The Fox's Wedding: a Compendium of Japanese Folklore

November Update
about 3 years ago – Thu, Nov 25, 2021 at 10:56:13 PM

Greetings yokai lovers, and Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to take the opportunity to fill you all in on the current status of delivery.

Everything is still moving a bit slower than normal due to coronavirus restrictions; basically every piece of the chain has a slower operating speed, which adds up due to all of the moving pieces; from the printer, to the trucks, to the warehouses.

I am currently waiting on one final shipment from the printer in Nagano Prefecture. In the meantime, most of the books (18 pallets!) are here now, and while waiting for the last shipment, I've been making sure everything is ready to move straight on to the fulfillment stage once that last shipment arrives. That last shipment is due shortly.

The fulfilment center for global orders (outside of North America) is located here in Japan, and so those will ship to backers in December. I think there's a chance that many of you will receive the books before Christmas, but I can't say that with 100% certainty.

In the case of North American orders, they will have to be loaded onto a boat and taken to California to reach the NA distribution center. Normally that takes a bit under a month from door-to-door, however the shipping situation in the US is in "utter chaos" and the freight companies I am working with have warned me that nothing is predictable in the US right now.

I know you how eager you all are to receive your books. Trust me, nobody is more eager than I am! I realize that delays are frustrating, even though they are common with Kickstarter projects. I appreciate how patient and understanding you all have been, and I hope you'll feel the wait was worth it when you see the final product.

I'll update again when the last delivery of books has arrived and everything finally goes out!

High Res Ebooks
about 3 years ago – Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 08:29:34 PM

Greetings yokai lovers!

Today I am starting distribution of ebooks in high-res epub format.

They are larger files than the previously distributed ebooks, so they will take up more space and may run slower on some ereaders. However, the images are much higher quality, so you will be able to enjoy the illustrations more. In particular, the maps were fairly small in the smaller ebook files, so they will be much more enjoyable in the high res versions.

You will be receiving download links shortly, or you can access the high-res downloads from your Backerkit downloads section.

Update on Shipping

Preparations for shipping are underway. The printer has reported to me that all of the books have been printed, and the final prints are undergoing binding now. They will be delivered to my warehouse next week or the following week, after which they will be sorted and shipped out.

I realize the big question on everyone's mind must be "Will these arrive by Christmas?" The answer is that I don't know. I think many of them will, but I also think that some of them probably will not. The reason for that is that, according to the words of my freight broker, the current situation at US ports is "utter chaos." In other words, even if I could ship them out today, no shipments are getting into the US right now. Boats are backed up for days, and freight costs are 5 times the normal. Which means that North America-bound books will almost certainly have further delays. 

I am looking into the cost of shipping the North America-bound books by plane instead of boat. If it's possible, I will choose that method, but I won't be able to make that estimate until everything is sorted and I have the exact weight and size of the palettes.

I'll update again in mid-November when I have more information with regards to shipping. 

For now, I hope everyone has a great Halloween, and please enjoy the high-resolution epubs!

September Update
about 3 years ago – Thu, Sep 30, 2021 at 12:30:48 AM

Greetings backers!

It's been a while since the last update, so it's time to share what's been going on for the past month. Here's the current state of things:

Ebook Distribution

Ebooks were distributed earlier this month. If you didn't get an email notification, you can access your downloads by visiting https://kitsune.backerkit.com/ and logging in.

Updated versions of all ebooks will be released in the next few weeks containing some tweaks and fixes. All of the fixes have been merged into the print books, so this will bring the PDFs up to date with those.

Books & Rewards Production

The books are currently printing as we speak. August and September were a very busy time, coordinating with the printer to get the colors just perfect. Because I'm using a local printer here in Japan rather than outsourcing to Korea, it took a lot of work to calibrate the colors to match the local ink standards.  Much more than I expected, in fact! But after a lot of work, the colors look perfect now. One of the benefits of printing locally is that I can go down to the printer regularly and monitor things to make sure they are going exactly the way they should. This time around I've had a lot more control and input over the printing than I did for previous printings. That has been both time consuming, and also satisfying.

During the last meeting I had with the printer, he told me that the first three books were done and The Fox's Wedding printing is currently under way. Covers are being printed, and after that the last step will be binding and slipcase production. The other rewards (postcards, prints, bookmarks) are already all produced and sorted, so everything is expected to be finished in October.

Shipping

Once all the books are printed and delivered to my storehouse, they have to be sorted and packed, then sent off to the fulfillment centers. There are two fulfillment centers: one in the US to cover US/Canada, and one here in Japan to cover the rest of the world. About 60% of the orders are in North America, so it is far more economical to distribute the packages from two locations. Because of coronavirus-related delays in global shipping, it could take up to a month for the packages to move from Japan to the US for final distribution.

It's still too early to say exactly when those shipping dates will be, because the possibility delays still hangs in the air. But I've been able to use this time while the books are printing to organize things with the freight and fulfilment companies to ensure that everything moves as quickly and smoothly as possible once the printing is finished.

If all goes well, I should have some photos to share with you of the newly printed books ready to be shipped within a couple of weeks!

Ebook distribution has begun!
over 3 years ago – Sun, Aug 29, 2021 at 11:08:00 PM

Greetings yokai fans!

Ebooks for The Fox's Wedding are being distributed by BackerKit today! It make take 24-48 hours for you to receive your download link, so if you don't get it right away check back in a few hours.

This is a huge milestone for the project, and it feels like the end is now in sight. Thank you all so much for supporting my work!

Just as with the earlier ebooks, these are distributed in two formats: PDF and epub. You will find a zip file containing both formats in your download, so you will need software capable of opening a zip file on whatever device you are using!

If you have any questions or problems, feel free to send me a message.

I hope you enjoy the book!

Yōkai 101 (Youtube Link)
over 3 years ago – Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 02:35:47 AM

Greetings yokai fans!

The Japan Society just shared the Youtube link to the Zoom lecture with Michael Dylan Foster and me from last week. So I just wanted to pass the link on to everyone, so I know many of you couldn't make it due to time zones or work, etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jGrBeBfNn8

- Matt