Awakening Pre-Order Initiative: Week 13

OUR TOP STORIES...

Thanks to everybody who stopped by the table at Wizard World Philly this past weekend! Thanks to you, we SOLD OUT OF AWAKENING VOLUME ONE AT THE SHOW! Wooo! We've finally arrived and Alex and I are PUMPED!! It's been a looooong wait but we've made it. Thanks to everyone for your support so far and we can't wait for the metric ton of you guys out there who couldn't make it to the show to get your copies.

For those of you who didn't get a copy, this weekend don't fret. It's coming...

But that leads to top story number two. Brace yourselves, kids...

There's been a SLIGHT delay in shipping.

I know, I know, ARRRRRGH I know. It sucks. Everybody did everything they could but, somehow, the book just didn't get out and on the way in time to make this Wednesday. They're in transit now and, to be on the safe side, have a street date of 7/29. There's a very good chance, however, that it'll get to Diamond sooner and, therefore, shops sooner as it'll ship as soon as it arrives.

Hang tight, I promise it's coming. It's a real book as Philly can attest, it's been printed, and it's on the way. We've waited this long, right? Believe me, when you see it you'll agree - it's been worth the wait. Maybe I'm partial, but whatever - it's a freakin' gorgeous book.

This means there's still time to pre-order, of course...

http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-One-Nick-Tapalansky/dp/1932386483/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242403586&sr=1-1

As always, your friendly neighborhood Barnes & Noble is able to pre-order for you too.


AWAKENING IN THE PRESS...

This past weekend I had the great (surprise) pleasure of moderating not one but TWO panels at Wizard World Philly. One was a "How to Self-Publish" panel ("But Nick, you've never self-published before..." More on that in a bit) and the other was the "Archaia Returns" panel, which was covered by your favorite comic gal and mine, Jill "The Nerdy Bird" Pantozzi (Twitter - @TheNerdyBird) and Chris "Needs A Clever Nickname" Mautner. You can check out the coverage and see my name re-printed way too many times (I talk a lot...) here -

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21688

and here - http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21705

And in case you missed it, a sweet preview/interview and an exclusive preview of the full first chapter of Awakening Volume One, supplemental material and all! Get over CBR STAT!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21437

And then there's this kick-ass little nugget about the new Archaia/Jim Henson Studio partnership (!!!) -

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21700

And though not press related per se, if you're sick of waiting for me to update on ye ole weekly blog here, check out @AwakeningComic on Twitter for up to the minute updates as they roll in!


A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE PANEL...

So due to traffic, business stuff (publishers are a busy people) and a wedding, your pal and mine Mark Smylie (publisher at Archaia, creator of Artesia, and all 'round swell guy) didn't make most of the show this weekend. As a result, his two panels became mine. Yikes! Now, the Archaia one wasn't much of a worry since I'm pretty up to date on the comings and goings there (plus Mark was able to make the back third of that one). His second panel, however, was another matter entirely: "How to Self-Publish with Mark Smylie."

I've never self-published. I've thought about it, considered it actively before hooking up with Archaia, and did a bit of research, but I've never actually done it, let alone successfully.

Luckily I've got friends who have, and four of us were able to equal one Mark Smylie.

Thanks to Dave Rodriguez (writer of Archaia's Starkweather: Immortal and the immensely popular webcomic Shadowgirls - http://www.shadowgirlscomic.com - and all 'round great guy), Mark Holmes (of www.enigmaworks.net and one of my best pals) and Kensuke Okabayashi (manga artist extrodinaire - http://www.kensukeokabayashi.blogspot.com/ -), for helping me pull that panel together. We might not have the experience Mark has, but we were able to give a pretty full room a fun show and talk about what we DID know - some of the pitfalls in publishing and self-publishing, the advent of the web comic, creative collaboration, and self-promotion. It started off a bit rocky (my biggest lesson learned? Don't lead with a bondage joke when you've just told the room the guy they're expecting isn't coming. Who knew?) but we were treated to a lively Q&A with the audience and left to a roomful of applause. Not bad at all!


LOCAL SIGHTINGS INCLUDE...

SUMMER/FALL!
San Diego Comic-Con (July 22nd - 26th with Archaia)
New York Anime Festival (September 25th - 27th in Artist Alley with Jackie Santiago)
Baltimore Comic-Con (October 10th and 11th with Archaia)
Albany Comic-Con (November 1st with Jackie Santiago, Mark Holmes, and Luke Mierisch)


KEEP UP WITH ALL THE LATEST AWAKENING UPDATES! WE WANT YOU TO JOIN...

...our brand spankin' new Awakening mailing list! Sign up and receive release information, special promo news, signing and convention appearance updates and more! Just sling an e-mail* on over to AwakeningComic@gmail.com with the subject "Sign Me Up!" to get started. You'll be happy you did.

First edition due out at the end of June - don't miss out!

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