WE DID IT!!!! + Answering the Questions on Everyone's Minds
over 6 years ago
– Tue, Sep 26, 2017 at 11:32:22 PM
We did it!!! We reached the Goal!!!
Unite them. Never before have those words had such a deep and resonant feeling.
We've been getting reports from all around the world of people who couldn't attend the Live Stream, who went to bed feeling a bit hopeless the night before our campaign was to end. We were so far from our goal! The general feeling was that there was no way we could make it. All hope was lost!
I'll admit, for the better part of this last week, it felt like an insanely crazy uphill battle! We were too late to get a table at Comic Con (but we went anyway and passed out cards and talked with fellow Sanderfans). We did a live session on Kickstarter and lots of you were there, and we had a massive amount of fun. But then the Last Day came and we were still $30,000 away from hitting our goal.
$30K! That is not a small number!
Just the day before, it had seemed like we were gaining some traction, but even so, we only increased by $6K (our second best day up to that point). We did the math: even if we tripled that (breaking our best day), we still would have been $12K away from our goal!
But we fought. There wasn't a light at the end of the tunnel, so we made our own light. We sent out the call to our fans and fellow Sanderfans --if this was to succeed, we would need to rally TOGETHER. We needed spheres and Stormlight and all of us spent the day doing what we could.
We weren't sure about doing a live stream at the close of our campaign --what if we failed and the world saw that happen in real time? We decided that it was the right thing to do. This wasn't just about us anymore, it was about ALL of us. You were our strength when we were down, our solace when we were lacking hope, and our light when we were squashed by the darkness. We knew we wanted to spend our final moments of this leg of the journey with you, our fellow bridgemen.
And it was FUN! We were overwhelmed and amazed at your support, questions, encouragement, comeraderie, and love. So many people signed up for the live stream and it ended up being the best party! Our spirits were raised. And then so were our numbers.
You answered the call. We all came together like Bridge Four! Dalinar put it best, when he saw the bridgemen fighting the Parshendi: It was the most amazing, most glorious thing [he] had ever seen.
We went through an intense crucible together! As The Black Piper, we did our best to entertain, encourage, and reward you, and you heeded the call LIKE NO OTHER! You reached out and told your friends! You stretched your pledges to the MAX!!!
AND WE CROSSED THAT FINISH LINE TOGETHER!!! THANK YOU! YOU ARE ALL SO AWESOME! We really can't wait to fulfill all 1,705 of these reward bundles! #gloryspren
You put your trust in us. We will never forget what you've done for us. If you thought we worked hard before, get ready. Cos you ain't seen nothing yet. Now we have the means to show you something polished (except Sae Sae's Art --you wierdos can enjoy her scribbles and scratches in all their stick-figure glory;)!
Prepare for the epic. The Everstorm is coming.
With Our Sincerest Gratitude,
Sae Sae Norris, Richard Williams, and Michael Bahnmiller; The Black Piper
PS - We've got a lot of questions now that we've succeeded with our intial Kickstarter campaign. Please read the Q&A below (we'll add these to our Q&A Section here as well). If your questions aren't answered, hit us up with a message!
Latecomers
Q: I just found this project, and it's so awesome, and I have to get a copy! Is there any way???
A: YES! We're setting up BackerKit right now. In the next couple of days, we'll unleash it on the Kickstarter page (turning the action button at the top of the page to direct you to the BackerKit store). For the next little while, we'll continue to offer most of the same rewards we did on the Kickstarter. We can't offer anything new, but you'll still get your chance to own (almost) anything we were able to offer during the campaign!
If you want to be notified when that goes live, sign up for our newsletter - which you can find on our main page at www.theblackpiper.com.
Q: I Couldn't Back on Kickstarter - Will I Be Able to on BackerKit?
For some people across the world who weren't able to pledge on Kickstarter, BackerKit may be an option to still get a copy of the album and artwork! I do know that they offer PayPal as an option, and there may be other ways! Try it out when it goes live and please let us know of your experience!
2 Discs
OK, let's clarify this: We are making Kaladin into a 2-disc album. Everyone who pledged will receive 2 discs worth of music! All of you! We are only allowed to release one album --but that album can have up to 100 minutes of music, so we're doing it!
Our second ALBUM is not in the works yet. Our focus is on this first album, a 2-disc compilation of awesomeness (sans Lift).
The Next Album ($25)
We ran a promotion for our last 2 days of the campaign: Anyone who would increase their pledge by $25 or more would get our next album for FREE! Here are some answers to some of the nuances of that deal:
Q: I increased by pledge by $25 or more, but I did it before you announced the deal. Can I still get it?
A: If you increased it the same day that we offered the promotion, you get it! You'll just need to answer that question on the survey, and we'll verify that you did increase your pledge the day we announced it (and, yes, anytime during that day or after counts).
Q: I accidentally increased my pledge by $15 (or $20), but I meant to do the full $25. Can I somehow increase my pledge and take advantage of the offer?
A: Yes! Through BackerKit, you'll be able to increase your pledge - and we'll honor it!
Q: I didn't see the offer in time OR I didn't know about KALADIN in time to back. Can I still take advantage of the offer?
A: Yes! We'll add it as an option on BackerKit for those who didn't get to it in time!
Q: What is the next album?
A: We have so many ideas about what the next one will be. We'd love to do something in the Cosmere, like Mistborn or an album dedicated to Shallan. We'd also like to explore other fantasy works as well. So, the short answer is that we don't know yet, but we do know that it'll be awesome! We just need to focus on making this one a roaring success, and then we'll put all of our efforts into the next one!
How Do I Get (or Specify) My Add-ons?
We are currently setting up BackerKit. Once that is in place and once we have received the funds from Kickstarter, we will send out what are called "surveys". (This can take up to two weeks, so be on the lookout and let us know when you get your survey!)
"Survey" is just a fancy term for the checkout process. BackerKit will kind of act like a shopping cart for Kickstarter. It will know what tier you selected and how much beyond that tier you pledged. It will allow you to use your additional funds and apply them toward the different add-ons, and it will even allow you to select additional add-ons on the spot!
The Schedule (a.k.a. When Do We Get Our Stuff?)
The timeline for each item is very different. For example, we'll start delivering the music digitally once it's mixed (see our timeline on the Kickstarter page for more details, but that should be sometime in November), and we'll deliver the physical album toward the middle-to-end of December. The art book will have its own timeline - and will likely begin shipping around the same time as the CD. If we can bundle those together, we will.
Other items - like the Custom Song and Literary Consultation have their own complete timeline. We will have a queue set up for those and begin fulfilling them around March of 2018.
Is the Second Half of the Album Getting Recorded?
This is still up in the air. We raised our minimum goal, which will allow us to hire an amazing mixer for the entire project. But we didn't get enough to cover any recording costs.
We do have another outside option we're pursuing which may allow us to record, and if so, we'll let you know! At the very least, we want to record the string section, but it will take some work with the numbers to make it happen. But we will try!
Can we tell you who the artist(s) we wanted to hire are?
Not yet! Due to some serious Non-Disclosures, we are not allowed to mention the name of any celebrity talent we have approached until we pay them and get all the paperwork signed. That even held true for Brandon Sanderson --we had to wait several years before we could tell people what book we were writing our music to!
I Won a Prize, How and When Do I Claim It?
To claim your prize, send us an email. We may not respond right away, but we will keep track of those emails.
The prizes will be subject to the same schedule as their counterpart rewards. For example, Literary Consultation will happen next year, starting in March, and it will be done via a queue. (We'll let you know exactly where you fall in that queue.)
Digital rewards will be sent as they are made ready. None are quite ready yet, but they will be soon! Just watch your email (and we'll also send updates via Kickstarter as things are made ready).
We're Going Heads Down
The rest of this year is going to be VERY busy for us! So, we are going to be heads-down writing the music, preparing the artwork and rewards, mixing the music, possibly recording, etc! Until we release the rewards, our response time will slow significantly. Please be patient with us! But we will try to answer every query. And we read every single message and email we get. Thankfully, BackerKit will be able to handle some of those queries for us.
We will be providing updates to you as things happen, though, through either Kickstarter or BackerKit, so you'll always know what's going on! Don't be shy! Feel free to give us shoutouts on social media and communicate with us via email or Kickstarter or backerkit!
AGAIN, THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES FROM THE BOTTOMS TO THE TOPS TO THE FRONTS AND BACKS OF OUR HEARTS!!! We love you all, and you mean SO MUCH to us, you have no idea! Your excitement and generosity have put the wind in our sails, and we are soooo excited to finish this project and send you some amazing rewards!