I realize that this is becoming a customary and usual practice. And that is a good thing. From this day forward, RBE will post a status update at the beginning of each month. This regularly scheduled ‘State of the Company’ will provide information regarding the company, its products, and its operations.

Updates will include candid information regarding publicly-announced titles and projects such as Demons: A Clash of Steel Anthology, and general information regarding other pending titles and projects, such as numbers and current status. I anticipate the content and its quantity will fluctuate from month-to-month, but I shall attempt at all times to deliver these updates in as clear and precise a manner as possible.

August Updates:

• Rogue Blades Entertainment
  • Things are hectic right about now – though slowly returning to normal abnormality. Three months of increasing time-consumers like moving, repairing, and being unable to get online or even on a computer really wreaked havoc with my life and timetable. The move is done, though I am still living out of and walking a maze of boxes within the house; the pressing repairs are just about finished, though there is still another week or so of taping, mudding, texturing, sealing, and painting drywall ahead, then numerous bits of cosmetic and quality of life work; the computers…well, I can now regularly get online (when I have time, which is increasing once again), but now I’m having other problems, like not being able to get software to perform correctly and not being able to work on the RBE website due to some ‘Fatal Error’ that keeps interfering.
  • Speaking of the website, I’m attempting to accomplish several things on it. I’ve received complaints about some features/lack of features and there’s been aspects I’ve long wished to redo. I am by no means an experienced web maestro, and these things take me time. Now there is apparently some difficulty either with Wordpress, the website, or my domain (or some combination thereof) that prohibits me from totally effecting an update and making certain changes, such as moving around or adding/removing things in the sidebars. It’s rather irritating, and I’m fearful of totally mucking up the joint, but at this time I have no answer to my problems.
• Rage of the Behemoth
  • RotB is being received well and I am receiving numerous compliments – from those who are seeing and reading it. Largely due to the above listed complaints, my promotion of RotB has drastically lagged. This is most unfortunate, as those three months were the critical period covering pre- and post- release of the title. I am trying to drum up reviews and word of mouth.
  • The pre-release sale did not perform as I had hoped. The multiple cover concept is a cool one – just not a practical one. While I had not planned on overwhelming sales, I had anticipated a steady amount of sales that would justify and even keep pace with the expense. Instead, I learned that what works in one branch of the industry (in this instance, comics), should, perhaps, remain in that branch of the industry.
  • You can do your part! RBE is running a terrific promotion right now! Called the RotB Get the Word Out! Campaign, it offers every purchaser of RotB the chance to pay only $1* for the book! With a minimal amount of effort, readers willing to post comments about RotB across the web can earn their purchase price back!
• Demons
  • The Table of Contents has been revealed, and authors and editor alike are excited about the anthology. Unfortunately, the editor has yet to finalize the contract. He’s been stuck on one component of the electronic contract for a few days now, and the software doesn’t wish to cooperate. In addition, while hand-edits have been done, they have yet to be entered into the computer.
  • As it stands right now, the anthology will not be out by August 15th.  I will do my best to get it out by the end of the month. Even if that happens, the fact I am gone to Dragon*Con from Sept 1-7 makes getting the book out to folks not possible until mid-September.
  • Good news is, the transition art is in. Better news is that very few of the stories require elaborate or considerable editing. Once I figure out the contract snafu, I will begin computerizing all the edits. As each one is accomplished, I will send contract and edit along to the respective authors. Once all edits and contracts are agreed upon, the book will go straight to layout.
  • Now regarding layout. Much to the dismay and disbelief of every single person who knows anything about layout that I have ever spoken with, I’ve been using MSWord. They are astounded at the quality of RotS and RotB and lay the compliments on thick and heavy – yet still decry the fact I even used such a difficult method to produce them. So, with the forced delay of Demons‘ release now upon me, I am going to take advantage of a friend’s offer. I was given the PagePlus desktop publishing software – I attempted to use it, but frankly, it was over my head. A friend who uses it has offered to teach me via phone. I did not have time to change methods mid-RotB, but since Demons has yet to reach layout, I am now going to take this offer and run with it.
  • I intend – taking into consideration that I am learning a new layout system, have yet to fix my contract and complete editing – to release Demons: A Clash of Steel Anthology as soon as I am capable of doing so. Rest assured, the title will be released. Authors will be signed and contracts paid and the book will see bookshelves. I simply was overwhelmed by the above listed ordeal, and it has completely knocked my schedule off kilter. I hope that each prospective member of the anthology will bear with me.
• Roar of the Crowd
  • The 2010 premium “Rogue Blades Presents” anthology just opened to submissions August 1st. As such, its schedule has not changed: submissions are open until November 30, after which they will be read during the month of December. Acceptances & rejections will occur throughout January 2010. I will state now though, that the RotC release date is, regrettably, changeable.
  • Good news – submissions have already arrived. Better news – cover art is being worked on and will be revealed at the end of the submission process.
• Other Projects
  • Pending collections
    • The author whose collection RBE will soon be unveiling has been most patient. He too, has suffered from lack of a functioning contract and time to enter the hand-edits long done. Good news is, I’ve procured a verbal agreement with the interior artistry, and will soon be working on the cover design. This collection will be available in time for Christmas gifts, though I hope to release it much sooner than that.
    • Discussions regarding other collections have occurred and 2010 should see two more such titles from RBE.
  • Pending projects
    • There is a special project that I have worked on as time allowed since early March. I hope to unveil it here on the RBE website by November 1st, for sure in time for Christmas. This will be an exciting new option for fans of RBE and all heroic adventure fantasy.
    • I have been considering two nonfiction titles, and have decided to go ahead with both of them. One will involve many people, so keep your fingers crossed and your encouragement vocal as I pursue its compilation.

I believe that is it for now. Too much disappointing news, I know; yet I hope there is also rays of hope scattered throughout. I have many hopes and dreams and goals for RBE – but RBE is only so good as the material I find and the resources I can put into that material. So far, we have all been blessed by high quality all around. I’d like to keep it that way.

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Related posts:

1. Update: RBE, RotB, & Demons
2. State of RBE ~ Oct 09
3. State of RBE – March ‘10
4. RotB Update
5. Demons Update

Tags: State of RBE, Updates

This entry was posted by Jason on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 8:59 pm and is filed under Deals, News, RBE, RBE Presents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.