Do You Want a Last Chance?
We're about to print five limited editions
So, several requests for the special limited editions that are rapidly approaching “off to the printer” status have come in this week. The five special limited editions are:
The Iliad
The Odyssey
Guns of Mars
Death and the Devil
Out of the Shadows
We have time to turn on the sales for these books one last time for one week if there is sufficient demand for them. Remember, they’re expensive and they’re very limited editions. The latter three feature original chapter-heading artwork that doesn’t appear in any other editions, such as this one from Death and the Devil.
Anyhow, feel free to share your thoughts on the matter. It’s not something we need to do and it won’t delay anything at all, it will simply affect the number of book blocks that we order. Basically, it’s something we can do if there are subscribers who happen to be more interested in the books now that they know all three books have been very well-received in ebook form. With 86 total ratings for the three books so far, the average is 4.8 out of 5, so these are not your average run-of-the-mill literary mediocrities.
In other news, we continue to steadily progress toward full operational status at the bindery, as our leather-cutting setup is now the current state-of-the-art in the world of leather bookbinding. Whereas all other operations utilize a hand-cutting approach or a metal die-based clicker approach, we built our own computerized laser hide-cutting system so that we don’t have to wait for weeks to get the appropriate-sized dies made.
It may not look impressive, but we designed this system to permit us to cut out a complete print run’s worth of covers from hides of any size in a single morning. Even better, it allows us to instantly create a new cut size, from a large comic to a small chapterbook, in seconds instead of weeks.
Cathedra subscribers will be pleased to know that the first book in the series, The Everlasting Man, has gone to the printers. If you’re wondering why we haven’t been shipping many books other than The Byzantine Histories for Castalia History in recent months, there has been a lot of drama taking place behind the scenes with the US bindery over the last few months, and we will fill you in on what’s been happening later this week.
While scarcity might make my particular copies more valuable, I'd rather see the bindery succeed. That's why I backed in the first place. The more sales and revenue, the better. Go for it.
"If any have toiled from the first hour,
let them receive their due reward;
If any have come after the third hour,
let him with gratitude join in the Feast!
And he that arrived after the sixth hour,
let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.
And if any delayed until the ninth hour,
let him not hesitate; but let him come too.
And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour,
let him not be afraid by reason of his delay.
For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour,
as well as to him that toiled from the first."
https://anglicansonline.org/special/Easter/chrysostom_easter.html
More impressive than the laser cutter, able to cut a print run of letter in a day is this: solving the problem space, and not as single applications. Much more effective and flexible, and at least as efficient for individual runs.