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kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2021
Since the topic was brought up, I thought I'd throw in some data on CG deliveries. Here's a pie chart showing books I've backed that were scheduled for delivery some time in 2020 and how close they were to their target date.
As you can see, out of a total of 96 books I expected to receive in 2020, a whopping 35 remain undelivered. Now, it's important to keep in mind that several of those books were scheduled for later months in the year, so they may only end up being a few months late if they are delivered soon. However, the estimated delivery dates of many of these books are spread out through the entire year, going all the way back to January. So some books are now a year late and many more are rapidly approaching that esteemed category. I have a lot of forgiveness for first-time self-publishers and I understand it's a large undertaking to figure out production, printing, and shipping, then trying to get it all done by some arbitrary date that you probably chose without realizing the effort it would take to hit that target. There's also the omnipresent issue of COVID-19 which threw off nearly everyone's timeline by at least a little bit (and huge props to the creators who were able to deliver on time in spite of it). However, when books start pushing a year or more, I begin to lose faith. Hell, we've even got books that are pushing TWO years late with Red Rooster and Sovereign, though I didn't include those in this chart.
All in all, I definitely think CG has a timeliness issue. I'd like to say that creators get better with this as they become more experienced, but I don't have the data to back that up (i.e. I haven't bothered to look into it closely) but it doesn't seem that way. I also see creators trying to rewrite history and say they were on time when they were absolutely not. However, there are some creators who hit the mark on pretty much every book, which is always nice to see. Ultimately, I don't take the estimated delivery date too seriously. If creators are truthful with their backers and post updates about how things are going and why they're delayed WITHOUT trying to make excuses, then I'm probably going to cut them some slack.
EDIT: When I say that CG has a timeliness issue, but also that I don't take the delivery date too seriously, I mean that I don't expect a strict adherence to that delivery date and can forgive a couple of months' extra wait time. I can easily overlook 1-2 months, but there's only so far you can push it before I start thinking you're just not putting in the proper work on your project. Edited because I felt that came off as a bit contradictory.
As you can see, out of a total of 96 books I expected to receive in 2020, a whopping 35 remain undelivered. Now, it's important to keep in mind that several of those books were scheduled for later months in the year, so they may only end up being a few months late if they are delivered soon. However, the estimated delivery dates of many of these books are spread out through the entire year, going all the way back to January. So some books are now a year late and many more are rapidly approaching that esteemed category. I have a lot of forgiveness for first-time self-publishers and I understand it's a large undertaking to figure out production, printing, and shipping, then trying to get it all done by some arbitrary date that you probably chose without realizing the effort it would take to hit that target. There's also the omnipresent issue of COVID-19 which threw off nearly everyone's timeline by at least a little bit (and huge props to the creators who were able to deliver on time in spite of it). However, when books start pushing a year or more, I begin to lose faith. Hell, we've even got books that are pushing TWO years late with Red Rooster and Sovereign, though I didn't include those in this chart.
All in all, I definitely think CG has a timeliness issue. I'd like to say that creators get better with this as they become more experienced, but I don't have the data to back that up (i.e. I haven't bothered to look into it closely) but it doesn't seem that way. I also see creators trying to rewrite history and say they were on time when they were absolutely not. However, there are some creators who hit the mark on pretty much every book, which is always nice to see. Ultimately, I don't take the estimated delivery date too seriously. If creators are truthful with their backers and post updates about how things are going and why they're delayed WITHOUT trying to make excuses, then I'm probably going to cut them some slack.
EDIT: When I say that CG has a timeliness issue, but also that I don't take the delivery date too seriously, I mean that I don't expect a strict adherence to that delivery date and can forgive a couple of months' extra wait time. I can easily overlook 1-2 months, but there's only so far you can push it before I start thinking you're just not putting in the proper work on your project. Edited because I felt that came off as a bit contradictory.
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