Today we're announcing that The EGM Compendium will not ship in September as previously estimated. We'll need additional time to get your copy out to you—either physically or digitally.
Everyone who backed the Compendium have already shown an amazing amount of patience and we appreciate it—and we want to be very transparent about where we're at and why we need a little bit more time. Rather than throwing out an arbitrary date or making a general assurance about the progress made, we'd like to instead show you that we're in the home stretch and that this will not be a big delay.
Before we get into it, we'd also like to announce that we will be putting out the digital PDF version as soon as it's finalized and approved, in advance of the print version. While we know many of you may prefer to wait for a hard copy, we'd like to minimize the wait for anyone who wants to read it right away.
The Bottom Line…
We're expecting the final digital book will be sent to backers and the files to the printer by mid-November at the latest. Once the printer gets the files, the turnaround time from printing to shipping is expected to be six weeks. You can find much more detail on our current progress below, and we'll provide weekly updates moving forward so you can specifically see our progress toward shipping.
Writing
The book is now fully written. That's all 264 issue pages and nearly 100 pages of original features and roundtables with EGM editors. Because of the large format of the book, we've been able to fit a lot onto each one of those pages, too. The Compendium clocks in at over 250,000 words. That's four times as many words as the biggest EGM ever, the 400-pager from December '94. It's longer than Moby Dick, Crime and Punishment, and all but one of the Harry Potter books, too.
This was obviously the biggest single effort on the project—not just getting it all written, but also making it fun and informative while covering such a wide range of games and topics. We worked to make it enjoyable whether you want to read cover to cover or hop around. And we can assure you that the biggest box is now checked off.
Layout
We're still working to wrap up the last of the layouts. On the issue pages, about 50 are currently getting the final pass to take them from text and images (in a layout file) to finished product. Because of the nature of the issue pages, this is a relatively quick process, but still requires a designer's touch to ensure each page and spread flows well and looks nice.
On the features, we've got four layouts still to finalize (out of more than 30 feature layouts). As we briefly touched on in a previous update, we decided earlier this year to overhaul the feature layouts to give them more visual impact. Our goal was to ensure each individual feature has its own identity while still fitting with the rest of the book. Think EGM cover stories from the late '90s onward. This approach required a little more brainstorming, collaboration, and iteration than the more standardized approach we'd initially planned, but it's also made the book much better.
Editing and Approvals
Copy editing is currently underway on the finalized pages, with both our internal team and external proofreaders combing over every page to ensure it's free of typos and consistent in style. Once the copy editing is done, the next step is getting final approval from EGM ownership and the legal team. To minimize any potential delays, we're moving pages through this step on an individual basis, rather than waiting for the entire book to be copy edited first.
Other Rewards
We're beginning production on the secondary rewards—the posters, pins, and button-down shirt. These are being done in advance of the books, so we can ensure they won't slow anything down. When we have pictures of actual finished products, we'll share them with you here.
What's Next for You
After every page of the Compendium has gotten the final sign-off, we'll charge cards on BackerKit with advance notice. (Note that this only applies to anyone who added on new items in your survey. Many of you will have already paid for your entire order through Kickstarter and did not need to provide any card during your survey.)
Then we'll export the book as a PDF, upload it, and release it to you at the same time we begin delivering the files to the printer. The reflowable ebook version will take a bit longer, as we'll need to take extra steps beyond simply exporting to ensure the content is ordered and formatted properly.
Once the book has printed, we'll lock your shipping address, also with advance notice. We're working with outside partners to pack the contents of your order to expedite the shipping process and to help minimize the time it takes between when the book prints and when it arrives at your door.
We appreciate your continued patience and support. We're a small team, putting in long hours to make sure we don't just get this done, but get it right. It's what EGM deserves, and what you, our backers, deserve as well. We understand this isn't the update you want to receive but do know that the extra time you're giving us will help us make the book the very best it can be.
We'll be back with another update tomorrow—and will check in weekly from here until the book is finally in your hands
