Posted by Josh Radke on January 8, 2010 at 11:38am
Grail Quest Books first full year, from our perspective, was very productive, exciting, and insightful.Throughout 2009 we had no less than six parties considering to fund our publisher/animation company, and four that can be labeled as "serious considerations". Due to various reasons (mostly the volatile global economy) all parties ultimately put us on their "maybe down the road" list. Traditional and grant funding for a company such as ours was heavily researched but eventually passed on as a viable option--largely due to the oversight requirements by committees or individuals who do not (necessarily) share our larger vision of second-to-none, no compromise storytelling within the digital age that is the 21st century.As much as we fully respect their decision--and will be happy to have the financial support of investors in the future (if they choose)--the issue is that we cannot wait for them to come around. Every week our projects are getting closer to completion and/or a new project opportunity is ready to enter production. In November and December alone we added close to twenty various talents in relation to our novella and audio projects. There is also courting from time to time of film and TV studios concerning our various properties, and we expect this to continue, if not increase, once the products become available.Like opening round college draft picks, all of our contracted creative talents are 100% proven at the amateur level--if they don't already have professional credits--and are fully committed to all the creative projects they take part in; in other words, art, writing, voice acting, music scoring, sound design, etc. are these creators' passions and career(s) of choice, not just a "cool hobby" or "pastime". We take our role in their lives very seriously and we want the work they do for us to pay off for them financially as well as professionally. This scenario is also why we cannot wait any longer for outside funding.All of GQB's projects are well into active production (as can be evidenced by our Facebook and Twitter feeds) and all creators are fully committed to our stories, which have been carefully developed over several years (and in the case of the Shadow of the Stars series, well over a decade). The only element missing at this point is the necessary funding to complete these creative projects so they can be made available to the marketplace in a timely manner and the revenue put right back into the creation of more stories.We also have the publishing licence for Decipher's WARS property; Decipher is a game publisher responsible for the internationally best-selling card games for Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and Star Trek. We are thrilled to be developing WARS into an impactful franchise and the reactions we have received from fans and the entertainment industry alike concerning it are exciting! (I would also add that you will have the chance to speak with some of the creators behind GQB's WARS novellas at a special panel that will take place at ConCarolinas 2010 this June.)With all this in mind, GQB has decided to appeal to fans of quality, intelligent genre fiction and comics. Therefore we are opening up a pre-ordering drive for our products. There will be several levels of pre-order options. We are also looking to set-up an exclusive newsletter for those who pre-order with additional behind-the-scenes insight on our projects directly from the creators themselves.Our first goal is to reach 5,000 total pre-orders by February 1st. Starting as low as $15, each product in the pre-order will have alternate cover art (or some other special defining factor in the case of our non-book products) exclusive to those who take part in this promotion. All pre-order levels are detailed on the official promotion page along with a list of the various drawing-prizes (a list that will expand as other creators feel the calling to donate).We do recognise and appreciate that it is a risk to conduct this promotion before the products are in their final stages of completion. Although we cannot guarantee a full refund on pre-orders if the promotion falls short, we hope that the talent roster, a glance around this website, its blog, the various visual previews of the comics, the social networking feeds, and those providing drawing-prize donations will help allay any concern as to the committed goals and integrity of our company.Be assured that 100% of all pre-order money goes directly to the production and shipping of art, writing, and audio work as announced on our website. Our printed products will be printed via Ka-Blam Digital Press, allowing us to save thousands on printing costs without compromising an ounce of quality.There are other amazing opportunities on the table at Grail Quest Books that we cannot discuss in this space. These opportunities are time sensitive and usually mean competition with other companies. We are looking to fund the biggest of these opportunities via this promotion, which will be revealed to those who participate in this promotion and should it reach or exceed its "maximum success " goal of at least 33,000 total pre-orders.Please spread the word, and thank you for your support of Grail Quest Books!Sincerely,Josh & Kasandra RadkeCo-owners of Grail Quest Books
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