September Update!

September Update!
September’s production update is actually on time this month, and boy do we have a good one. I like to think we’re firing on all cylinders now. For quite some time now Curious King has been a two-man team, myself and the giant monkey on my back. I am however looking forward to returning to a one-man band when The Blade Itself ships.
Without further ado:
 
The Blade Itself
WE’RE SO CLOSE! I had the pleasure of visiting Ludlow’s Bookbinders last week to see how things were progressing and we’re very close to shipping. The final casing in is being done on the Standard Edition this week, with them starting to ship from next week.
The Standard Edition will be going out first, with the Numbered and Lettered Edition following shortly afterwards. For those who have more than one tier, you will have to wait until all the books are complete before these go out.
The process of shipping does not happen overnight, so I’d please ask everyone to wait before asking where their shipping confirmation is. Ideally all books should be shipped by mid-late October.
Here are a few pictures from my trip to Ludlow.
The Fifth Season
We’re making good progress on The Fifth Season. It was printed some time ago, and the folding of the signatures is underway. The last piece of the puzzle is the final signed-off artwork from John Anthony di Giovanni, but as with TBI there is a lot of the binding process you can do before the tip-ins are required.
The Lettered Edition boxes are nearly finished as are the Roman Numeral boxes. All of the crystals used in the Lettered and Numbered have been sanded down so they fit more snugly in the cover/spine of their respective editions.
Will this still make it out the door in time for Christmas? I don’t know the answer to that at the moment, but when I do, I’ll make sure you all know!
 
Hyperion
I’m going Hyperion mad at the moment (in a good way). That’s probably because I’m getting closer to the info release on this one and it’s all coming together.
The interior artwork is done and dusted, it’s been proofed a thousand times and is now ready for platemaking. I’m really happy with how the interior has come out, I genuinely feel it’s stepped up a level from TBI and TFS. As well as the 23 letterpress B&W images from Jaime Jones dotted throughout, there are also custom drop caps and chapter headings.
Scheduled for printing in November with a view to bind once finished in early 2024. My aim is to release information in October, with pre-order date late October/Early November. When will it ship? H1 2024.
One thing bothering me at the moment is cost. Costs are going up still on literally everything. Printing, binding, paper, materials, labour and it’s having a knock-on effect. I have also thrown the kitchen sink at this edition, which unfortunately means prices going up. I don’t have exact costs yet for the editions, but I’ll share them with the info release. I can only apologise for having to increase prices, especially on an edition where we don’t have a Standard. 
 
Future Titles
I’m keeping my lips sealed on this one, plenty to focus on for now. Hitchhikers art starting in November is the only update, and pretty sure I said this in the last post.
 
Website
My incredible website dev Jason Thibault is beavering away at the site. The rights system has proved very tricky apparently, but it appears Jason may have broken the back of it. The new site will make transferring rights/titles very easy, and you will also be able to check which books you have purchased or have on pre-order and what designations you have.
Ideally this will be ready in time for Hyperion pre-order, but I’ll keep you all updated as and when.
 
The next update should hopefully come once The Blade Itself has finished shipping, so for everyone who has bought one, I thank you for your patience and hope it lives up to expectations.
I’m away for the next week, but i’ll be checking in on the shipping.
Ta ra!
 
 
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