For a number of years I have jokingly referred to the tower of overstock books and comics in the basement as the “Mountain Of Broken Dreams”.

For a long time the dream of being a successful self publisher/comic creator seemed out of reach and the sheer volume of dead stock in the basement was a daily reminder.

Tuesday night, in anticipation of the new books arriving, I removed all the boxes from the pallet in the basement and reorganized and re-stacked them. I put the boxes of single comics to the side and lay down two solid layers of Wahoo Morris Book One boxes on the pallet and a single row on top near the back end. Then I re-stacked the dead-stock single comics as an end cap at the back in one teetering row with my 4 remaining boxes of the Free Comic Day Book easily accessible.

Today I filled in the space with three layers of Wahoo Morris Book 2 and put my active convention stock boxes on top. As is, I can access a good chunk of all the different books I’ll need without having to go digging. Previously all my Free Comic Book Day Books were on the very bottom of the stack! Very poor planning.

So, now the mountain needs a new name as it is no longer a “Mountain of Broken Dreams” and is instead a mountain of saleable books. It might take me a few years, but the only thing stopping me from whittling the pile down is my sales technique! Now there is only a teetering and towering “End-Cap of Broken Dreams”, but I’ll eventually use all those books as give-away teasers, so they’ll go too!

I now see a “Mountain of Possibilities”.

And I’m starting to plan the next layer!

The Books came today!

Well, yesterday actually, as I am writing this Tuesday afternoon, but let’s not complicate things! 🙂

The truck arrived just after breakfast delivering 1300 copies of WAHOO MORRIS Book 2 in 21 boxes. They are going in the basement with the rest of my stock, so I had them drop the pallet on the driveway and I carried them in one box at a time.

It’s a feeling that never gets old, holding a book you created in your hands for the first time.
And, while I’m having the usual feelings of insecurity over the quality of the story and art (all artists deep down fear that they are actually terrible), I’m pretty happy with the way the books look and turned out.

I think it’s a nice looking book if I do say so myself and the prettiest package I’ve ever turned out! 🙂

Now, I have to figure out what to do with all these books!

I’ll be shipping out Kickstarter rewards starting this week, but that’s only going to account for a tiny fraction of the print run.

I’m currently working on getting the books into comic shops, but that’s a few months away.

In the meantime I have to store them. Ack!

Happy New Year to one and all!

I’ve been back at work for a week and have been ticking tasks off the to-do list for getting the Wahoo Morris Kickstarter fulfilled.

The bookmarks arrived yesterday to go alongside the Bookplates that arrived before Christmas.

I think the actual book itself is done, as of yesterday.

Though I will probably triple check all the files a couple more times before sending everything to the printer. It’s been a while since I’ve done this so I want to make sure the colour separations and trapping is all done properly. I don’t want any spelling mistakes or printing boo-boos to suddenly appear when i get the book back from the printer.

After I send the book to the printer, the mini-poster will be the only physical thing left to get done before shipping out rewards to the Kickstarter backers.

It’s getting close!

The Wahoo Morris Kickstarter was a success.

The final tally came in at $3763 with the support of 89 backers.

I couldn’t be happier with the result, and wish I could thank everyone who pledged, shared and tweeted in person. I couldn’t have done it without you!

So, WAHOO MORRIS Book 2 will be going to print the first week of January.

I expect to have the books in my hand in mid to late February, and I will add them to the store as soon as all the pledge rewards have been sent out to all the backers.

The Kickstarter campaign to fund and pre-sell Wahoo Morris Book 2 is into the final stretch and hopefully heading towards the goal post.

As of this writing it is at 86% funded with $460 dollars to go to reach the finish line. The campaign is all-or-nothing or else I would already be out celebrating as I’ve raised enough money to print the book and the extras, and hopefully most of the shipping. I’m basically short the amount I need to pay the Kickstarter fees! Oh, and actually get any money, obviously. 🙂

I’m still optimistic that I will get there. There is usually a flurry of pledges in the last 48 hours when the saved notifications go out and folks decide to get off the fence or not.

There are no guarantees though, so if you are on the fence, I have a few bonus rewards to sweeten the pot, and a few stretch goals to encourage upgrades:

WAHOO MORRIS COMPANION – ALL backers at the $8 and above level will get a bonus PDF digital download of this Sketch Book/ Art Book/ Script Book. It is still being designed, but will contain every piece of art, sketch or doodle I can find that is not already printed in Wahoo Morris Book 1 & 2.

DIGITAL COMICS BUNDLE – ALL backers at the $12 and above level will get a bonus collection of PDF digital comics that collect every creator owned short story I have ever completed as well as the Bonus Wahoo Morris Companion. It will be 6 or 7 PDF comics including some of my best work to some of my earliest work. Watch my art progress over a couple hundred pages of art and a span of over 20 years!

BOOKMARKS – ALL Physical Backers will get a double sided bookmark as well as the bonus digital content above.

$3750 – All physical backers of Wahoo Morris Book 2 or Book Bundles and up will get a 6×9 mini print included. Offered as a bonus Digital Wallpaper for backers of digital Wahoo Morris Book 2  or the digital Book Bundle.

$4000 – All physical backers of Wahoo Morris Book 2 or Book Bundles and up will get a second 6×9 mini print included. Offered as a bonus Digital Wallpaper for backers of digital Wahoo Morris Book 2  or the digital Book Bundle.
This is a preview of the print in progress. Final will be inked and in Full Colour!

$4750 – If we hit this goal I will write and draw a NEW 7 (maybe 8) page Wahoo Morris short story delivered as a PDF to all physical backers who pledge  for Book 2 or Book Bundles and up, and all digital backers of Wahoo Morris Book 2 or digital Book Bundle.

Hopefully there is something in there that appeals.

And if you can’t pledge, shares on social media are always helpful in the spreading the word.

 SHARE the WAHOO MORRIS KICKSTARTER on TWITTER

Share the WAHOO MORRIS KICKSTARTER on FACEBOOK

Let’s get this book funded! 🙂