John Wagner was very successful funding the new Bogie Man collection, but it is a bit of a risk funding a gorgeous full colour collection like Sha. So, I'm on the side of funding each volume separately.
Whichever option has the best risk v profit is the one to go for.
Personally, I'd prefer separate editions of the three volumes as they were originally released. Perhaps with the option of either soft or hard covers although this will likely complicate matters unless people are happy paying different tiers.
If three volumes, would they all come out at the same time or over a period of time? Cost-wise I’d prefer the latter. If three separate volumes would arrive simultaneously, then I’d prefer a single volume, again to keep cost down.
There can be a huge difference between what would be preferable for some (like me) and what would be commercially viable. Difficult to guage as, I suspect, those of us who are engaged already would go with either option.
I'd prefer an omnibus edition, in case you/Olivier/Kickstarter lose enthusiasm after reprinting volume 1 and decide not to continue with the others. But if you decide to re-release the original volumes one by one, I will buy them that way.
I'm at abit at loss. If the funding goal of a kickstarter is realistic and pays for all the costs, pays the authors and all the extra work they will do, then there is no real financial risk, right?
You do lose the time you've put into the campaign, but you're not obliged to make the book print ready before the campaign, right?
I've heard of people who do all the work (in this case: get the book print ready with all the extra pages drawn and all the extras written) before the campaign. Some people draw a whole book before they do a campaign. They lose a lot of time and money if the campaign bombs, but that's their choice and their risk to take, right?
You can set up a campaign for a book like this without having to do a whole lot of extra work. If there is interest and the funding goal is reached, that's when you do all the extra work. That's less financial risk, probably?
You're right in that as we aren't originating, there's not a lot of cost. But there are still associated costs:
Lettering in English is a substantial cost if we do all three volumes at once. Much more reasonable outlay if we just letter the first 48 pages.
There's more work involved in assembling an omnibus. The pages are TIFFS and have to be loaded into a publishing program to export to PDF. It's just a bigger job if there's more pages.
The proof copies are a lot more expensive, because a one-off print on demand for that type of book is pricey. So if you need to get a second, or even a third proof, to fix errors, plus postage from the UK to Spain, the costs are mounting and they need to be offset against the KS campaign goal.
We would need to charge a lot more for the omnibus, so we may put off people who just can't afford that kind of price, and so we have priced ourselves out of a successful campaign. This may not be an issue, because enough people may see it as a highly desirable collection. But it doubtless will filter out some budgets.
Thanks for your extensive answer. I didn't know most of those things. You learn something new every day. 😀
In that case I would like to revise my answer: I love omnibusses, but I would prefer a campaign that has the best chance of succes to get the English edition in our hands and benefits the authors financially in the best possible way.
I've got the Dutch versions but I'm in the process of replacing them with English versions. The translations in Dutch are sadly abominable most of the time. I just finished replacing my copies of Slaine, so I would love Sha in English, one way or another!
Related question: are there plans for reprinting the Brutania Chronicles? Book One is sold out everywhere and is going secondhand for crazy prices...
John Wagner was very successful funding the new Bogie Man collection, but it is a bit of a risk funding a gorgeous full colour collection like Sha. So, I'm on the side of funding each volume separately.
I agree with that.
If it reduces risk to you I’d happily purchase separate volumes. I’d prefer hardback though.
Whichever option has the best risk v profit is the one to go for.
Personally, I'd prefer separate editions of the three volumes as they were originally released. Perhaps with the option of either soft or hard covers although this will likely complicate matters unless people are happy paying different tiers.
If three volumes, would they all come out at the same time or over a period of time? Cost-wise I’d prefer the latter. If three separate volumes would arrive simultaneously, then I’d prefer a single volume, again to keep cost down.
If we go for three volumes they'd be staggered, over several months.
There can be a huge difference between what would be preferable for some (like me) and what would be commercially viable. Difficult to guage as, I suspect, those of us who are engaged already would go with either option.
Big, fat omnibus for me!
I'd prefer an omnibus edition, in case you/Olivier/Kickstarter lose enthusiasm after reprinting volume 1 and decide not to continue with the others. But if you decide to re-release the original volumes one by one, I will buy them that way.
I'm at abit at loss. If the funding goal of a kickstarter is realistic and pays for all the costs, pays the authors and all the extra work they will do, then there is no real financial risk, right?
You do lose the time you've put into the campaign, but you're not obliged to make the book print ready before the campaign, right?
I've heard of people who do all the work (in this case: get the book print ready with all the extra pages drawn and all the extras written) before the campaign. Some people draw a whole book before they do a campaign. They lose a lot of time and money if the campaign bombs, but that's their choice and their risk to take, right?
You can set up a campaign for a book like this without having to do a whole lot of extra work. If there is interest and the funding goal is reached, that's when you do all the extra work. That's less financial risk, probably?
Or am I seeing this wrong?
You're right in that as we aren't originating, there's not a lot of cost. But there are still associated costs:
Lettering in English is a substantial cost if we do all three volumes at once. Much more reasonable outlay if we just letter the first 48 pages.
There's more work involved in assembling an omnibus. The pages are TIFFS and have to be loaded into a publishing program to export to PDF. It's just a bigger job if there's more pages.
The proof copies are a lot more expensive, because a one-off print on demand for that type of book is pricey. So if you need to get a second, or even a third proof, to fix errors, plus postage from the UK to Spain, the costs are mounting and they need to be offset against the KS campaign goal.
We would need to charge a lot more for the omnibus, so we may put off people who just can't afford that kind of price, and so we have priced ourselves out of a successful campaign. This may not be an issue, because enough people may see it as a highly desirable collection. But it doubtless will filter out some budgets.
Thanks for your extensive answer. I didn't know most of those things. You learn something new every day. 😀
In that case I would like to revise my answer: I love omnibusses, but I would prefer a campaign that has the best chance of succes to get the English edition in our hands and benefits the authors financially in the best possible way.
I've got the Dutch versions but I'm in the process of replacing them with English versions. The translations in Dutch are sadly abominable most of the time. I just finished replacing my copies of Slaine, so I would love Sha in English, one way or another!
Related question: are there plans for reprinting the Brutania Chronicles? Book One is sold out everywhere and is going secondhand for crazy prices...
Sorry for my English, by the way, and for using "right" at the end of three sentences, right?
Happy to support both options but prefer 3 separate volumes, especially if that reduces your risk