Post here if you get a copy of the book.

[nickgoodway]

I should have been clearer in my post yesterday, I live in England and ordered my copies through Diamond via my local comic shop the same as I do with all my comics. If my one man operation local store can get the book a chain like FP certainly can. Of course they frequently display Boxbot-like levels of terrible these days.

[meowfaceman]

Just received the following e-mail:

The following items have been shipped to you by Amazon.com:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Qty Item Price Shipped Subtotal
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Amazon.com items (Sold by Amazon.com, LLC):
1 Gunnerkrigg Court: Orienta... $17.79 1 $17.79

I'm so excited for this book, holy crap. I reread this comic about once a month as it is, now I'll be able to do it wherever.

[cyberskull]

I got mine last week from my local comics store. ;D

Oh, I'm in California.

[Babble-jargon Bill]

While I did not order the book, I did stop by an Indigo book store on my way home today, and sure enough, GC: Orientation was in the system. It wasn't at that particular store, so I couldn't take a peek at it,but it was good to know that it had at least reached the great white north.

[merus]

Registered to confirm that they're at Kinokuniya Bookstore in Sydney, Australia. I got the hardcover because it was the first one I found - it's black inner pages, and it's really impressive quality.

Also, I think you kinda miss the point on book signings.

[belle]

I got my copy earlier this evening at a place called, I think, Comics on St. Marks, in NY, NY. I live in Austin, TX, though, and confirmed through the internets that my local comic shoppe, Austin Books and Comics, also has it (they have an online "pull list").
Tom, is there anything we, the fans, can do to promote this book enough to make it a commercial success for you? It seems like the book is promising enough and has a wide enough audience for many stores to order a copy or two, but needless to say, the promotion for the book seems negligible. If we buy them out, will stores order more, or not? Are there any street-team type activities your loyal fans can engage in to help out?
The book itself is gorgeous—I was surprised by it's size! It's so compact; it fits very nicely in the hand. The dust jacket is gorgeous, though I think the folds are a little off-center. The binding seems sturdy; time will tell, I suppose. Page 221/222 (Chapter 12, pages 23 and 24) have scratches and scuff marks in the outer bottom corner of the page, though it's not wrinkled. My copy was sealed at the store, so I know it's from the printing, but I haven't read through the whole book yet, so I don't know if other pages are like that. It doesn't obscure the art, and is actually not very noticeable. The printing is crisp and clean, and the colors are beautiful. Didn't the publisher send you any proofs to approve, or anything?! They seem to totally suck on the artist representation end, but at least the book seems sound and wonderful and at least available enough for most of your fans to get our grubby little hands on a copy. Again, please let us know if we can do anything to promote the book. Also, I'd be glad to post photos if someone will tell me how to put them in a post.

[Vadigor]

Well, I've sent an email to a specialised book/comic store here in Belgium, I hope they can get their hands on it somewhere.

Are you still in contact with the publisher Tom? I was wondering why wikipedia listed Titan Books as a second publisher of the book.

[merus]

I don't see any scuff marks on those pages on my copy, so I doubt it's universal.

[ageriaan]

I am also in Sydney, Australia, got the hardcover version at King's Comics. It was on the side of the shelf in the featured 'new releases' section. PRETTY EXCITING.

[Vadigor]

Jan 10, 2009 10:23:01 GMT belle said:

Also, I'd be glad to post photos if someone will tell me how to put them in a post.

Upload them to a site like imageshack, tinypic, bayimg or photobucket, then simply paste the links or go the extra mile and add the tag before each link and the [/img] tag after one, easier with the "Add Tags" button for images in the Reply editor.

Tags are put between square brackets. Two brackets with the code (in this case "img") open the tag, you close it by using the tag with a forward slash before the code like so, but without the spaces:

[ img ] link [ /img ]

[mobius]

Jan 10, 2009 11:01:21 GMT Vadigor said:

I was wondering why wikipedia listed Titan Books as a second publisher of the book.

I wish I'd noticed this. For those who don't know, Forbidden Planet and Titan Books are part of the same company, which would explain how I could have seen the book even if FP isn't currently stocking it in the UK. That said, I still find it hard to believe they're not - I'll have to check next time I'm in the West End.

[lost child]

I just walked into my Favourite comic book store, Grober Unfug here in Berlin, Germany, and there it stood: GC Orientation! I didn't even order it, they just had it there. I immediately bought it despite the very steep price of 24.95 Euros (hey, support your local comic book stores) and am now shuffling through it, and it's gorgeous! Beautiful hardback with dust cover (and Neil Gaiman quote on the back ), thick pages, glossy colourful print; it looks much better than it does on screen I have to say. The pages are all black framed as you wanted it, apart from the cover page for chapter 10.
Beautiful beautiful book! I love it!

[Mezzaphor]

I checked the Bizarro Wuxtry here in Athens, Georgia, USA, and they didn't have it. The dude I spoke with said that fantasy comics don't sell that well there, so they generally don't stock them. He did say he could special-order it for me, but I'm just going to order from Amazon and save a few bucks.

Though if I see the comic at Borders today, I'm buying it right there and canceling that Amazon order.

[Babble-jargon Bill]

Could anyone tell me if Tom's comments on each page are in the book? Those are always so fun to read, and they also explain a lot too. I think my favorite is from chapter 16, page 4:

"Those guys in panel 4 are not Aly, and they are not Annie's dad in disguise, nor are they the girl from the photo, or transgendered clones of Annie's mom sent back in time to act as spies"

[Dominic]

They are not.
And while I'm posting here anyway - I don't have anything yet, but I did manage to find a store in town that'll get me one. At €26,95 it's a fair bit more expensive than on Amazon, but I suspect that this will be quicker and it saves me the hassle of talking my dad into using his credit card.

[nikita]

And Amazon is evil too!
For real now.. they published fake release dates.. mere guesses. They deserve to lose customers.

[todd]

Jan 10, 2009 16:45:23 GMT Babble-jargon Bill said:

Could anyone tell me if Tom's comments on each page are in the book? Those are always so fun to read, and they also explain a lot too. I think my favorite is from chapter 16, page 4:

"Those guys in panel 4 are not Aly, and they are not Annie's dad in disguise, nor are they the girl from the photo, or transgendered clones of Annie's mom sent back in time to act as spies"

I've sometimes thought that that line backfired; it only resulted in a couple of extras distracting the readers even more from the central action on that page (granted, an event that doesn't affect the rest of the chapter) than if Tom hadn't said it.

[shadrach]

I bought my copy this week at my local comics store in Toronto.

By the way Tom, the book is listed in Diamond Comics' New Releases list for January 7 (item #FEB083463). (For those unfamiliar, Diamond is the major distributor of English-language comics to comic-specialty shops internationally. So when they list it, you know it's in print for real.)

And from my past observations, once Diamond (and the comic specialty stores) receive a book, that means general bookstores (brick-and-mortar and online) get it within 1-2 months of that date, tops. So if I were you Tom I'd put that banner back up, as the Amazon (etc.) pre-orders should actually mean something this time.

[Madii]

I'm going to go check tomorrow at Nostalgia and Comics if they can order it in, or have even heard of it. Will report back.

[DoctorMO]

I got one! I was browsing through a comic book store in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts when I spotted it on the shelf. No just 1 copy, but 10. all on display in a very prominent manner.

The owner of the shop said that they'd been really hard to get hold of, but so many people had asked for them that it seemed worth the wait. $28 though, a bit expensive compared to the amazon price of $17.

Anyway I canceled the order I had with Amazon when I got home. They were giving me July as the date I should expect it.

It's gorgeous too! all in black. Although I was kind of expecting to see Tom's avatar somewhere in the book, under the author section. Every page is great and when I'd finished reading it, I came back to the website to re-read chapters 15 onwards. Keep up the good work Tom!

[Tom Siddell]

Jan 11, 2009 1:08:59 GMT Madii said:

I'm going to go check tomorrow at Nostalgia and Comics if they can order it in, or have even heard of it. Will report back.

I actually managed to pick up a copy from Nostalgia. I know it's pretty stupid, having to buy my own book, but I was intending to buy one from there anyway, since Nostalgia is my comic shop from old times. At least I actually have one now.

They only had two copies, including the one I bought.

[Vadigor]

I can just imagine the conversation that took place at the register Tom. =p

Well at least you've got your own copy now, one way or another. But your publisher sure is an asshole, did you even get a proof copy?

[nikita]

Jan 11, 2009 23:15:08 GMT Vadigor said:

But your publisher sure is an asshole, did you even get a proof copy?

I think Tom once mentioned he didn't have to pay Archaia anything for printing. I can't find the post anymore, but I'm pretty sure someone had asked how many books were to be sold to break even and the answer was something like "didn't invest anything, so none" but I searched for.. 40 Minutes now and I just can't find it.

[cyberwolf001]

Jan 9, 2009 8:13:42 GMT uthor said:

I don't get why you would bother ordering it through B&N. They need to get it shipped to the store, then will sell it at cover price. You can order through Amazon for a discount and cut out the middle-man.

Well the more it is ordered the more likely people are to stock copies!

In my case I prefer to buy from B&N or BAM as there the only book stores around. Well we have Legends a locally owned and independent comic shop but good luck trying to get in there it's almost always closed and sometimes the owner doesn't even feel like opening it on the days it is suppose to be opened.

[chris]

Jan 9, 2009 17:20:58 GMT mobius said:

Just fyi, the book should be available in all branches of Forbidden Planet (and there are quite a few)
Cheers,
Mobius

Even if it isn't in stock, chances are, if you ask the staff, they'll order it for you. The store I go to in New York have been kind enough to do so for me.

[Tom Siddell]

Jan 11, 2009 23:15:08 GMT Vadigor said:

I can just imagine the conversation that took place at the register Tom. =p

Well at least you've got your own copy now, one way or another. But your publisher sure is an asshole, did you even get a proof copy?

Luckily there was no conversation.

No, I didn't get a proof copy.

[zbeeblebrox]

Ooo, I'll have to check Earth 2 here in LA on Wednesday and see if they have it. They were the ones I originally ordered it from, but that was like half a year ago practically, so I'm not gonna wait for them to contact me.

I'll let ya know the results, but from the repsonses so far, it's looking pretty likely.

[Vadigor]

Jan 12, 2009 6:18:23 GMT Tom Siddell said:

No, I didn't get a proof copy.

That's some pretty shoddy publishing service, but at least the book is supposed to look great and you didn't need to take any financial risks if what nikita said was right. I do hope you send quite a few of angry mails or phone calls their way though.

Out of curiosity, could you tell us what percentage you're getting on sales?

[todd]

I don't have a copy yet, but I learned this morning that the local public library has at least one copy on order.

[Mesías]

Today, I went to a store that specializes in comics, and they told me that they'll probably have a copy of the Orientation in two weeks.
Now I'm counting the days for see if they'll bring it, specially since very few people knows GC around here. Costarrican "frikis"aren't very familiarized with webcomics.