Finally!

I finally received word from Topocean yesterday that the final invoice was ready and the shipment is on it's way. GREAT news! Aaron and I are both very anxious to get the shipment. I am amazed at how long it takes once the ship comes in to get the shipment off! The boat arrived on May 5th to LA, and we still don't have the shipment, but at least we have paid for it now and it should be only a few days more.
On another note, I'm taking the family camping to Zion National Park for the Memorial Day weekend, and hope to get some inspiration for some new artwork while we're there.

Customs hold-up

I suppose it's good that Customs is doing this, in hopes that they catch the "bad guys" trying to import "bad stuff" into the country, but it's no fun when it's you and a load of children's books.

"It’s from U.S. Customs regulation, Customs increase percentage of Exam for all LCL shipments, Customs will randomly choose import container into Exam, but not all containers will inspect for Exam. Unfortunately, if container was gate into Exam, it’s depends on how soon customs to finish the examination, normally will take about 2-3 days. Of Course, we will having another Invoice for you for this Exam Charges."

This was the message from Kylie at Topocean (our shipper). So, not only does the shipment get delayed but we get to pay more $$ for it! Awesome, right?
I suppose it's like at the airport, when one person gets the "special treatment", the only difference is, that the extra cost is spread out to all customers of the airline industry.

So, still no G&S books. There's no way we'll have them by June, which will have taken over a month to print and ship the books. I wish there was a better way. This is just frustrating...

B&N first purchase order!

Today I mailed off the 1st book of W&K to B&N warehousing. This can only be done if they set up the purchase order, so I'm stoked that they did. I mailed it off to them and sent of the invoice as well. Since the price is $15, they get 40% of that, and our profit on the book (not counting cost and postage) is $9.00. Not as good as Aaron selling them in Oahu, but hey a sale is a sale.
I am more excited about the prospect of having my book in B&N than any other thing. I'm over Amazon, so is most of the human race btw. It's just too big of a beast. I am looking forward to the time when I can set up an event at B&N where I can be there for a book signing. I'd love to have done it before we go to Hawaii. To see if it is worth doing while I am in Hawaii with Aaron at a local B&N there. How cool would that be!!!
I am still hoping to get some of the people who have purchased the book, or just really like it to leave reviews on B&N's website. I think the more reviews are there for the book, the more B&N will care about it's promotion. Couldn't hurt!

Wailoa & Kukui

721 WOW!

In just a few days time since cresting over 700 sales, we are already at 721. Aaron was right in that the summer sales are picking up and are going to blow minds.
Barnes and Noble is still kind of stalling on the actual sales of the books. They are finally working out the weird viewing problem of Scampi, and should be fixed today.
Today I will be giving a presentation on career day to my mother-in-law's school, Lynch Elementary school. I plan to basically explain what I do as an illustrator, then publisher and of course mention the success of this book and how they can all purchase it, or place an order through Jan. Hopefully we can make a few sales to the teachers at least. I'll keep you posted on it, probably later today or even tomorrow.
Busy day today, and tomorrow too. The only good news is that it's Friday!

Ongoing W&K total sales link

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tqiuHvCJ-1RtKkPZawj5qHw&single=true&gid=1&range=AH28&output=html

I would love to see this work. A live total of how many books we've sold to date. Doesn't work as hoped, you have to click on the link.
Sales doing very well, looking forward to the new book release still and to see how much daily sales increase.

I hate waiting...

The waiting game begins. The shipment was supposed to have been picked up last week, and to arrive the 13th of May. Since we are not using DHL or Fedex/UPS we really have no way of tracking the shipment. It's on an ocean-liner making it's way across the Pacific. I have sent the printer a request to show me the paperwork once the process begins, and if it's interesting enough I will put it in the blog once I get it.

Wailoa & Kukui continues to gather momentum. Barnes & Noble will begin to stock a few copies for online purchases. I am interested to find out how much money will be our cut once they begin to sell them. Once all of the retail outlets are stocked with the books, I will feel more confident about doing some sort of event at the local B&N here in Vegas. That would be a fun experience.
In the meantime, I am keeping the creative juices flowing by getting back into individual illustration for iStockphoto.com It's a nice source of residual income that I don't have to manage so aggressively like the books. Thanks iStock!

Barnes & Noble .com

Some exciting things happened yesterday/today. It's great that we're listed on Amazon and all, but it's not a relationship that is really good for anyone but Amazon. It's just such a big site, people don't really go there to buy just books anymore. It's nice to have the notoriety that comes with having the book up there, but that's really about it.
Barnes and Noble on the other hand is a great site to be listed on, obviously their retail stores too. It's taken a solid 2 months but AthertonCustoms is an official "Vendor of Record" with BN.com which means ALL my published titles are listed through BN. That is just too cool! I found out yesterday when I did an ISBN search on bn.com and found Wailoa and Kukui. Then I just happened to click on Aaron's name and up pops "Giovanni and Scampi" for pre-order. Then I just thought I would try "Lucky the Rubber Ducky" and sure enough it was there too! It's nice to be part of an company that is connected to the ISBN registry, everytime I update the ISBN info, it automatically flows to the BN site. I just love efficiency.
So, in closing I will include all 3 links to the 3 published titles I have done. If you have purchased or have any of the books (I'd be impressed if you had G&S...), please leave a comment on BN.com. Thanks!
Wailoa & Kukui
Giovanni & Scampi the Shrimp
Lucky the Rubber Ducky