PSA: Shipping Saltation

We have had our First Inquiry regarding our intentions for receiving and shipping the subscriber copies of Saltation. Follows our timeline.

We will probably take delivery of 1200 copies of Saltation in March. We don't know exactly when in March. We have an Educated Guess in hand, but at this point it is exactly that, and not a hard delivery date.

After we take delivery of those books and get them under roof in the cold storage next to SRM Galactic Headquarters, we will sign them*.

*I don't know how long it's going to take, exactly, to sign 1100 books (which I believe to be the total of subscriber orders). Eleven hundred books is A Lot of books; I mention this because some folks seem to have no concept of that. Also, even though we both have relatively short names, signing them 1100 times takes a while. Our experience with Fledgling suggests that signing alone will consume on the order of several days to a week. Alas, we cannot devote a full week to only signing books; we have a day-job, and SRM usual business to accommodate during this time.

After the books are signed, we will log the database and print the labels. This also takes time, because, yanno -- printers, labels, on-line postage services. . . Once the labels are printed, Steve will single-handedly pack and mail those 1100 books. This could, conservatively, take weeks and weeks. And weeks.

It's entirely possible, as with Fledgling, that subscribers will receive their thank-you Saltations months after the book has been available from bookstores. We apologize for this and regret any inconvenience.

To sum up: We intend to ship Saltation to subscribers as quickly as humanly possible without killing ourselves, neglecting the cats, or defaulting on other of life's obligations. This seems the best course for everyone.

Please Note: At this time, we are closing pre-support donations to Saltation. If we have any books left over after the epic task described above is completed, and a suitable waiting period joined, we will put them up for adoption.

Thank you all for your understanding of this process -- and for your interest in and on-going support of our work.

Postage Matters

Pursuant to the discussion here, postage to France and to Australia is $17.64 (assuming Saltation will be to Fledgling's dimensions, which is Just Too Big to fit into a small international box, which would knock about $3 off the cost). Postage to New Zealand is $16.99. Edited to add: Canada: $8.93

Those who wish to donate extra postage money may do so by sending an amount that seems Just and Good to them via PayPal to postageATkorval.com, where @ replaces AT.

This is, I feel compelled to note, Strictly Voluntary; no one will have their book held because we're "short" postage money*.

Thank you all.




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*We will (and have, for Fledgling) ask for additional postage funds from people whose book is returned to us, because that is an extra, and avoidable, expense.