I wonder what about the extra incentives? I guess I should just forget about them and be happy a book shows up.

that would be very pricey to produce. I collect a lot of artbooks and when you go back 10"x10" the price really starts going up.
I'd guess 8"x10"

The announcement:
https://pinballsupernova.wordpress.com/2020/09/04/news-keeping-the-ball-alive-kick-starter-program-30-years-of-stern-pinball-august-2020-the-book-has-landed/?fbclid=IwAR3ihb4tKe6Tsh0Prtu0jDuUF9K5PrFwlA9WnUPWDB8iI3fbaAtAYTnC6XI

The cynic in me is expecting a bunch of shipping related excuses in the coming months.

The signature page show sure makes it look on that smaller size..

Sprinkled with the odd COVID excuse. Maybe a Covid related shipping problem.

I hope Deadflip got footage of the John Trudeau signing!

If that is a standard sharpie, the book is about 9.6" tall x 9.9" wide. That means it's a middle size book, not tiny. A mouse pad is ~9.5" wide, so imagine if your mouse pad was square. (maybe larger if the sharpie is further away, but it is in focus, so probably not significantly larger than my pixel calculation)

Sharpie = 11.4mm thick

------------------------------
HEIGHT CALC (first image)
17x12 =20.81 diagonal pixels sharpie
446x25 = 446.7 diagonal pixels book height

11.4 H
--- x -----
20.81 446.7

244.71mm tall =9.63 inches

------------------------------
WIDTH CALC (second image)
32x468 = 469.1 diagonal pixels tall
511x12 = 511.14 diagonal pixels wide

9.63 W
--- x ----
496.1 511.14

9.92" wide

height 9.6 (resized).jpg
width calc (resized).jpg

THANK YOU! I love when a post shows evidence to support their conclusion.

Best not head over to the Covid thread then

For those in the Deeproot vs Paperflock RELEASE pool, looks like a winner won't be crowned today...

I’m a photographer.
I’m putting together a coffee table/photo book of pinball images shot in 2019–2020 (and also a book about punk rock in the 90s)
The printing costs are astronomical in small quantities.
Unless I order 1000 copies, there is no way I can produce a satisfying product that isn’t over $100 - to print.

Now it’s been suggested I do a Kickstarter.

That feels weird to me because it’s like asking people to overpay (over, overpaying comes with perks!) For what is essentially a preorder.

The work is amazing. It’s different in an artistic polished, gritty way.

The advantage to Kickstarter is, if funded, I would have at least enough to pay the printing bill. Making a minimum (750–1000) reduces cost dramatically (offset printing vs. laser).

There could be multiple formats (a 12” x 12” Hardback would be radical). Special edits. Inclusion of framable prints. A post-Covid bespoke shooting session. Etc.

Shooting was an interesting journey and a fun time. It was still hundreds of hours and thousands in equipment to execute. Plus, editing, layout and spreading the word are endless love.

Stern has archives. Interesting. I have Robert Frank style documentary photography that’s been described as ‘dope’.

I ask this here since there are apparently 40 pages already discussing this Avenue.

I did do a ‘teaser ‘zine’ which sold out hella fast. At $25 it ended up covering an equipment repair. Nice to have that camera back but a man’s gotta eat too.

17E6D2EB-CF3F-4BC4-A0A8-32C30CACE3F0 (resized).jpeg

I looked into a couple Chinese publishers. Has anyone used one? The things that could go wrong....

Any suggestions are welcome. I’m looking to print something ambitious.

F78737D7-801B-459C-A809-79ACE17078F9 (resized).jpeg

Even with Stern backing this book they only pre-sold 444 copies on Kickstarter. And the pre-order well is pretty poisoned now.

I published a book last year (my memoirs). I gave it a 10 year sales goal. Slow and steady.

you could compromise and use a print-on-demand service like Blurb.
I really like the two Sean Newton books I got from there https://www.blurb.com/b/3363814-grails.
Failing that, take out a loan. Interest rates are rock bottom, and you're looking at less than $10k. If you have an awesome book ready to go, figure out how many you'll need to sell at what price point. If the books is great you'll sell a bunch of copies immediately through pinside.

I’ll buy one, imagine you pay for a book and actually receive it in a timely manner.

I would suggest reading the 40 pages - they don't exactly cast Kickstarter projects in a positive light.

The market for $100+ books is tiny. Schiffer has published several pinball books. I’d try asking for advice from someone with relevant experience. https://www.schifferbooks.com/

Any book I'd be interested in would have to be historically based. Want a good idea? I'd definitely buy a book about classic Sterns.

Unless it's done through Kickstarter, that's a Nonstarter, for me. Was burned already on another book that was promised in 6 months and is going on 3 years now...

I'm waiting for someone to make archival tomes covering the history of:
Gottlieb
Chicago Coin
Sega arcade machines pre 1980
and after that, many other classic companies, like Keeney, Genco, etc...

If you want to do an photography-focused book, the most recent example was this book by Santiago Ciuffo: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-santiago-ciuffo-new-book-now-available
Maybe he will have advise for you?

For a small project like this, China is the only way to go. The only thing you have to watch out for is the paper stock and inks they use. Make sure you get a sample before your run. Most of them are printing digitally now so this is much more practical than when it was all offset press. Also, make sure you go hardcover bound for durability. Perfect bound seems attractive, but they are anything but perfect long term. Pages tend to fall out over time in my experience.

The worst part about China is arranging the shipping, having a broker you trust to get them through customs, and the associated fees. But even with all that, at QTY 1000, embossed hardcover (small emboss, don't go crazy) with a dust jacket you'd still be in the <$5 unit range (probably like $3.50-$4) for printing/shipping.

Genco and Chicago Coin should be done as one book; the same family was involved in both. Maybe include Stern Electronics in there, too.

Sega seems like a challenge. There are several corporate entities and several claimed founding dates. An author might have to take the Steven Kent approach (aka the "legal deposition" approach) and just get statements from all the parties, without trying to reconcile them into a single narrative.
.................David Marston

Capcom. At least the pinball division.

Years back there was work on two ? different books. No word since.

LTG : )

Is anyone gonna fill out the new survey JoeDP just sent around? Why should we have to fill out some survey before our long ago paid for books ship? I'm guessing we'll get a shipping notice via email either way. You have already screwed this up enough, Joe, you got one last chance to buy back just a few good vibrations--don't blow it (again).

Not going to bother. It's a "market research" survey.

They still owe me an LE book + gifts, so it's on them to figure out how to get that to me.

First question is whether or not you'd buy another book from them.

Yikes.

what about the one if you'd buy an extended version of the book?

Make sure you pay Steve Young for any Gottlieb game in your images.

"Good news guys, a lot of you are requesting an extended version of this book so we decided..."

they better not,

I filled in the survey for my address I just hope the shipping is reasonable and not overcharged to cover their poor delivery

did anyone ever get their digital pack?

I’m scared if I fill out the questionnaire honestly they’ll send me a book from the 2nds pile.

Do the books that Slash signed look larger than the earlier pics?

I think Joe should have a drawing from the returned surveys--winner gets to tag along on the next exotic getaway with the interns.

Either that or Slash is built like a typical guitar hero, 5-6 and 145 lbs.--makes the 8x10 book look huge.

The back kit questionnaire isn't at all what you described. It's used to add on anything you may want in addition to your pledge, fill out a new address, etc. This is standard for any of these backer projects.

Nothing has been standard about this backer project.

Again your avatar is made for this thread.

Probably because they are out of money with thousands of books to ship.

But using media mail, these are what, like $3 to ship? If they haven't got the scratch left for that, yikes.

Was it already factored into the pledge? Actually, I just looked at the Kickstarter, and in the FAQ it states we’d have to pay for shipping. It’s kind of upsetting though, under the circumstances. It’s something I’m going to have to think about.

What was the point of that survery? Do they have no idea how backers view this project?

They are out of money.

Joe clearly has very little business acumen.

Does it? I logged in, it says I paid $125 (for an LE book). Can't find any info about shipping costs.

The LE package is supposed to include a t-shirt and poster as well though and we haven't seen or heard anything about any of those.

Wow, after all this drama I can’t believe they are trying to do an up sell! How about just send us what we paid for and hope it pleasantly surprises everyone before talking about the next big project...

I wonder how many of them will end up on ebay?

I wonder how many of them will actually be delivered. Until I've got my book in my hand I've got no confidence it will happen.

last time I bought a book on kickstarter my pledge did not include the shipping iirc.... but it's been a while. I kind of ignored KS after https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49692983