YOU ARE THE HERO and the problem with Kickstarter projects

I often find myself feeling guilty that YOU ARE THE HERO is six months overdue and still not out yet, although I feel less guilty than I used to, especially when I've been doing this all evening...

And when we have something akin to a publication date in place...

I think many people underestimate how long it will take them to (a) run their Kickstarter campaign, (b) finish their project, and (c) get the thing made/published/downloaded so that everyone who pledged to the project can enjoy the finished product. I know I certainly did. Which got me thinking about all the various Kickstarters I backed in the run-up to launching the YOU ARE THE HERO campaign, during it and since it successfully funded.

So here are some fun, throwaway stats for you:

• To date, via Kickstarter, I have run 2 projects. One funded, raising 142% of its target funding goal. One failed to fund, only achieving 40% of its target before it ran out of both time and steam.
• However, I have backed 31 projects. Of these, one was cancelled and one failed to fund. 
• Of the remaining 26, 9 I supported without asking for any reward. That leaves 17.
• Of those 17, I have received the finished product from 10. 
• That still leaves another 7 unaccounted for. Of those 7, all but one are overdue, the worst by over a year.

YOU ARE THE HERO is going to be about 8-9 months late by the time it comes out, but at least it is coming out, and it's ended up being three times the length originally anticipated. And you could join myself, Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone, Russ Nicholson, Chris Achilleos, Tony Hough and Philippa Dickinson at the official launch of the on Sunday 7 September.

May I'll see you there...

YOU ARE THE HERO at World FantasyCon 2013

I'm currently beside the seaside in Brighton for World FantasyCon, and I'm not the only FF alumnus who's down here either. One-time consultant editor on the series Marc Gascoigne was spotted in the bar last night, as was original commissioning editor Geraldine Cooke.

Geraldine met up with Mike Bryan, the man who first sold The Warlock of Firetop Mountain to bookshops.

Mike Bryan and Geraldine Cooke

Original editor of TWOFM Philippa Dickinson was at the 'Terry Pratchett in Conversation' panel.

Philippa Dickinson and Yours Truly

And the art show features work by two FF artists - Les Edwards and Terry Oakes!

The Brain Slayer (from Out of the Pit) and Terry Oakes

(Don't worry though, I'll get back to polishing the manuscript after the weekend.)