I have supported my share of Kickstarters in the past and having different variations of the book is pretty standard. Usually a softcover, hardcover, hardcover with gold trim and a cloth bookmark. It is what it is and allows the supporter a certain level of control over how much they wish to spend on the book. I am a little more worried about the stretch goals that seem blah and uninspiring, not sure how that will play into how much they raise.

Sure, why not? If you want to remove the expense of upfront costs and potentially under/over ordering which could cause huge harm to a small publisher such as yourself it is a good way to go. I have backed magazines on Kickstarter and it has allowed them to "presell" the majority of the magazines and know it will not financially hurt them while waiting for orders to (hopefully) come in. Plus the free publicity is a bonus, I see lots of Kickstarter campaigns shared on social media and that is just a win-win. Add little bonuses for Kickstarter backers (post cards, stickers, etc) that you will not get if you order afterwards and you are golden.

All fifty are gone. Hopefully someone will drop (or raise) their pledge level and I can sneak in their spot.

Was not aware of the TOPCast but man, they have some amazing interviews I cannot wait to listen to! Thanks for the heads up!
http://www.pinrepair.com/topcast/past.php

Oh fine, in for $125 while there was a couple left. Why not.

That's usually what happens, you can choose from a number of add-on's after it closes.

Scam? You make it sound like its a flim-flam operation. As a backer (of this and around a dozen others over the years) I am well aware of the risks as are the other backers. I do not care how many extra books the sell or how much they make, I pledged at a level that guaranteed my copy of the book for a price I felt comfortable with.

As a backer I can say the ONLY thing that matters to me is that the book turns out to be a great collectors item which I can add to my Pinball library. I hope they take their time and do it right, when it is ready it will be ready.

I will leave Whysnow with one last comment and then I am on to positive posts about this project. Back during the SkitB and Predator debacle you were always hopeful that SkitB would deliver and defended him for a long time despite the warning signs. One post you made always stuck in my head and I will quote it for you. Please replace the word "game" with "book" and remember that your quote is about a project that people invested hundreds or thousands of dollars into and they could not get answers or even a response from the project creator most of the time.

-Matt

All backers were messaged a link to a private forum to discuss the book as it progresses, that is where the discussion has moved.

I have not been on the forum since the day they sent the link out, I prefer to "forget" about Kickstarters until they are ready to ship.

I sort of agree with you there but I think the temptation to have Star Wars featured was just too great, the brand will have a lot of attention this fall with the new movie coming out and they probably hope to tie in with that. Hopefully the retail edition of the book hits stores in time for the holiday gift giving season.

The estimated delivery date was May 2017, so a projected five month delay.

Re-reading it I can see what you mean. If they have been documenting the development of Star Wars (and maybe Aerosmith) from the beginning it could be a very interesting chapter in the book with an unique and potentially unprecedented look at the development of a new machine. Fingers crossed.

Well I guess the question is why they did not choose Unigrooves proposal over this one.

Supporting a Kickstarter (I supported this one at the $125 level) is not like pre-ordering from Amazon. It is a commitment to creative people that provides the funds for a goal that they could not otherwise work towards. The problem with creative people and Kickstarter is that they forget that some people tend to look at it like pre-ordering and not supporting a creative project and they do not communicate as much as they should.

Believe me this happens often with Kickstarter projects. Shenmue 3 just got delay from this year to Fall 2018; I backed a roll playing book that was supposed to ship last fall that just sent out an email after five months of silence that they were finally done with the book.

Is it right? It does not bother me personally but when an estimated ship date is May and on June 1st there are people commenting about refunds, potential theft of funds and other such nonsense I can see that perhaps it is not for everyone.

Agree 100%
At least it does nearly mimic the threads; you have no skin in either but sure love sharing your opinions in them, lol. I'm kidding, at least you aren't accusing Paperflock of a crime.

Oh shoot...

I understand how Kickstarter works (I have one project I pledged for almost three years ago still chugging along) and am not fretting about the book but their radio silence is just killing any support for future projects from a lot of people here.

You get tunnel vision doing these things but the lack of occasional updates is really hurting their image.

I don't see it that way. Stern says the hold up is on their end, that they have a proof copy on their desk. Joe is saying there were some rewrites at Sterns request and progress continues. At least that is how I am reading it.

To be fair, it was an update sent to all backers of the project (people with skin in the game) via email and posted on the Kickstarter site in the backer section. Many project leaders post in various forums and facebook groups to promote a Kickstarter during the campaign and then only post updates to backers. They rarely go back to every place they solicited from to post updates, why would they if they are updating all the backers with one step?

I posted it here since the community has been active in the discussion about the campaign (and its communication issues) and I felt it was in the best interest of the community to know that an update was posted.

I will give you this; there is only one major message board for pinball unlike the dozens of sites a video game Kickstarter or Board Game Kickstarter would have to post do so it would not have been that hard to keep the majority of the online pinball community updated.

Sure, IMO. Tilt Forums is great but smaller user base. Not aware of any other major message boards.

To be fair, someone created a thread for the project he was Kickstarting and he posted many times in said thread. He wasn't thread hijacking or anything. He only posted a handful of times outside of that thread and it was usually a video interview with a pinball designer.

Very nice, as a Super Limited backer I just want you guys to keep working on this until it is the absolute best book you can make. Super jealous of the advance reviewers but good things come to those who wait. Looking forward to getting this as soon as it’s done.

We are working hard.
Progress has been made.
We are excited.
We hired someone to do something.
Stern gave us information that we just have to include in the book.
Almost done writing the text.
Another cardboard ornament will be mailed.
We will post updates every week from now on.

Still on schedule for Christmas 2019.
Andrew Macbain hired to take over PR so updates come quicker.

As far as I can tell Kickstarter has not suspended Paperflock, that it their company website that has been suspended. I don't think I have ever been to their site, not sure why it would be suspended but most likely they did not pay their site renewal fee.

Flat Rate is usually a decent way to ship heavier items, postal rates have shot up a lot recently. I shipped a 2 pound package via priority mail to California and it was twenty something dollars, I almost fainted. Everytime I sell something on Ebay (I offer free shipping) I hold my breath hoping it isn't going to the West Coast, unless it fits into a priority mail flat rate box. Rates are crazy.