Gunnerkrigg Court is being published?

[imaginaryfriend]

As the involvement of DAK group Ltd suggested, ASP is being bought. Some details are up on the ASP site. I'll refrain from speculating on what those details imply about the general circumstances but I will mention that GC is still on the short list of titles that are described as being at the printers and ready to go next month.

Link: www.daradja.com/october_2008_archives.php

[NeeQ]

Just got an email from Amazon.uk,

Tom Siddell (Author) "Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation: 1
(Gunnerkrigg Court)" [Hardcover]
Estimated arrival date: 30/04/09 - 08/05/09

Oh well.

[ecomono]

Nov 27, 2008 2:57:24 GMT NeeQ said:

Just got an email from Amazon.uk,

Tom Siddell (Author) "Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation: 1
(Gunnerkrigg Court)" [Hardcover]
Estimated arrival date: 30/04/09 - 08/05/09

Oh well.

See, that's kinda weird. Because just two days ago I got an e-mail from Amazon.com which said Dec 16th 2008.

Wonder what's going on.

[Tom Siddell]

Nothing is going on. Literally nothing.

[imaginaryfriend]

The key phrase that I took from ASP's last press release about the acquisition was, "[W]e are indeed shifting from a more traditional publishing contract to something that can be better described as a media rights contract[.]"

I would tend to translate that into, "We are changing from people who publish comics into internet media people who buy and sell rights about comics and maybe get other people to publish them as hardcopy someday, possibly."

[todd]

I'm beginning to think, Tom, that if I were you, I'd withdraw the right from ASP to publish "Gunnerkrigg Court" and look for a more honest company to bring it out in print. Or is it too late for that?

[Tom Siddell]

If the current publishing thing doesn't come through then I will most likely not print the comic at all. I already disappointed a lot of people who wanted the book, I don't want to waste people's time again.

[Tom Siddell]

I'm sorry, but you have no idea what you're talking about.

1) ASP is a publisher of creator owned books. They have the rights to print the book, not the rights to the comic itself. Only I have those.
2) Every decent contract will have a section with termination clauses. One of the clauses in mine, for example, say the contract is terminated if the book isn't printed after a certain period of time. That period ends at the beginning of January 2009.

I realise I must look like an idiot who has no idea what's going on, and you are probably just trying to help, but guessing at a situation you aren't familiar with doesn't help anyone.

Edit: the post I was replying to was removed, apparently.

[Rasselas]

Tom, as a fellow creative type, it breaks my heart to see you give up on publishing the comic. It's a really good piece of work and I feel it's worth the trouble and wait. I'd rather see the printed version in two years than never.

[AluK]

Mr. Siddell, I'd be more disappointed if the book never come through. I'd be really sad, 'cause such a beautiful tale surely deserves the wider audience it would achieve in print form.

I also tend to think that most of your fans agree with me.

[sml350spc]

Nov 28, 2008 23:54:06 GMT Tom Siddell said:

If the current publishing thing doesn't come through then I will most likely not print the comic at all. I already disappointed a lot of people who wanted the book, I don't want to waste people's time again.

Please don't see it as such. I would give credit that most of us understand that problem is with the publisher and not with yourself and would also be more than happy to reorder should it happen to come about another way. I know I'm looking forward to sharing GC with more than a couple people that would more than likely not be aware of it in its current non-print format. There's still a good chunk of population that doesn't take otherwise fine works as seriously as they deserve because of their designation as "webcomics".

[imaginaryfriend]

I've deleted my previous speculative post. I'm relieved to hear you've got a termination clause, I'm told that many beginning authors don't get one or there is another clause that can be used to extend the contract against the author's will.

Tom, I'm reluctant to bring this up as I appear to have come across as an ass before and I don't want to insult you or lecture you, but unless the contract specifically says that the rights granted to print the book aren't assignable I'm pretty sure they can be transferred. That doesn't extend to other rights, only the right to print the comic which you do own, but it's still a paper asset that can be held or sold.

By the way, I heartily endorse Rasselas' and Aluk's words of support and I double down on what I said about not giving up on being officially hardcopy-published.

[Miri]

Mr. Tom, I know I don't know much about this specific type of publishing contract, but I want to second (third...fifth...whatever) the sentiment that I'm willing to wait for a hardcopy book of your beautiful webcomic. I want to be able to actually turn the pages and to shove it under my friends' noses, because I know they'd love it too, but they always forget to look it up when I'm done talking to them.

I'll wait. I'll wait as long as I have to. But I want a copy. Someday.

[todd]

I'd also like to give you my support, Tom, and hope that things get straightened out.

Does anyone know what's causing the long delays? Are the people at ASP dishonest or just incompetent?

[imaginaryfriend]

Nov 29, 2008 11:41:44 GMT todd said:

Does anyone know what's causing the long delays?

ASP was a partnership that broke up. They have a history of being creator-friendly and doing good indie comic and graphic novel work in the past, but post-breakup they have been undergoing "restructuring" and their titles have suffered horrific delays. They have announced they're being acquired by Kunoichi Inc. in the near future.

As I typed this an email from Amazon US arrived saying the estimated delivery date is now 24 Dec 2008.

[fjodor]

Tom, how many books would you have to sell in order to break even?

[Tom Siddell]

Official statements are found here and here.

[Tom Siddell]

Nov 29, 2008 15:37:18 GMT fjodor said:

Tom, how many books would you have to sell in order to break even?

I haven't spent anything on printing the books, so none.

[todd]

So all of this trouble is due to bad timing - that the time that "Gunnerkrigg Court" was supposed to be published had the misfortune of coinciding with ASP having administrative problems? Have I got it right?

[Tom Siddell]

That's one way of looking at it. The other way of looking at it is that a decent comic would not have trouble being printed.

[Rasselas]

That's not true at all, Tom. Decent things always require more hard work to get out into the open than mediocre, popularity-based ones. Compare Britney Spears and any decent musician out there.

There I go with my logic, squashing your artistic "I suck" prerogative. Apologies. :0

[imaginaryfriend]

Nov 30, 2008 1:27:08 GMT Tom Siddell said:

That's one way of looking at it. The other way of looking at it is that a decent comic would not have trouble being printed.

Or the search for an investor/buyer/savior may have given ASP a motive to continue delaying the release once it was already late enough for Amazon to start canceling pre-orders. If it wasn't a decent comic they wouldn't have been hyping it so much. Now that the acquisition's in the bag and they're running out of time on the contract they may suddenly rediscover their ability to print things.

[Miri]

Nov 30, 2008 1:27:08 GMT Tom Siddell said:

That's one way of looking at it. The other way of looking at it is that a decent comic would not have trouble being printed.

And I thought novelists were their own worst critics. Good night...okay. Look. Comic publishing probably isn't that different from book publishing, and good books - great books - go unpublished all the time, while...well, I'm sure you've read a perfectly published book that wasn't worth the paper it was printed on.

The problems with your printing have literally nothing to do with the quality of your comic. It's phenomenal. I've never met a person who read it who didn't instantly fall in love with it. It's sweet and funny and scary and real...all in the context of this amazing, unique world. It's good.

There's a chance I totally misread that comment, and for that I do apologize.

[idonotlikepeas]

Nov 30, 2008 1:27:08 GMT Tom Siddell said:

That's one way of looking at it. The other way of looking at it is that a decent comic would not have trouble being printed.

Another way of looking at it is that they're kind of a crappy publisher.

Let's see. I think it's indisputable that Penny Arcade is one of the most successful webcomics ever. (Not going to argue about whether it's good; I think so, but that's a matter of opinion. Success, though, is more objective.) But their first book was disastrous, in that the original publisher apparently made about ten of them and forgot to actually sell them to people, and they spent years fighting to get the rights back. Plenty of authors have spent years shopping around books and not got them published, only to have them come out and become huge successes. Whether something gets published (or published well) is not /directly/ related to the quality of the material in question; sometimes the people reading it don't get it, or it doesn't fit what they want for their house, or they don't have room for it on their schedule, or they just plain screw up and don't read it. It happens.

Gunnerkrigg Court is one of the best pieces of fiction I have ever seen, in webcomic form or in fact wherever. To a certain extent, I'm glad you don't believe that, because creators who get too full of themselves tend to start making mistakes, but damn, man, it'd be nice if there were a happy medium somewhere. You do good work. It'd be thrilling to see it actually get published so I could own a copy and show it to people, and it'd be great for you to actually get compensated for that work. Please, please don't give up on it.

[inhumandecency]

Nov 28, 2008 23:54:06 GMT Tom Siddell said:

If the current publishing thing doesn't come through then I will most likely not print the comic at all. I already disappointed a lot of people who wanted the book, I don't want to waste people's time again.

Nah, I'm not disappointed. Dealing with vaporware publications is just part of fan culture. Even if I'd been planning to give the book as a holiday gift, I don't think that delivering an IOU would break my, or the recipient's, heart. It'll be a good day whenever the book arrives!

Also, it's hard to get too worked up about having to wait for the hard copy when all the content is available for free online...

[Mezzaphor]

Nov 28, 2008 23:54:06 GMT Tom Siddell said:

If the current publishing thing doesn't come through then I will most likely not print the comic at all. I already disappointed a lot of people who wanted the book, I don't want to waste people's time again.

I'm not a lot of people, but I wouldn't consider these months of waiting to be wasted time if they result in a hard copy of GC in my hands and money in your pocket.

[bioptic]

I don't even understand the 'wasted time' angle. It's not like any of us have been camping outside a book shop in eager anticipation - the most anyone can possibly have done is clicked the 'pre-order' button and put it out of their minds.

The comic is 1) beautiful, 2) funny, 3) well-written 4) distinctive, 5) accessible and 6) tasteful. I feel it therefore has a massive potential market outside the web, and publication can only further that goal - as people have mentioned, it's much nicer to lend someone a shiny thick book than ask them to browse through some web archives.

We lose nothing by a delayed publication date, or a re-publication. You gain a not inconsiderable amount of stress, (which should be the central issue surrounding the decision) but sound like you at least wouldn't be out of pocket. Please, please don't abandon publication at this point, unless it all truly becomes too great a headache to bear.

[cenit]

Hey, think about Harry Potter... it's a huge success... and was turned down by a lot of editorial houses... don't let the first difficulties make you bitter... this work is so great that I fear one day you'll be so famous that you won't have the time to answer our questions anymore.

and the main Amazon site gave me a update... 24 of December... if it does get here by Christmas, it would be very cool

[Tanya]

[quote author=mezzaphor board=general thread=270 post=15830 time=1228199676
I'm not a lot of people, but I wouldn't consider these months of waiting to be wasted time if they result in a hard copy of GC in my hands and money in your pocket.[/quote]

Couldn't have said it better! Your art is outstanding Tom, It will be worth our wait to see you getting the publicity and recognition you deserve.

[nucleartwinkie]

Nov 28, 2008 23:54:06 GMT Tom Siddell said:

If the current publishing thing doesn't come through then I will most likely not print the comic at all. I already disappointed a lot of people who wanted the book, I don't want to waste people's time again.

I just received an email from Amazon.com that states..

"Unfortunately, an unexpected delay from our supplier may prevent us from delivering some items in your order... We'll keep working to obtain these items for you, and we'll ship the items as soon as we receive them."

I have never posted to the forums before, but I do read the comic regularly. I think I can speak for a lot of people when I say 'Please don't give up!" I was going to get this for my little sister, and still want to. We both think this is a great comic, and would love to see it in hardcopy format.