Just a short post to talk through the process of post and packing of the book. Late on Tuesday 23rd we received two palettes containing the 500 book shipment. 56 boxes of books to be precise, each weighing 10kg. I enlisted the help of my youngest son and we moved them into the house, instantly shrinking the hallway by around 50% :) I'm delighted with the finished product, the print quality is perfect and the overall presentation of the book sits well with the images.
Then commenced the task of getting the books shipped out. And what a task that is proving to be! The process involves getting a print of the order, pairing it with the correct 'free print' option, signing / numbering the book, checking any customer special requests, wrapping*, placing in the bubble bag, wrapping in the cardboard book wrap, sticking on the label and then getting ready to take to the post office. Most of this is done in batch stages for efficiency so there's a spreadsheet with tick boxes for the stages of signing / wrapping / packaging /despatch of each one. When you add up the time it is quite a significant process and we've been able to get through around 60-70 per day. So by Friday evening we had around 200 despatched with another 190 still to go. So we've cancelled the bank holiday trip to the Lakes in order to try and get them all in the post by Tuesday (Wednesday at the latest). Books are going to 15 different countries!
*Jackie takes pride in her wrapping skills, you won't be disappointed!
The aftermath of a day's packing!
When I launched the pre-orders back in March, I said that the goal was to have them all despatched by the end of May, and that is looking likely to happen now. I do apologise that the 'cottage industry' nature of this (its me and Jackie that are doing all of the processing / posting and packaging) means that they are not able to be despatched on the same day and so some people will receive theirs before others. Thanks to everyone for your patience whilst this gets done, your support for the project has been really fantastic.
For anyone that is reading this who is thinking of buying a copy, I should point out that of the print run of 500 books it is very close to 4/5ths sold out. So without sounding like I'm touting for sales (though of course I am), don't leave it too long! The full choice of free prints is still available (at the time of typing this) though one of them is running low so that may change soon.
Thanks to all for your support, it has been so much appreciated and your feedback has been terrific throughout the whole process.
I'll just leave you with a picture of Dom Conlon's reaction when he first set eyes on the book that includes some of his wonderful poetry! Thanks so much Dom. Information of how to order the book is below.