Book 2 Out Today!

The Saltlands!

Book 2 of Farlaine the Goblin hits store shelves today!


This is what it looks like on the shelf, next to awesomeness.

Go buy it!

If your local shop doesn't have it, beg them for it!

Or buy it from us:)

Post-New York Comic Con Wrapup!

Well, after doing conventions in Boston, Baltimore, and now the 4-day New York finale, I'm tired and our convention season is over:) It's time to get back to work on the next books.

Not sure yet what the next appearances may be


NYCC Notes:





It was a very hectic and crazy time, but also very good! I ended up selling more than 150 books over the 4 days, the majority of which were to people that hadn't heard of it.



For anyone that hasn't been to the NYCC, I'd highly encourage it. It's an amazing zoo of oddity and awesomeness and crazy cool people..

Some of the more surreal experiences for me:

- A couple of guys came by the booth and bought 4 copies of the first printing - this is the book that was sent out as review copies to stores over the summer, and which were for sale at Boston and Baltimore.

I only have a handful of these left. They paid me $40/each for them. Then a half hour later they returned with an authentication guy from CGC to watch as I signed them! So they're now going to be sealed in plastic cases and graded. Too weird!

- One guy came up on Sunday gushing about how excited he was that I was there since he couldn't find the book anywhere else. He was seriously all smiles:)

- One sweet girl came by asking me to draw in her sketchbook. So cool!

- My favorite was one girl came by on Friday I think(the days blend), liked the look of the book but didn't have any money, so I gave her a free copy and asked her to read it and let me know what she thought of it. She came back Sunday and said she liked it, then gave me money for the free copy and bought a copy of #2! Then she waved at me later as she walked by. It was so cool!!
 

- On Sunday a guy came by and was looking at my book. He asked if I'd trade? I said sure, and he started pulling out wands. How cool is this?? So I got a squid wand in trade for copies of book 1 & 2 plus a drawing of Farlaine. Score!


I also got a Totoro for myself, a limited Rancor ornament for my dogsitting friends, & a couple of gift Herobears






DON'T FORGET! Still time for people to order "Farlaine the Goblin: Book #3:  The Racelands" through Previews.

Book 2 comes out in stores October 30th!

Book 3 comes out December 11th!

A sold out first issue, a bunch of reviews, and the New York Comic Con!

So the book came out last week and seems to have done pretty darn well! I found it at 3 different local Newbury Comic shops, including downtown Boston, which is about as cool as could be in my mind.

Reports are coming in of the book being sold out in many locations and tough to find, with some crazy people already buying them on eBay for as much as $30-40!


A quick reminder that Farlaine the Goblin will be set up at the New York Comic Con next week, 8 days away, in booth 1261 in the Small Press area. We'll have copies of Books 1, 2, and a super sneak peek of 3! We'll also have 11x17 prints and even exclusive mini-prints!

Here's where to find us:
http://nycc13.mapyourshow.com/5_0/floorplan_link.cfm?show_id=nycc13&exhid=392275&booth=1261



And finally, a bunch of different reviews started popping up after the release:

Podcast Review on positivelynerdy.com.
These guys do two reviews per month and target 13 total comics - including Farlaine the Goblin #1! This is pretty cool since the other books included are things like Saga, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Mouse Guard, and Star Trek...so great company!
The Farlaine comments start around 5:45 minutes and last until 9:10. You can listen to the review here:
http://positivelynerdy.com/?p=1561


Podcast Review from Burnt Weiners - and they really seemed to like it! "Super charming", "Very, very awesome", "Great little comic"They talk about the book around 32:25 - 38:00
http://www.burntweiners.com/2013/09/29/burnt-weiners-episode-178-farlaine-the-goblin-ocean-master-bane/


Destroy the Cyborg - Very positive review! Seemed to really enjoy it!!
http://www.destroythecyb.org/farlaine-the-goblin-a-fairy-tale-about-finding-your-forest-book-1-13012.htm


Comic Geek Speak: 1:08:15 - 1:15:30
http://www.comicgeekspeak.com/episodes/comic_geek_speak-1741.php


A fun "package opening" video by Jerry Copeland from copies we sent him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOYUa0J70vo


And finally, our Official Press Release:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/9/prweb10949163.htm

Farlaine the Goblin #1 - In Stores Today!!

OK, today is the day Farlaine the Goblin #1 finally hits store shelves!! 

There were more than 1300 copies ordered so there's a good chance it should be available at a large variety of comic book shops around the country, as well as a bunch overseas. I can't speak for interplanetary, but we did send free copies to Jupiter Two and Betelgeuse, so there is a chance they'll be available if you live out there a ways, but no guarantees(expensive shipping).

Luckily, for anyone that can't find a copy near them, you can order it direct through the website! We'll even sign it and doodle in it for you!

We've had some good word of mouth and plenty of people looking forward to the book, so hopefully people are happy with the final product!

And most importantly, if you buy the book and like it, tell you your local comic shop! Ask them to order the next books!

If you don't, they won't, and everyone ends up sad!

Book 2 will be on stands October 30th and Book 3 will be out December 11th!

Farlaine the Goblin is coming...SEPTEMBER 25TH!

OK, heading into the final lap on Farlaine the Goblin #1 finally hitting the streets next week on September 25th, 2013!!

I know there is a huge, endless mass of people anxiously awaiting the book...all four of you...but you'll need to wait patiently! The book is successfully with the distributor now, and unless they too have a fire, the book should finally get out there soon. (Highly recommend people to form Harry Potter-like lines awaiting it's imminent release).

Book 2 is scheduled to follow it seemingly quickly, hitting stands either October 23rd or October 30th(depending on printer shipping dates).

Book 3 is scheduled to trickle along in early December.

That's the main comic stuff at least.

In other Farlaine news we were set up at the Baltimore Comic Con last weekend and it was another positive convention. We sold about the same # of books as we did at Boston, but again, to a new group of people who hadn't even heard of the book before! I take that as a good sign.


I also did a convention drawing for someone, which was fun  > >


Finally, we will also be set up at the New York Comic Con as well, October 10-13. We will be set up in the Small Press Area, in sight of Marvel Comics(assuming their setup is bigger than ours).

Reviews, Conventions, and Reprints, oh my!

A handful of interesting things worth mentioning this week in the world of Farlaine news!

First - Farlaine the Goblin will be set up at the Baltimore Comic Con THIS weekend, September 7-8 in booth A143.

Second - Mega awesome Farlaine review came out today: http://comicbastards.com/review-farlaine-the-goblin-book-1-the-tinklands/

We also got a cool little mention in a YouTube video today from Hoknes Comics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlEDfUYixSk

And somehow we showed up as #51 on TFAW's "hotness" list, ahead of such unknowns as Walking Dead and Atomic Robo. Clearly some people find goblins hot: http://www.tfaw.com/Pre-Orders/Comics

And Third - Finally got in copies of the "Fire Printing" reprint of Book #1 that was destroyed at the printer - and I'm happy to say that they came out even better than the original first printings! Yay silver lining from fire destruction! This edition is what will finally hit stands worldwide on September 25th!!

A nice little review of Book 1 by Redheaded Mule

A nice little review just popped up from Red-Headed Mule about Book 1:

http://redheadedmule.com/2013/08/farlaine-goblin-book-1-tinklands-review-8866/

Farlaine gets interviewed!

The chubby little goblin himself was interviewed recently and the interview popped up online today! Go Farlaine!!

http://www.comicbookandmoviereviews.com/2013/08/farlaine-goblin-he-puts-cool-back-into.html

A Fire and a Delayed First Issue...

In the realm of 'News I Wasn't Expecting to Hear Today', I've been informed that due to a fire at the printer, all the copies of Book #1 in stock have been destroyed and we will miss the release date of September 4th.

We will be doing a reprint and will have the books on shelves September 25th!!

Obviously, this stinks.

It upsets a lot of the marketing plans in the works and makes the Baltimore Comic Con a lot less cool of a stop! But oh well. These things happen and there's nothing we can do about them.


Apologies to anyone anxiously awaiting the release.

For anyone who already has a copy, can you say 'collector's item'? :)

Ain't It Cool News Review!

Today Ain't It Cool News posted a cool review of the first issue of Farlaine the Goblin:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/63687

It's a decent review, honest and fair, with lots of positive stuff to say mixed in with some of the expected "slow start" kind of talk. After all, the first book is very much intended as that! Chapter 1 of a 7 issue story people.

But it's still a good review that encourages people to read it, so what more could I ask??

Hope you enjoy it!

Book #1 orders come in!

OK, so today I finally got back my order numbers for Farlaine the Goblin #1.

They came in at 1,344 copies.

I'm not sure how to feel about this.

On the one hand, my original expectations were lower than that, figuring a minimum of 700 and ideally 1000, which makes 1,344 seem downright spectacular!

On the other hand, my original expectations were based on 2 year old sales data that showed a comic crawling in at the bottom of the charts would sell about 700 copies. Using present day figures it looks like the numbers would be more like 2,400, hence why I'm not sure how to feel about this.

What makes this doubly frustrating was that some of my marketing efforts were lost in the shuffle of paperwork. The book was supposed to be listed as 'Buy 5, Get 1 Free' and to 'Overship', which in effect meant that some stores would have received additional copies beyond what they ordered. It appears neither of these actually happened, which certainly would have improved numbers. Oh well.

On the positive side though, I sent off 300 free copies to retailers in advance, sold 60+ last weekend at the Boston Comic Con, and when combined with the books I sent off to family, friends, reviewers, and random strangers, that means there will be ~2000 copies of the book in circulation by September.

So it's not all bad:)


Now to try to improve on those numbers!

The First Convention - Boston Comic Con - Plus, an interview with The Longbox Project!

So this past weekend was the Boston Comic Con! This convention was originally scheduled to happen in April, but was canceled last minute due to the bombings and rescheduled to August.

This was always intended to be the first public appearance of the book since I'm Boston-based, and this new date oddly worked out better for me with the book not being on stands until September. In a way, this turned out to be an advance copy weekend for anyone who found it.

And find it they did! We sold more than 60 copies of the book over the two days, which I'm told is pretty good for an unknown book. I was expecting to sell 20-30 if I was lucky!

And the overall response from people was wonderful, with plenty of kids and adults liking it!! I even had a couple of people that had found those early review copies come up and tell me how much they enjoyed reading it. A very cool and humbling experience.


And then for the cherry on top, a new interview popped up online! After Unleash The Fanboy did an amazing review of Farlaine, I was asked to do a little Q&A for The Longbox Project. They published it this weekend for anyone who's curious about the inner workings of making a goblin:

http://thelongboxproject.com/creator-blog/farlaine-goblin


OK, now I'm off to finish some convention wrap-up work and get back to work finalizing rewrites on issue #3!

And then getting ready for the Baltimore Comic Con in early September!!

Farlaine the Goblin #1 hits stands SEPTEMBER 4th

Due to a Diamond error, a bunch of websites are listing Farlaine the Goblin#1 as coming out July 17th - THIS IS NOT CORRECT.

The book hits comic shops across the country on SEPTEMBER 4th, 2013.

The July 17th listing was actually when retailers would be getting their free copies(because bribing retailers is apparently a cool approach).

Sorry for confusing the people who are looking forward to this comic:)

UPDATE NOTE: Apparently plenty of these stores idea of "review" is to just throw the book on the shelf and sell it. So there are potentially a few hundred early copies floating around:)

Farlaine the Goblin #2 starting to pop up online!

Looks like the second issue of Farlaine the Goblin, Farlaine in the Saltlands, has started to poke it's head up online! This issue will be in stores in October and here's one of the first listings:

http://www.urban-collector.com/farlaine-the-goblin-2-comic-book-aug131446.html

Comic Geek Speak audio mention!

While endlessly Googling myself(huge ego here) I stumbled across something I wasn't expecting - a website that does a page by page review of Previews! Even cooler, they even mentioned Farlaine the Goblin and seemed impressed by the ad and art. Spiffy!

Here's a link to the audio:
http://comicgeekspeak.com/episodes/comic_geek_speak-1707.php

If you skip ahead to about 72 minutes in, 1:12:00, you'll hear them talk about it.

Sounds we sold at least 1 copy! Woot! Massive wealth and riches!

Now I sure do hope the book lives up to their expectations...

Today issue #1 appeared for sale on the web...

Exciting stuff! Farlaine the Goblin #1 started popping up on comic book retailer websites this week!!

http://www.midtowncomics.com/store/dp.asp?PRID=FARLAINE+THE+GOBLIN+%231_1281316

I'm sad the cover looks so bright and they have a typo in the description, but it's overwhelmed by the excitement of seeing this!! The print edition of Previews comes out next Wednesday!

The second issue is off to Diamond! Here's the cover!

Due to the long process of getting things rolling with Diamond on issue #1, I had a long stretch before #2 was finally due - which turned out to be this past week!

So now 2 of the 3 finished books are solicited for September and October street dates.

For the 3rd book I've decided to shift it back to a December release to keep the books paced about 6 weeks apart. And hopefully this way stores will be able to order #3 after knowing how #1 did.

We'll see how it all shakes out, but thems the plans for now.

Here's a sneak peak at what the cover of #2 is shaping up to look like: