glow: #1-6: A Post-Apocalyptic Techno-Fantasy Odyssey

Also, we have another campaign up for our other comic series, Glow. This one is for the next two issues, #5-6, although there are tiers to catch up on the series as well. This one has more of a coming of age, odyssey vibe, so if that's up your alley check it out! 

----

Onwards and upwards! 

- Ray and Vince