Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, gods of men, kickstarter, womanthology

Kickstarter Fail: Gods Of Men

Published Sun, 22 Sep 2013 16:00:04 -0500

Bleeding Cool is a big fan of Kickstarter and Indiegogo as our weekend coverage often attests to. But not everything goes according to plan. And we cover that too.

Take the Kickstarter for the Gods Of Men hardcover by Joseph Pignataro. Funded on on October 18th of last year with a planned ship date of January 13, Pignataro has created four other projects that failed and for items he was already at the time selling on Amazon. Since the funding ended for this hardcover edition of Gods of Men he also tried to fund a separate paperback one which failed. On that Kickstarter, he stated;

We had an insanely succesful KICKSTARTER campain and printed 6,000 books. We sent off 4,250 of them to customers this week and now are giving others a chance to jump on the band wagon and wipe our warehouse out.

Well, there were only 67 backers to the original hardcover, and they don't seem happy. In December Pignataro wrote;

Hey guys, just a quick update, Dave is completing the final book this week and then I'm sending files off to print with an estimated delivery date of mid January! Thanks again you guys are splendifulous! yeah…I made a word just for all of you. splendifulous

The complaints started coming in in February without response.

Still no replies from you – i've emailed and left a message below… could we all get a little update please and could you acknowledge the question about my friend who also backed you guys he's getting a little anxious about his first kickstarter backing ;)

Hey guys, started to think I got scammed here. No updates, getting weird emails from you asking for more money, no one asking for a pic of me to be drawn up as per my pledge. I'm thinking we all go fleeced here.

Just heard from Joseph guys he's been serving with the US Navy hence the lack of updates so we should hear from him soon…

OK, been 3 weeks since I last heard from Joseph. Sent one more last ditch attempt email to him – if i've heard nothing in a week i'm looking into getting a refund… shame…

Hi there. Just checking to see when I could expect my books… estimated delivery was January 2013…. six months ago.

I haven't seen an update nor an email on this for a long time….anyone have any updates??

No, no one does…

In comparison, the high profile Womanthology has also had a troubled history on Kickstarter, with messages such as this being common;

I got to say this whole thing is unbelievable. I'm just really glad I didn't contribute to your other Kickstarter project. If I had any clue when I made my pledge that after two years I still wouldn't have the book and that I could just get a copy on eBay for $15 and got the writers to sign it myself at conventions I would have just done that. And what are the chances that, assuming I ever receive the book, that it is numbered in the first 100 or that that would actually mean anything. The only thing that you both have delivered is a bunch of useless words. I agree with others in just wanting my money back. I know that if I ever do get the book I will just hate it after the ludicrous way this has been handled. I was so proud to be part of this when it funded, and now I am just disgusted by the whole thing.

I gave to the 65$ pledge for the signed Womanthology book and the sketchbook. And I actually paid 100$, so 35$ more than needed.

I never received the Womanthology book. I did receive the sketchbook, so you are able to get something delivered to my door.

I feel taken advantage of. You took my money, promising something in return, and you never delivered on your promise.

In addition, you keep blaming IDW for it. I have no business with IDW. It is you I gave good money to.

If you are at all serious about getting the remaining books to the rightful owners, I would suggest you chase it and find out where the orders got stuck. Because I am not the only one who didn't get his book.

I'm fine with the book not being signed, if that is what is needed for me to finally get the book.

I am not sending you my personal information by email again. I have done that several times now and you seem to have done nothing with it.

If you don't plan to give me my pledge reward, then at least be honest about it.

However Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon, after some quite abysmal periods of time without letting people know what was going on, have begun trying to keep people updated;

Ayal- Your $65 was not for a signed edition, but for a regular copy and a sketchbook. I'm really sorry you haven't gotten it yet, but since it's just a regular copy we should be able to fix this now coordinating with Thomas at the company department that IDW uses (and where the books are). I will be emailing him now with your information. You're also free to email him so that he's in direct contact with you rather than me being the middle man.

You can email him here: thomas@trivisioncompany.com (I'm also emailing him right now with your information).

Yours is an easier problem to fix.

Camilla backers, we're working with Camilla's manager (she has the books at her house now) to get the books back here so we can ship them to you. I'd ask that you not bother Camilla with this and only me. She was kind enough to donate her time and art to this. I don't want her to have to deal with the stress of it all. We just have to work out an affordable way to get the books back to the states and out to the backers.

Thank you. Sorry again about the delay.

And confirmed certain books shipped;

REGULAR COPIES (DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL)

We've got confirmation from Thomas Cho at the shipping company that IDW uses for their books that the follow books have just gone out. Tracking will be messaged to you right away.

AYAL PINKUS
LISA-MARIE WILSON
PENNY WALKADEN
LUTZ ALBERS
TONY LEE (your book was shipped but might have gone to an old address so Thomas is working on that too)

There are more that have previously been shipped and more that will be shipped very soon.

If you're having any problems, please email thomas@trivisioncompany.com and feel free to attach me RayDillonGGS@gmail.com

It may not be perfect but it doesn't leave people hanging.

While Alex De Campi has been keeping people up to date on the Ashes Kickstarter in a very personal fashion;

I sent out 100 of the $30 books today. All retail orders went out yesterday (Thursday) and all $60 and up books went out earlier in the week. Which means, only 250 books (all, $30) to go. Sadly my shipping rate will slow down the first few days of next week — I have to letter Grindhouse #2, so I'll only get out about 25 books a day from Saturday through Weds. I'm sorry — I really hoped to get more books out this past week, but no childcare on Tues; Weds all afternoon got eaten by divorce mediation (YAY THAT WAS A BLAST) and then yesterday the folks that own my apartment and are trying to sell it are like, "so, people coming to view at 11am Friday. Place gotta be tidy". As you can imagine, the spotless cleanliness of my apartment has NOT been my main consideration this week. Everyone! Just leave me alone with my packing tape and boxes! My precious, PRECIOUS packing tape and boxes…

As ever, communication, regular and specific to people's concerns, is what matters. There are often publication and production delays, especially from people who haven't done anything like this to this degree before, but keeping people in the loop is always the best way. Sticking your head in the sand just means that people are going to keep kicking you in the arse.

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