Do you guys have any plans to do a cheaper paperback version or an even cheaper digital version? I'm not much of an "actual book" person.

Sorry if I missed the answer earlier, and that's why you aren't responding, but do you guys have any plans to do a cheap digital version?

I don't collect/buy physical books really, but i'd throw down a ten spot for a digital pdf copy to read.

Haha, I'll accept that.

Thanks for putting this together.

Getting banned from Stern's facebook page is not as uncommon as you would think.

Welcome to the club, there's a lot of us.

Hahaha, you have no idea how true that is. Banning people from Facebook is the way he tries to assert dominance.

There is a typo in the $2500 reward level. Unless there is a didication page.

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That's a gofundme.

Seems like almost none of the kickstarters are familiar with the concepts of burn rate or runway.

It will always be a catch-up game for them as they spend not only the profits but the raw materials cash over the course of a year or two, then wonder why they don't have enough money for the actual production run.

Then they start another kickstarter, and use the money from that kickstarter to pay for the first one's overages. It's a cycle that will continue and compound until it explodes, unless someone with some business sense steps in.

This is part of the reason Kickstarter is so attractive to "entrepreneurs" over traditional funding methods. No interest, no timelines, no expectations other than customers who have been trained to go "oh, delays aren't important with kickstarters, it happens".

I asked on Facebook.

I assume this is OK to share since it is a public post.

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I was just curious if they would respond more than anything. Someone with a more vested interest would be better suited to communicate to them.

I didn't expect much beyond what I got, but I can understand how disappointing it is.

+1000

Sometimes telling customers the truth is painful, but hiding things only makes it worse. I've never had a client get mad at me for being honest with them and telling them things in a timely manner.

Can someone summarize?

I backed fireball island as well, can't wait.

With what money? I'd wager to guess everything except the money to pay for the printing is gone at this point.

He deserves all the mockery at this point. All he had to do was make good on his promise to keep communicating, and he can't even carve out 10 minutes a week to post something for you all.

Loser.

Joe, I know you read this, so I am going to give you some unsolicited advice in an effort to try and help you.

- Don't write updates like this. It has no substance and contains the same promise you have already broken to your customers. This is poor PR.

- Understand that you currently owe your customers something. These aren't customers outside a closed store on Black Friday waiting to spend their money, they've already spent it with you. If you can't deliver their goods in a timely manner the LEAST you owe them is constant communication. Fix this ASAP by putting a 1 hour appointment on your calendar every Friday. End the week by crafting a message to your backers that gives them at least 1-2 points of accomplishment for the previous 7 days and an understanding of what you will be tackling over the next 7 days until the next update. This will be painful for you sometimes, as the truth isn't always the easiest to tell, but your customers deserve that.

- Become more transparent. Open up about things a company wouldn't normally open up about regarding their design/layout process and the progress they are making. Show some raw photos as you are working on them and get people excited again. You've worn down the hype due to delays and broken promises.

- Put in the raw hours. If you aren't personally putting in 50 hours a week on this project you aren't doing enough. It doesn't matter what other obligations you have. You are screwing up by not putting in the hours.

These all come from a place of trying to help you to become successful at these ventures, not tear you down. If you really want to be an entrepreneur pull your pants up and do the hard parts. It only takes 20% effort to get 80% done but that last 20% takes 80% of the effort.

In my day job I end up being brought in with escalated customers a lot, and after 15 years of it I still dread every single one of those calls/meetings. The hard parts never get easier to swallow but you have to do them to be successful.

Joe, today is the day you promised a substantial update for your backers. I hope you woke up ready to deliver.

If the update hasn't already been written, reviewed, edited, and waiting for you just to push the send button, you are already behind.

Except John Romero is awesome...

Me too!! I get to unwrap mine tomorrow, can't wait to play it.

Sweet! Merry christmas buddy!

I can see Joe didn't take my advice. What a disappointment.

Sincerely hope you all get your books without another 2 year wait.

I'll be sure to stalk any new projects joe tries to kickstart and be vocal there.

It's perfectly reasonable to expect someone to have a vault of print quality photos of every machine from Stern's history.

HAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAH

Wow, these paper flock dudes are grade A assholes. Putting a choice like this off on customers is really a shitty move.

I've had a Stiker Xtreme in my garage, these people are worthless.

They are out of money.

Joe clearly has very little business acumen.

It's a super prick move to have you all "pot committed" and jack up the shipping rates to cover the losses from the shit way he ran his company.

I asked them early on to make a digital version available for purchase on something like Kindle and they said no. They left money on the table back then, and if they did offer it now I wouldn't buy it out of principle.