Hello everyone,
I'm here just to give an update of where we're at and what to expect when it comes to print. We are aware the biggest complaint and problem customers are facing right now is simply the window length of preordering a book and receiving the book. Sometimes it takes well into a year, and that just simply isn't sustainable, fair, or even a reasonable time table for customers to be receiving their products.
We've been working since the end of last year to really address this with a goal in mind to catch up with print and have ourselves in a position where customers are only waiting a few months between preorder and release. It's with great hopes that one day that gap would be even shorter, but right now my focus is to get things back to the way they were.
What are we actually doing to catch up with print?
Since the end of last year, I created a timeline internally to hopefully come up with a way to create a flow of checks and balances with book production and keep books moving through different stages. To put it simply, giving the printer a handful of titles each month.
The idea as books files are accepted, verified, proofed - we were getting more books quoted, supplying files, etc. Ultimately that's what this job is, a conveyer belt of product to be produced with set stages that need to be completed in order to go to the next stage before shipped off and delivered to you. But if there is a bottleneck somewhere, then books get piled up, and you don't see that movement that we were hoping to see. Which is what happened. The printer could not get through the stages fast enough, but were accepting new titles from us, and they were building up. So we're handing them work files, we're approving proofs, but left wondering when they'd have the books finally printed. They knew this was not sustainable, and knew it had to be addressed, so they completely remodeled their own workflows internally. But during that process, it caused delays.
We had to create checks and balances to prevent problems from arising, and through trial and error we had to work together to get the process working.
I've been doing my best to keep this page that's stickied updated so customers know what stage their books are at:
[Locked] FAKKU Books: Release & Reprint Status
Things that have changed to improve work flows:
*Set checkpoints and stages that must be met and approved before going to the next step, no skipping steps to prevent "surprises" happening with print quality in order to try and complete a book faster.
*Printer has scheduled containers to leave their facility every 3 weeks for ship vessels so that books do not sit for weeks and weeks awaiting an available containers for vessels, they know every 3 weeks they must have more projects completed to fill those containers
*Weekly meetings to ask about each and every title, communicate about where they're at.
*No waiting around, once books are all approved after quoting with file submissions and the proofing process begins, more books are added to get quoted
Have things actually improved this year?
The short answer is: Yes. I'm extremely happy with how things are going now.
The longer answer is: We currently as of originally posting this have 14 titles, on 2 different ships, in 3 different containers, and enroute to our distribution center, expected to arrive in August (beginning and end). We currently have 4 titles that have arrived to our distribution center, ordered to be delivered to us to our own warehouse, and expected to arrive at the very end of July/beginning of August to fulfill to our customers. We currently have 12 titles in various stages of production (6 with proofs all approved, 6 titles expecting proofs this Friday). We are submitting quotes for 7 more titles this week into next week to begin supplying files.
Things are cooking. We have officially submitted all 2024 titles and this next batch will be 2025 titles, we have made it into the current year for things.
In comparison from when we began this timeline goal:
Our first batch last year while our printer was struggling with turnaround took 270 days from file submissions to the printer to in our hands at our warehouse. That hurts my soul and is so incredibly unsustainable. That is almost 9 months. That's the same amount of time to create actual life.
The next books took 190 days, shaving off 3 months of agony and turned it into a 6 month turnaround. That's closer to what we need, but still feels painful since these are books that were originally put on preorder in 2024. Now that we're getting into 2025 titles, that large gap is going to continuously shrink and we catch up.
I cannot express how serious we are taking this, and I realize it has been miserable on the consumer side as well waiting for things you paid money for, but it is actively getting better as we continue, and I hope to make it even better in the future.
If you follow me on my Bluesky, sometimes I post pictures of our projects, but be warned that I do post other things as well - the best way to keep up to date with things is simply through the stickied thread:
[Locked] FAKKU Books: Release & Reprint Status