Cemetery Dance discussion thread

[Brian James Freeman]

Sign me up right now if you still have the $500 lifetime subscription! (-:

It would be a heck of a deal, wouldn't it!? Sadly, I believe it expired in 1995 or so. Folks paid much higher amounts in later years, once we were really rolling, but we don't offer any lifetime deals anymore.

Brian

[Merlin1958]

In the past, I have been very vocal about my displeasure with CD so it is with the same passion that I applaud their complete turn around and Brian and Dan are no small part of that. CD has addressed it's past issues head on and is now, IMHO, one the the few quality horror small press publishers. Not to mention a great bunch of folks to deal with.

[lor1974]

In the past, I have been very vocal about my displeasure with CD so it is with the same passion that I applaud their complete turn around and Brian and Dan are no small part of that. CD has addressed it's past issues head on and is now, IMHO, one the the few quality horror small press publishers. Not to mention a great bunch of folks to deal with.

I'd feel happy cheering on CD if I had seen any progress on the massive backlog of lettered editions they have still to produce.
I just had a look at a few of the lettered orders I've placed with them. A few date from early 2007 - books like 'The Dark Tower Concordance', 'Stephen King : Non Fiction' and Norman Partridge's 'Dark Harvest'.

At that time I was brand new to collecting and thought that the opportunity to pick up some lettered editions through one of CD's all too frequent (I now know) 50% off sales was too good to miss. If I had known back then that almost five years later I wouldn't have heard a thing about any of these books then I think I may have just put my money in the bank.

Will these books see the light of day in 2012, 2013, 2014? Who knows.

According to the CD website the one man in the whole of North America who is capable of banging out the traycases for the books is hard at work. But, presumably he's hard at work on the long delayed titles first. What about the numerous lettered editions sold more recently. Will the people who bought the Justin Cronin, Douglas Preston or Bentley Little lettereds still be waiting for them in 2016?

I think this issue is a massive millstone around CD's neck. They've collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers for products that are some way beyond 'overdue'. Unless they can significantly increase production on the traycases then the backlog will never clear. It's something they need to address.

[Merlin1958]

In the past, I have been very vocal about my displeasure with CD so it is with the same passion that I applaud their complete turn around and Brian and Dan are no small part of that. CD has addressed it's past issues head on and is now, IMHO, one the the few quality horror small press publishers. Not to mention a great bunch of folks to deal with.

I'd feel happy cheering on CD if I had seen any progress on the massive backlog of lettered editions they have still to produce.
I just had a look at a few of the lettered orders I've placed with them. A few date from early 2007 - books like 'The Dark Tower Concordance', 'Stephen King : Non Fiction' and Norman Partridge's 'Dark Harvest'.

At that time I was brand new to collecting and thought that the opportunity to pick up some lettered editions through one of CD's all too frequent (I now know) 50% off sales was too good to miss. If I had known back then that almost five years later I wouldn't have heard a thing about any of these books then I think I may have just put my money in the bank.

Will these books see the light of day in 2012, 2013, 2014? Who knows.

According to the CD website the one man in the whole of North America who is capable of banging out the traycases for the books is hard at work. But, presumably he's hard at work on the long delayed titles first. What about the numerous lettered editions sold more recently. Will the people who bought the Justin Cronin, Douglas Preston or Bentley Little lettereds still be waiting for them in 2016?

I think this issue is a massive millstone around CD's neck. They've collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers for products that are some way beyond 'overdue'. Unless they can significantly increase production on the traycases then the backlog will never clear. It's something they need to address.

I suggest you PM Mr. Freeman about your concerns. He has been very forthwith in his explanations and proposed timetables. Admittedly, they are still climbing from the hole dug in past years, but have made great strides. I can't speak to the Lettered editions, but I have received my S/N of the Concordance and Non-Fiction.

Mr. Freeman has not shied away from the past mistakes CD has made, but has chosen to address them head-on toward resolution. They're trying and the effort is there. In the past, it was not evident and that I grant you.

[Patrick]

Hi lor1974, welcome to TDT.org and Calvin's Corner! Hope you stick around and check out the other threads as well. We always like to meet other collectors and fans.

From this thread and others, I know CD is working on the Lettered editions/traycase backlog. I don't have a horse in that race, but I look forward to them getting caught up on those items for those of you who do. I like seeing my friends happy.

- Patrick

[Robert Fulman]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why doesn't CD ship out the lettered books, and then deliver the traycases at a later date? Wouldn't that help a bit?

[Brian James Freeman]

I'd feel happy cheering on CD if I had seen any progress on the massive backlog of lettered editions they have still to produce.
I just had a look at a few of the lettered orders I've placed with them. A few date from early 2007 - books like 'The Dark Tower Concordance', 'Stephen King : Non Fiction' and Norman Partridge's 'Dark Harvest'.

At that time I was brand new to collecting and thought that the opportunity to pick up some lettered editions through one of CD's all too frequent (I now know) 50% off sales was too good to miss. If I had known back then that almost five years later I wouldn't have heard a thing about any of these books then I think I may have just put my money in the bank.

Will these books see the light of day in 2012, 2013, 2014? Who knows.

According to the CD website the one man in the whole of North America who is capable of banging out the traycases for the books is hard at work. But, presumably he's hard at work on the long delayed titles first. What about the numerous lettered editions sold more recently. Will the people who bought the Justin Cronin, Douglas Preston or Bentley Little lettereds still be waiting for them in 2016?

I think this issue is a massive millstone around CD's neck. They've collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers for products that are some way beyond 'overdue'. Unless they can significantly increase production on the traycases then the backlog will never clear. It's something they need to address.

Hi lor1974!

Nice to meet you! Please email me your real name ASAP. The reason I ask is, we've sent several updates via email to our Lettered Edition customers over the last 12 months, tracking the progress of their projects, and it sounds like you haven't received ANY of them! So I should definitely check your account and make sure your correct email address is on the orders and that your account is configured to receive these updates. (Same goes for anyone else, of course, who thinks they've been missing out on information about their orders!)

To answer your question: we've mentioned in several updates that we're worked out a deal with the manufacturer of our Stephen King traycases -- who normally don't handle the smaller runs of 26 or 52, etc -- to basically "take over" their operation for one of their slow months in the spring, so they'll turn their entire team toward making as many of our regular traycases as they possibly can during that month. They think they can get half of the outstanding projects done in that month. Then they'll do it again during one of their slow summer months, catching us up the remaining projects. All the while, the little one man shop who can produce cases for about 1.5 projects per month will be working on our new books, so by the end of 2012 we're just about caught-up.

Again, this information was in the recent updates, so please contact me right away with your name and email address and I'll help you out. Thanks!

Best,
Brian

[Brian James Freeman]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why doesn't CD ship out the lettered books, and then deliver the traycases at a later date? Wouldn't that help a bit?

Not a dumb question at all! We've talked about it, but the problem is several fold:

1) Once the orders are "filled" in the system, we can't fill them again. We'd have no way to know who to send the traycases to once they were completed.

2) People would start selling these very nice leatherbound books without the traycases, etc, to other people who didn't know they were supposed to have cases, and then eventually we might hear from those second-hand buyers expecting to get the traycases, and we wouldn't know who had sold what and who really to send to. Or we'd send cases to people who no longer owned the books. It would be a mess.

Our plan to get caught-up in 2012 is the most efficient way to deliver the products as promised. They may be late, but they will be produced by our best manufacturers with the care and skill they deserve.

By the way, this is kind of related, even though I know it's NOT what you were suggesting, but it's something I've thought about several times over the last year:

I remember a while back, when talking about how (at the time) the LEGACIES traycases would take about 8 more weeks and then the book could finally ship, someone posted something like, "Who cares about the stupid traycases! Just send the books and forget the traycases!" Which I thought was kind of silly. People had paid for the complete package and they deserved to get what they paid for! I know some publishers in the past HAVE ditched promised elements of books to get them done faster -- dropped color artwork, changed a traycase to a slipcase, etc -- but that doesn't seem right to me.

As always, if anyone is tired of waiting on ANYTHING, we're always happy to cancel and refund your order. We'd completely understand. You just have to drop Mindy a line.

Brian

[Brian James Freeman]

By the way, I know long time readers of this thread and our newsletter will remember, but 2012 has ALWAYS been the year of catching up on Lettered Editions -- while NOT slipping in the areas we've made a lot of progress in these last few years.

This has been part of the plan we made back in mid-2009 that we've been taking step by step. The goal wasn't to get everything done AT THE SAME TIME, it was to get things done in a way that allowed us to continue to *build* on that progress. I know slowly but surely isn't always exciting to watch, but we're right on track to catch-up on everything we need to catch-up on by the end of 2012 as planned.

This year, we will have shipped more than 50,000 orders again, added another 2,000 new customers, and received at least one order from 20,000 different people -- that's pretty amazing for a small press in the middle of nowhere Maryland with just 5 full-time employees. We have a ways to go to be fully where we want to be and where our collectors deserve us to be, but we're making progress every month and we will get there.

Brian

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

Darn, just when I thought I'd get all my lettered editions, the world is going to end! I know it's a fact because I saw it in a movie.

[Brian James Freeman]

Darn, just when I thought I'd get all my lettered editions, the world is going to end! I know it's a fact because I saw it in a movie.

Oops, you figured out our plan, to run out the clock until the day the Mayans rise up and kill everyone! (That is what they say is going to happen, right??)

Brian

[Cook]

I received my S/L shipping notification yesterday... so It's on its way...Yeah
Although I'm not sure if I'm getting my specifically requested number or not, My shipper notation says "If Possible" ?
I'd have ordered the matching art portfolio as well had it not been for the vague answers.
Don't get me wrong, I think CD is doing a pretty good job overall, It just would have been less frustrating on my end to know one way or the other.
And.. for now remains a moot question. Maybe... just maybe, this is CD's way of building excitement and my #79 dream will come true.

[Brian James Freeman]

I received my S/L shipping notification yesterday... so It's on its way...Yeah
Although I'm not sure if I'm getting my specifically requested number or not, My shipper notation says "If Possible" ?
I'd have ordered the matching art portfolio as well had it not been for the vague answers.
Don't get me wrong, I think CD is doing a pretty good job overall, It just would have been less frustrating on my end to know one way or the other.
And.. for now remains a moot question. Maybe... just maybe, this is CD's way of building excitement and my #79 dream will come true.

Hi Cook,

We handle number requests in this order: Lifetimers, previous SK customers matching their sets, requested numbers from regular customers, requested numbers from new customers. We can't see who has requested what until we print all of the orders and begin sorting them for packing & shipping. Have you previously gotten #79 from us? If you did and you told Mindy that, I would think you're getting that number again.

Anyone who preordered the IT Limited Edition and the IT Artwork Portfolio and requested those items to have matching numbers were already matched in our system -- meaning those customers HAD to get copies of IT that were numbered less than #500. Obviously, anyone who orders the IT Artwork Portfolio later may not be able to get a matching set and anyone who gets a book number greater than 500 won't be able to, either.

If you do get a number you like that is less than #500, and you decide to order the IT Artwork Portfolio, let Mindy know that you want the same number!

Brian

[mistercrowley]

Am I one of the rare collectors who could care less about which number I get? As long as I have the same book as everyone else it really doesn't matter to me what number it is.

[Cook]

mistercrowley.. Hey, nice to meet you. if you have a chance, please look at my "Cook Collection" from the beginning.
It's not that it matters, I have been collecting #79 for the better part of a very long time.
#79 has a very special meaning to me, that's all, no big deal.
I try to get that number If I can get it. I've had a few members here help where they can & I can't tell how much it means to me.
- Richard

Am I one of the rare collectors who could care less about which number I get? As long as I have the same book as everyone else it really doesn't matter to me what number it is.

[mistercrowley]

That's cool Richard. I respect your dedication. If I started doing that Id probably get too OCD about it and that would not be good

[Patrick]

Am I one of the rare collectors who could care less about which number I get? As long as I have the same book as everyone else it really doesn't matter to me what number it is.

Aside from the DT S/L's, I don't care all that much about numbers.

However, with CD, I sort of fell into a habit. When I ordered SOD I from CD, they sent me #307. When it came time to order other books, they offered to match numbers, so I thought, "Why the hell not?" So my pre-SOD books from CD (e.g. FAB8 ) have random numbers, but starting with SOD, all my CD books are the same number #307.

[Merlin1958]

When are the Slipcases for "11/22/63" due to ship? ETA-wise. Just curious


Merry Christmas, all of CD!!!

[Brice]

I'm not a CD customer and never have been, but I just wanted to say thanks to Brian and co. for their transparency and communication here. I'm sure they'll on occasion have issues from their past raised for a long time to come (and though they've made great strides to improve they probably do deserve that to some degree). What I can say (without any self interest) is that they've handled such matters gracefully and with class. I think I can now comfortably recant all of the unpleasant things I've said about their company in the past and say I'm sorry. They've got a ways to go toward fixing their mistakes, but I really think they're going to make it there soon.

[DanHocker]

When are the Slipcases for "11/22/63" due to ship? ETA-wise. Just curious


Merry Christmas, all of CD!!!

Not sure. Brian probably knows though, and I'm sure he'll check back in here on Tuesday after the holidays. Me I'm just a sucker for a forum.

[Brian James Freeman]

When are the Slipcases for "11/22/63" due to ship? ETA-wise. Just curious
Merry Christmas, all of CD!!!

When I spoke to our manufacturer before they closed for the holidays, the hot foil dies had been ordered and should be delivered right after the holidays. So I'm thinking the cases should be completed by mid-February, but I will have a better idea when the dies arrive and they get the project rolling in their plant. I'll post the date as soon as I have it, though.

Brian

[Brian James Freeman]

I'm not a CD customer and never have been, but I just wanted to say thanks to Brian and co. for their transparency and communication here. I'm sure they'll on occasion have issues from their past raised for a long time to come (and though they've made great strides to improve they probably do deserve that to some degree). What I can say (without any self interest) is that they've handled such matters gracefully and with class. I think I can now comfortably recant all of the unpleasant things I've said about their company in the past and say I'm sorry. They've got a ways to go toward fixing their mistakes, but I really think they're going to make it there soon.

Hey Brice! That's probably the nicest thing anyone has ever posted about us while their profile was showing "aggressive" for their mood. Thanks, and watch for a big 2012. Lots of good stuff in the works and some more important catching up to come in the next 12 months!

Brian

[Jimimck]

I thought I'd just say that I'm one of CD's newer customers, as I only came across them with their release of Blockade Billy. In the time since, they have made a lifetime customer out of me. While I don't order many S/L's, I'll probably order every gift edition and plenty of other special things they do from time to time. Their service has always been friendly, and certainly having another line of communication to them through here certainly helps.

I actually feel a little indebted to CD in a way, as it was their emails after I purchased Blocakde that lead me to enter their S/L draw for BB, and once I picked up a copy, that's when I became a regular contributer here and have thoroughly enjoyed the King collecting comminity since!

Merry Christmas CD and here's to another awesome year ahead!

[Brian James Freeman]

Merry Christmas CD and here's to another awesome year ahead!

Thank you! Merry Christmas to all of our friends and collectors!

Brian

[Shannon]

Legacies made me a CD customer for life (when I actually have the money, lol). Such a great production.

But at the same time, I heard about it, ordered it (from Betts) and received it all in about a month's time frame, lol. So, I didn't have the (what was it, 12?) twelve year wait that other people had, lol.