CURSE WORDS: THE HOLE DAMN THING 768 PG HC

Shipping update n' stuffs
about 3 years ago – Fri, Feb 05, 2021 at 09:06:47 AM

Howdy, gang! 

Ryan here with a quick update about the shipping process. Currently this fulfillment company has shipped 886 of the 1467 packages with about 95 percent accuracy--which is good-ish. It's exciting to see so many books out in the wild and we feel sorry for your shelf and it's new defined sag.

If you got your book you can stop reading this update. If you are still waiting, see below this unused picture of me as Wizord for the photo cover of Curse Words 1 third printing. 

So! If you get the wrong thing or any small/big thing is missing please continue to message me and them following the instructions at the bottom of this update. If you are in the US and don't have a tracking email from FEDEX then almost certainly your book hasn't been shipped yet. There are still 581 pending shipments and from what I've seen they haven't necessarily been processing books in any particular backer order.

International backers, as far as I've seen nothing has arrived overseas and DHL has yet to send those out to you. You will get tracking via email once they leave DHLs hub and we appreciate your patience.

AND AND! If you have any questions on if your package has shipped, please feel free to message me through this kickstarter and I will personally look it up for you. The least I can do. I have this portal of mostly vague information at the fulfillment company and I can at least see if your package has gone out and if so what the tracking number is. Just send me a message and don't post in the comments below so I can makes sure your info is only for you.

This has become a tough and stressful experience on our end and this delay is certainly not what you deserve. This was all supposed to be so fun--thankfully the book is still an awesome book and you will love it!

Rest assured that… 

1: Charles and I are working on this every single day and I am always here to respond. 

2: We will never hire this company again. 

3: NO MATTER WHAT YOU WILL GET YOUR BOOKS AND IN GOOD CONDITION--even if it means I have to rescue the books from the warehouse and start personally mailing things.

THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE. THIS BOOK RULES AND YOU WILL KNOW FIRST HAND SOON--AND THAT'S A BROWNETOWNE PROMISE!

RYAN

THOSE INSTRUCTIONS FOR IF YOU HAVE DAMAGED/MISSING ITEMS.

• Email the fulfillment company at [email protected]

• Tell them your first and last name for shipping purposes and that you backed THE CURSE WORDS Kickstarter.

• Let them know what item is damaged OR if something is missing.

• If an item is damaged, please send them a photo of the damage so they can report it to FedEx and FedEx can take the fall!

• AND! If you feel like it, message us through this Kickstarter so we know what's going on just in case we have to get up in people's faces on your behalf.

Books are flowing! Let us know if you have any issues.
about 3 years ago – Sat, Jan 30, 2021 at 09:40:39 PM

Howdy, gang!

Quick and considerably better update for y'all! Books are in transit as we speak and many have already arrived. Love seeing the posts of happy heavy books on your poor, poor shelves--so keep them coming! Books in the US are being sent via Fedex (you'll get tracking) and internationally I think it's DHL.

IF! Your book comes to your home with some degree of damage or if something is missing we will certainly replace it for you. The warehouse does a pretty great job at packaging but if you have any dings or dents here's what you need to do.

• Email the fulfillment company at [email protected]

• Tell them your first and last name for shipping purposes and that you backed THE CURSE WORDS Kickstarter.

• Let them know what item is damaged OR if something is missing. 

• If an item is damaged, please send them a photo of the damage so they can report it to FedEx and FedEx can take the fall!

• AND! If you feel like it, message us through this Kickstarter so we know what's going on just in case we have to get up in people's faces on your behalf. 

And that should solve it! In my Kickstarter shipping experience, it doesn't matter how well you pack--you will get some damages. AND this book is super heavy so damages can be more severe as it crushes under it's own wonderful weight. I've even had packages show up as just a destroyed empty box. BUT! That's what always happens and it's on us and we will make it right. Part of shipping 1600 packages and what we expect. 

HOPE YOU GUYS ALL GET YOUR BOOKS SOON AND THEY ARE WONDERFUL AND PRISTINE! YOU RULE! THANKS FOR YOU PATIENCE!

RYAN (and Charles)

P.S. as a reminder the vinyl albums are shipping later in the year when Charles finishes it.

HERE’S THE LATEST
over 3 years ago – Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 11:26:03 PM

Hey, friends! Time for another update, and the fact that I’m not just typing “everything is shipped enjoy your books and drawings and so on” makes me sick to my stomach! Yay!

However, that’s not where we are, and so I wanted to let you know where it all currently stands. First off - everything seems to be very, very close. For all we know, it’ll all get in the mail tomorrow - but as of this writing, all the domestic shipments are in FedEx’s system, and they’re just dealing with their own backlog before it all goes out.

We alluded in the last update to the fact that the Kickstarter got REAL SUCCESSFUL ON US, and so we hired an outside fulfillment company to make sure that every last package was sent on time and to the right spot. We chose this particular group based on the recommendation of a colleague, and they’ve handled some massive boardgame Kickstarters, so it wasn’t a totally blind choice. However, it has been, to use a curse word (heh) - a shitshow. They had what they needed to ship at least some of the packages before the holidays, due to some pretty Herculean efforts (mostly by Ryan, but also some by me!). However, we ran afoul of some internal policies of theirs they didn’t alert us to ahead of time which pushed us into the New Year.

We double-triple-quadruple verified that January 13 ship date with them that we told you about in a prior update - and when they didn’t hit it, their response was basically a virtual, socially-distanced shrug.

I’m not going to name names here, but it’s been extremely frustrating. (That said, if you’re one of our comics friends running a Kickstarter with a big fulfillment and are looking to hire an outside company, please reach out and we’ll warn you off these folks.)

We feel TERRIBLE about this. We value you all, your faith in us and your investment in our work. This isn’t how we wanted any of this to go. We’ve been on them every day, and will continue to do so until every last package is shipped. As I mentioned above, it seems very close - we have FedEx tracking numbers for hundreds upon hundreds of packages - it’s just about when FedEx gets them moving. Hopefully any day - but we didn’t feel comfortable waiting any longer without updating you.

As a small form of apology for the delay, Ryan and I are whipping up a quick little additional digital reward just for you, which you’ll have in your inboxes soon. And before you know it... the actual books!

To demonstrate our total commitment to this Kickstarter, we have partially transformed Ryan’s beloved young son into a koala!

We are sorry about this. Please yell at us in the comments. It’s what they’re there for.

Best,

Charles

(And Ryan)

Last Last Last Final Call for Address Changes, Finally.
over 3 years ago – Wed, Jan 06, 2021 at 07:08:54 PM

Hey all! Shipping date for EVERYTHING is almost here! If you need a final address change, please message me through this Kickstarter with the new address and I can manually update the spreadsheet. Final call! Almost done! Can't wait for y'all to have y'alls books, y'all! YEEHAW!

Here are a few of the sketches scripted by Charles and drawn by me. FUN TIMES!

Ryan

UPDATE on FULFILLMENT at LAST!
over 3 years ago – Sun, Jan 03, 2021 at 04:20:36 PM

Happy New Year, friends - to celebrate the turn of the calendar, we wanted to get you an update on where things stand with shipping on the CURSE WORDS - THE HOLE DAMNED THING omnibus. It's been a bit of a ride, which you can read about below if you like, but here's the most important bit of information: packages should begin shipping on January 13. We've confirmed that date, which means the omnibus should be stressing your bookshelves' load capacity shortly thereafter.

So.... we originally intended to have these books to you in the fall. What gives? Well, COVID-19 played a huge role, as it seems to do with just about every facet of life these days. We weren't able to get the books in-hand until November (they were printed in and shipped from Korea, which meant boats, and customs, and... it took a while.) Then, we ran up against a complication from you guys being JUST TOO AWESOME. Because of the huge, overwhelming success of this Kickstarter, we quickly realized we would need help fulfilling the orders. We found some great help, but we entered a terrifying world filled with thousand-pound pallets and forklifts and cavernous warehouses... all good stuff, but we had to play by their rules in order to make it work. One such rule was that they wouldn't start shipping until they had every piece of every package in-hand, which meant things like the hundreds of sketches, Curse and Spell cards, pins, t-shirts... all of it. That took an enormous amount of time for Ryan and I to complete. I'll take a hit on that, too, because I am just straight up not as fast an artist as Ryan is (or really much of an artist at all), and I had a zillion sketches to draw. But we did it all! Here are some shots of the art we included in your books - battle sketches, "War Stars" drawings, curse cards, Ryan's "really good drawings" (which are really good, and you can see tons of on his Instagram: Ryan Browne? (@ryanbrowneart) • Instagram photos and videos) and more. Once again: WE DID IT!

Anyway, it's all done now, and it's pretty beautiful. Here are some shots of the pallets of all the sketched-in omnibuses, BackerKit extras, signed bookplates, you name it. Thousands of pounds of Curse-y Words-y goodness, all for you... and this is just the stuff Ryan and I touched. There are thousands of additional pounds of omnibuses at the warehouse. Exciting!

Believe you me, Ryan and I wanted very much to get you your books back in late 2020, but it just wasn't in the cards. We were truly victims of your awesomeness. You did this. YOU DID THIS.

And we love you for it. Thank you, here's to 2021, and we can't wait to start hearing what you guys think once you have the books in-hand!

--Charles

P.S. Yes, I'm working on the concept album - it's coming along well, and I got some cool new gear that I think will help it sounds even better than it was originally going to. It's ... funny, and strange, and pretty sweet. There's a song called "The Ballad of Ruby Stitch," and one called "Jacques Zacques Rock," and "Mr. Magic Man," and it all fits together as sort of a rock opera re-telling the story of the comic.