Today at noon, this IndieGoGo campaign will go live.

No, it’s not the project for making Age of Legend (although that project will be launching early next year), but something came up out of the blue and we need to act fast. You see, Del Rey has put the hardcover edition of Age of Swords out of print, and we have a small window to do something about it.

I discovered the out-of-print status when I tried to order copies to replenish our online store, and I wasn’t able to get any. After a little digging, I found that the only way to get copies were through Amazon Marketplace resellers and they had jacked up the prices to $89 – $191 for both new and used copies. That’s an outrage!

To make matters worse, I won’t earn a dime from any sales of the hardcovers from here on out. But, honestly, that doesn’t upset me as much as the fact that people will either have to “do without” or pay outrageous prices to have hardcovers on their bookshelves.

So, here’s the deal, Robin found out how much it would cost for us to buy up the remaining copies, send them to a warehouse, and hire a logistics company to ship them out. It’s not cheap, but it is doable if we can raise $11,360. 

So, we’re doing what we’ve done in the past…turn to crowdfunding. We started out by making a Kickstarter project, but as it turns out, you can’t use that platform for an existing product. So this campaign will be run on IndieGoGo.  It’s pretty straightforward; you’ll be able to get signed hardcovers and bonus perks like a short story, screensavers, and public acknowledgment for helping to make this project successful. You’ll be able to receive one, two, or all three of the hardcovers that are currently released in the Legends of the First Empire series, and because we’ll be getting the books cheaper than we normally do,  we’ll pass some savings on to you and give 20% off the list price.  (I’m essentially extending the “early-bird” discount that I’ve used in the past to apply to everyone.)

So, if you haven’t picked up hardcovers yet (or are looking for a gift for a friend or relative…Christmas and Hanukkah will be here before we know it), now would be a great time to get copies. And we’ll also keep these books out of the reseller channel, and without the ability to buy new stock, they won’t be able to rip off more people with their price-gouging techniques.

Oh, another thing I should mention…there is a limited number of special perks which will be for a one-night stay with Robin and I in our cabin in Luray (maybe you saw a bit about it in our recent post).

Okay last thing, unlike Kickstarters, we get funding from IndieGoGo even if we don’t hit our goal, so we’ll be able to buy a subset of books if necessary, which means you will get your copies no matter what funding level we reach. But buying a fraction of the remaining stock will mean that the resellers will be able to get more, and I’d hate to facilitate their bad behavior.

Anyway, check out the campaign starting at noon, and if you like what you see, please consider backing the project.