I apologize for the lack of communication since December. I have been completely immersed in the project, but I recognize that you all deserve to be kept abreast of developments/progress.
For those of you who relish detail, there is a rather lengthy update below. For those of you who want the nitty gritty, there are bullet points just after this paragraph. I have a lot to report (including the announcement of the manufacturer I've chosen to make the books). Everything is moving along splendidly, and I am excited about the many improvements to Bibliotheca made possible by the extra funding. Because of these improvements, as well as other factors, I’ve had to extend the timeline for the project just a bit more, but I’m confident now that the timeline is solid. I will lay out all the details below so you know exactly why that is.
The estimated delivery date for the books has been pushed back due to several factors—some related to the unexpected size of the project and some due to the implementation of the many improvements made possible with the extra funds. I am now firmly projecting a September/October delivery date. Also, if you haven’t already, please read the previous updates.
Copy editing, the longest and most unpredictable stage in the project timeline, is now scheduled for completion at the end of April.
Typesetting and proofreading will take an additional one to two months to complete, so production will begin in June.
With the greatly increased size and scope of the production run, manufacture will take approximately two months, for a completion date in July/August. (See the Production section of this email for more info on the manufacturer.)
Ocean freight from Germany to the U.S. will take up to two months, arriving on the East Coast in September/October.
The books will be distributed to you immediately upon arrival.
If you have questions, just send me an email, but please note there are still a lot coming in. Please allow some time for Heather or me to respond. (Heather is a member of the Bibliotheca team helping me keep up with emails.)
Here’s a brief review for those just tuning in. (If you've kept up with the previous updates, you can skip to the Editorial section of this email.) First, I want to clear up any confusion regarding the estimated delivery date posted on the Kickstarter page. Obviously, we did not meet the estimated December 2014 delivery date posted there, and we are still a good distance from delivery. Estimated delivery dates for Kickstarter projects cannot be changed once they are posted, no matter how much larger than expected a project becomes. (The December date was determined before the campaign began, when I estimated I’d be producing 500 sets, rather than 20,000.) So, unfortunately, the Kickstarter page still misleadingly displays "December 2014." Most of you who preordered at bibliotheca.co after the close of the Kickstarter campaign never expected delivery on that date because I was able to post a broader delivery estimate there (sometime in mid 2015) after having realized the new scale would extend the timeline.
To give you an idea of how the project grew: it was 100% funded after the very first day of the Kickstarter campaign. Twenty-four days in, it was 1,000% funded. Then, in the last six days, we raised over $1 million, ending at about 4,000% funded. Finally, the post-campaign preorders put us to nearly 5,000% funded. It was exciting and breathtaking, but it also significantly changed logistics and opened up new possibilities.
Since I never imagined the project would grow so large, the plans I made before the campaign were no longer feasible. Every aspect of the project needed complete reevaluation, and this has taken time. Bibliotheca went from being something like a niche project—a labor of love—to a huge publishing endeavor with over 18,000 preorders (but one with just as much love). The larger print run means much lower production costs per volume, and the extra funds have blown open the parameters of the project, allowing me to implement many improvements that would not have been possible if we had only reached our minimum goal. Not the least of these expansions was the addition of a fifth volume, containing the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha. I was also able to choose only the best materials, production methods, and manufacturer, hire a veteran crew of five copy editors, and use one of the most reputable Bible proofreaders in the English-speaking world.
I must ask you to bear with me on the extension of the timeline. Again, the success of this project took me by surprise, but I have been working extremely hard, seven days a week, to create something truly special for you.
Now, on to new information.
Editorial
Copy Editing
We have finally wrangled a solid deadline for the copy-editing process. It is expected to be completed no later than the end of April, after which typesetting and proofreading will need a month or two for completion. The final files are expected to be sent to the manufacturer for production in June.
The copy-editing process has been the most difficult phase to calculate. Every other stage of the project hinges on this one, since it must be completed first, and refining our approach has taken months of discussion and simulated rounds of editing. To me, the most exciting development allowed by the extra funding has been the ability to hire a brilliant copy chief and a team of four very experienced copy editors to work alongside him. They are painstakingly updating the Elizabethan English of the ASV in a way that will result in a clearer, more fluid text that still accurately and poetically conveys the nuances of the original languages. Not a new translation, mind you—but rather a faithful revision. We owe everything to the editors of the American Standard Version.
“What we’re doing,” as our copy chief put it, “is like taking an old print of a great 1930s film and refining it, to bring out all its richness, which requires going frame by frame—not imposing our opinions about how it should look, but only helping it shine as the great artwork it is.”
The copy team will have laid a careful eye on every sentence, word, letter, and punctuation mark. Two other enhancements we’ve been able to make are the addition of quotation marks to speech (where the ASV has none) and the incorporation of line breaks to books of poetry that are typeset as prose in the ASV (e.g., the Book of Isaiah).
And, as mentioned above, I was very excited to be able to add the fifth volume, containing the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha.
Proofreading
Our revision will be proofread and compared with the ASV for sense by the reputable Bible-proofreading team at Peachtree Editorial. They will flag any possible conflicts of meaning that may have inadvertently resulted from the copy-editing process, and will ensure the grammatical and typographical integrity of the text.
Production
Once the content is complete, Kösel, the exceedingly great Germany-based book manufacturer I have chosen after much deliberation, will need approximately two months to print and bind the books, and to build the slipcases and sort the books into them. So, with production beginning in June, the books should start shipping in bulk from the plant in August.
This is a large order of books by any measure. While a large vendor could perhaps turn it around a little faster, I have chosen a midsize, family-owned company that has a legacy of over 400 (not a typo!) years in printing and binding quality books. After a careful and studious search, I am convinced Kösel is unequivocally the best book manufacturer to bring this project to completion. Bibliotheca is dedicated to a high standard of quality, rather than low production costs or a quick turnaround. (Further details about Kösel will be provided in a future video update.)
The gentlemen at Kösel, with a Renaissance portrait of the founder in the background (and some of his books on the shelf).
Delivery
After manufacture is complete, the books will be sent across the Atlantic, arriving on the East Coast in September or October. From there, the books will be transported to the distribution center and shipped out to you within two or three days of arrival. For those of you in Europe, we are hoping to get your books to you sooner by shipping them from a distribution center there.
Of course, these are projections; the process could move a bit faster or slower than expected.
While this project is taking longer than I anticipated, and likely longer than you would have hoped for, the result will be an inarguably finer set of books. As I said, the original estimated completion date was based on executing a small-scale, one-time-only project. Now that it has become a much more substantial publication, likely headed into several print runs—along with the significant improvements made possible with the extra funds—I am determined to do everything I can to make the first edition of Bibliotheca as special as possible, adding value to every facet.
As eager as I am to have these volumes printed, bound, and delivered, I am determined that what arrives on your doorstep will be the best product we could create, for the exact same price. It is only with your generous support, both financial and personal, that Bibliotheca has become more than an idea. And it is only with your continued support that it can be executed beyond what was conceivable.
