Here's references for "Krohnus" and "Pete" if you need them.
So it feels like Halloween was just the other day. "Hey kids, did you enjoy your Halloween? Nice costumes!" Suddenly I get tapped on the shoulder : "Pete, you need to get those turkeys in the brine!" I'm like, "it can't be Thanksgiving already?!?" This is followed by my wife saying "No, Thanksgiving was days ago, you were supposed to announce store order deadlines because it's almost Christmas." "Oh well, what day do international orders need to be placed by?" "Yesterday. Deadline has past" Me: "Fuuuuuuhhhh....."
So this is how time has been going for me lately. Speeding by while my creative output has slowed down.
The current story-line, Immortal King, has been a culmination of so much of Sluggy lore coming together and being revealed, and it’s been a lot of work. It’s more involved then just about any other story. Although this process is more difficult, I am really happy with how it is coming together.
But coming to the end of the year, I find myself over a year behind on mailing out physical Pawnz and Bookmarks to eligible Defenders, and we've been two years without a new book (I'm not counting re-releasing Megatome 02).
Being a one-man show, things can be difficult, take longer and I can get behind on tasks, but this is way too far behind. It has been stressing me out and it has to stop. I have a solution, and it’s not great, but it is the better than falling further behind or stopping the comics all together.
Starting next week, I will restrict myself to one comic a week. The weekly comic will mostly land on Wednesdays. I will NOT increase comic output until a) I'm caught up to the plan of quarterly Pawnz and Bookmarks releases, and b) Sluggy Freelance Book 22 'R&D Wars', is off to the printers.
How long will this take? I honestly don’t know, and I don’t want to guess wrong. Did I say how much I hate to do it? For me, it extra painful because we are hitting an action-climax, and the momentum is going to drop from slow to a trickle. Grrr.
I remember the frustration from when I did this "one comic a week" thing last February-ish. So I understand this will be difficult for you as well. But I feel strongly I need to do this to attend to the eligible Defenders who have been supporting the strip and deserve the book and bookmarks and pawnz rewards.
Plus I want to catch up with the books! I’ve never been more proud of my publications than the books for the 4U city saga, including the bonus stories in Books 20 and 21. I look forward to the relief I’m going to feel when I have Book 22 in my hands and know I’m on top of the pile.
Thank you all again for your patience and support! I couldn’t have made 25 years without you guys. And let me say “Happy Holidays and Happy New Year” now because I’m going to start gift-shopping and reach for the egg-nog (squishy-nog?) and then realize its February. Stupid Time God.
-Pete
12/7/2022
Comments
No worries dude, you take care.
Thanks a lot for all the answers.
PETE ANSWERS GUIGUI BOOK QUESTIONS! After Plan Nine printed book 8 and we severed ties, I was responsible for getting Megatome 01 and book 9 printed, so I have a lot of them. The low inventory on book 9 only came up because I set it at some big number ages ago and didn’t notice it ticking down. I’m pretty sure I still have safely over 100 left but not sure the exact amount, so I’ll only up the current inventory by 20 to be safe, until I can verify a full count. Megatome 02 is in the store in limited supply because Megatome 02 has a “signed option” and I can only sign them when they’re in front of me. Plus I’ve traditionally had a run of any new book in the Sluggy Store at time of release, even though Megatome 02 is not technically new.
On a slightly related note, congratulation of having sell almost all of your "Dangerous days" books in your stocks, which coincidentally happens to contain chapter 30, which could be considered what was the first tie-many-plot-threads climatic conclusion of the Sluggy Freelance saga.
If you don't mind the inquiry, there is no critic from my part, here, I understand the need to sell your own stocks first before making it available on Indyplanet but I always have wondered why book 9 specifically got to not sell as fast on your store as the other books, leading to remains a store exclusive for so long?
Other question I hope I am not being to prying about, but why make Megatome 2 available on indyplanet already when you still have 35 of them in your personal stock?
Oof, I understand the tyranny of time! Your plan seems practical, and though we'll miss more comics, we understand.