We picked out, signed, packed and shipped something in the neighborhood of 100 Christmas Surprise Packages Monday and Tuesday. That's something like 440 books! Most of them signed! Another dozen Grab Bags are going out today.
I went a little crazy again, with most Surprise Packages falling into the $80 to $90 range, and a few even more than that. It’s fun, but lots and lots of work, and with such a strong showing so early in the season, it looks like 2007 will see us ship out a record number of them. Awesome.
As usual, I hope folks don’t mind the occasional slightly damaged book so that we can give you MORE.
Palladium Collectibles Auction is off to a great start
This auction is at almost double the amount of bids compared to the last two auctions this same point.
Then again, we have some really cool stuff this time around: Sets of uncut covers (including a complete set of Robotech covers, don’t think we have more than 6-8 complete sets in the building), one of Palladium’s style guides/bibles that we used to send to prospective licensors like Jerry Bruckheimer (a cool and unusual, never before released to the public keepsake), a bunch of out of print T-shirts, [i]proofreader photocopies of books[/i], a little art, a set of A+Plus Comics, some gold editions, and other good stuff.
The auction ends Saturday, October 20 -- but I already have the next auction planned to launch October 27. It will include original artwork by Ramon Perez, Scott Johnson, Kevin Long, Wayne Breaux, Kent Burles, Apollo Okamura, me, and maybe a few others, plus more prints, gold editions and other rare stuff.
The week is shaping up to be an excellent one
Distributor sales are up.
Online sales are up, with Gold editions of Beyond the Supernatural and Machinations of Doom, as well as the $50 Zeleznik Rifts® and the Megaverse® art book and $125 Masterwork Edition (with an original piece of art inside it!) all starting to pick up – I assume as Christmas gifts.
Grab Bag sales are through the roof. And wait till people start to report what they’re getting in their Surprise packages. Gosh, I love doing grab bags and imagining the smiles we put on most people’s faces. Oh, and to the gent who got the recipe, you have to make it, it’s delicious.
I looked at a couple of prospective lease buildings for Palladium’s new offices and warehouse and one in particular has tremendous potential. However, we’re still looking for the best possible deal and ideal building layout and location.
Been talking to animators, games designers, podcasters, insurance agents and freelance artists and writers about a number of cool ideas and possible projects, but nothing to talk about yet. Okay, maybe one or two.
Short stories for the Chi-Town ‘Burbs are starting to get written with a few coming in already. These will be collected into a Rifts anthology novel.
I also have two manuscripts for Rifts® novels that are supposed to arrive by the end of this year, and one for Palladium Fantasy®. The latest Nightbane® sourcebook manuscript is in, but I’ve been so swamped that I haven’t even had a chance to glance at it.
Alliance Trade Show last Saturday was fantastic
Wayne Smith and I chatted with a lot of retailers, signed some books, got a lot of good feedback and suggestions, and a ton of positive support. Thank you everyone. We walked away with some good ideas, some things to consider and a postive feeling about the RPG industry and Palladium's future.
Exciting times and building momentum on multiple levels
Wow. So much has been going on these past few weeks. These are very exciting time for Palladium Books. A few of our secret projects should launch by the end of the year along with The Rifter® #0, downloadable adventures and Robotech®. With many others in development for next year.
If there has been a down side, it is that I haven’t written a word in the last four days, nor have I been able to do what’s necessary to launch Palladium’s second podcast program, Rifter® #0, therifter.com, or our first downloadable adventures yet. Arrgh. Even with Jason Marker onboard (big help right out of the gate) we still can’t quite keep up and our schedule continues to slip a little bit. Fear not, they are ALL coming soon. In fact, I hope to get back into the creative swing of writing today.
Keep the faith and keep those imaginations burning bright.
Enthusiastically Yours,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Artist and (evil?) Mastermind
© Copyright October 17, 2007 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved. Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Phase World®, Megaverse®, Nightbane®, The Mechanoids® and Coalition Wars® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. Other titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc.
Robotech is a Registered Trademark of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.