The Beginning After The End Campaign Has Concluded! A Thank You From TurtleMe + Details On Post-Campaign Surveys and The Rocketship Production Process
9 months ago
– Mon, Sep 08, 2025 at 12:09:22 PM
My sincerest gratitude for making this campaign an overwhelming success! You all never cease to surprise me with your enthusiasm and support. It’s humbling to have such an awesome community to have my back, supporting what I love to do.
This is just the beginning after the end (of the campaign), so stay tuned for future volumes! Hehe, see what I did there?
…I’ll show myself out.
-TurtleMe
Post Campaign Details:
We at Rocketship Entertainment would also like to say thanks to everyone who made this such an awesome campaign to be a part of! You all really knocked it out of the park and destroyed all our expectations in the best way possible. 🥰
There are a lot of questions coming in now that the Kickstarter is over, so let's dive in:
Q: I missed the campaign - can I still pledge?
A: Yes! We have Late Pledges turned on! If you go to the campaign page you'll see this at the top above the title. You can still go select rewards as if the campaign were live.
Q: How long do I have to do a late pledge?
A: We don't have an exact date on when we're cutting this off. It will be at least through this early next year, since that is when the surveys are launching. With that said, we'll do an update when late pledges are officially going to be turned off so everyone is aware.
Q: When will surveys be going out?
A: The survey/pledge manager platform for this project is not yet confirmed, but we are expecting this to be ready by sometime in February, since that's usually when shipping prices are updated by mail services. We'll do an update when we determine which platform we'll be using, as well as do an update when it's ready to go - so stay tuned!
Q: What's the purpose of the survey?
A: We use these surveys primarily for two reasons:
- To collect shipping payments and addresses for all our backers, so that we can eventually send their pledge rewards.
- To provide backers with the ability to modify the reward tier they selected or get a last chance to add-on items. All add-ons featured in this campaign (shirts, giclée prints, additional book bundles...etc) will be available in the survey.
Q: How long will I have to complete my survey?
A: Our goal is to get as many surveys completed by backers as possible, so we give around 30 days from their launch to allow everyone proper time. With that said, if you end up needing more time than that, it's ok. :)
Q: When will my order arrive?
A: As noted in each reward tier, estimated fulfillment is set for August of 2026.
With fulfillment timelines, please be mindful of the following, which is noted on our FAQ:
The delivery dates associated with each reward are based on our anticipated production schedule. They are not guaranteed and, as they are described, are ESTIMATES. Once we finish surveys and all add-ons are locked we go into production on those items and will provide campaign updates throughout the process. Should dates shift, which is not uncommon, we will provide new estimated delivery dates in updates. Please note, that no date provided should be considered a locked and promised date until we have the books at the warehouse and until such time all estimated dates are subject to change.
With that said, Rocketship Entertainment has never had a funded Kickstarter that did not end up getting fulfilled, and you can view the status of all our projects, both in-production and fulfilled in the link below:
Click here for Rocketship Project Tracker
Q: Why such a long fulfillment timeline for stories that are already written?
A: With so many first-time backers, we'd like to take a moment to explain the proofing process that will happen after the campaign ends. This seems like a lot of detail, and it is, but this is one of the things that makes Rocketship special and why we've been nominated three years running for Best Presentation in Design for the Ringo Awards.
What you see of the books in the campaign right now are mock-ups. These are not the final designs, though they are very close and the details are accurate. Meaning 14k gold, mother of pearl, barn doors, and so on have already been vetted through our manufacturer. What will happen once the campaign ends is that we will lock our print runs with the factory, and they'll provide templates to work off of in order to provide them print-ready files. In parallel, we'll be working on the interiors and, of course, any outstanding art that will be coming in.
Prepping the files and providing all of the necessary elements (files for spot UV layers, for the 14k gold, debossing, soft touch elements, etc...) and exploring what other specialty finishes we can add is the first step, along with the "guts" of each book.
In this case, we're doing 6 different books (3 softcover, and 3 hardcover volumes), so this has to happen for all of them...plus the 2 different slipcases, with the hardcover slipcase having complex elements like the sword and extra doors.
Then, over the course of 2-3 months, we will receive physical proofs of every element to inspect. Most books from other publishers do not go through this process, but we are meticulous with projects like these to ensure the highest level of craftsmanship.
In the case of this project, this includes color proofs of the interiors to ensure there are no needed color corrections, followed by a run of the actual pages with finishes on them.
For the covers, particularly the hardcover, this means every single layered element comes to us to approve before we move on to the next step. In parallel with that, we will receive blank dummies of every element. These are constructed exactly as the final product will be, but with no printing on them. This ensures we see exactly how the books will be when they're mass-produced and gives us the opportunity to make any changes to things like the barn doors or how the sheath on the slipcase closes.
There are inevitably changes that get made during this process. It happens every time. If you've seen projects like our Stan Lee's Backchannel color changing slipcase, the Dune House Atreides leather notebook, or our Dracula and Frankenstein coffin case, those are projects that went through 5 to 10 iterations to ensure the final product was exactly as envisioned.
While we don't typically share every step of this process in updates, for this project, we plan to share most of them. This attention to detail is why the books are a year out from delivery. And while we hope there are no delays in the process, it can happen.
We have a very firm philosophy here that it's better for something to be late than to be below our standards. The 9 volumes that will follow this campaign will also go through the same process, but as elements that are similar across all volumes are worked through with this initial run, those processes will be quicker.
Q: Who can I talk to if I have questions, requests, or issues with my order?
A: If you have questions about your order, click here to DM us! Please always direct message us here on Kickstarter. We can't perform customer service on social media.
Thanks!
