ELFS: the book?

[Amok the hungry]

Hello,

I recently read a review of Elfs and decided to come do a little more research. I was browsing through some older posts and found one called Elfs revisions in which there was some talk about releasing a paperback version of the game. What is the status of the book?

The game sounds like a lot of fun and I love the artwork. I've been very tempted to pay the $10 and get the PDF, but if there is a book coming out soon I guess I can wait a little longer.

Thanks.

[Valamir]

Recent Answer to this Question

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Welcome, Amok! Most of the information is in the thread Ralph linked to, but it's also a good time to let people know that Elfs the book is in the very final stages of layout. And since I'm using a digital printer, I think that it takes less than four weeks for the actual books to appear. I'll post when it's sent to the printer.

Oh yeah! And the website's getting a facelift too.

Best,
Ron

[Amok the hungry]

Thanks Ron. (And Ralph)

I'm glad to hear that it's close to completion. I may just have to order the PDF anyway. Are you still considering that as a pre-payment on the hard copy? If so then it's only costing me $5 so what the hell?

I hope the site doesn't get TOO much of a facelift. I think it's kinda cool that it's so simple. Although a sample page from the game might be nice so folks can get a feel for it.

I hear that you're going to be at the Indy Gen Con in August.
I'll see you there. Any chance you'll be running a game of Elfs?

Todd

[joshua neff]

And since I'm using a digital printer, I think that it takes less than four weeks for the actual books to appear. I'll post when it's sent to the printer.

Wicked cool. Just the other day, Julie said she'd like to play Elfs.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

My plans for the finances for the book go like this: it'll cost $15, plus $1.50 postage/handling when you buy it from the website.

Buying the PDF means you've pre-paid $5 (not the full $10; that extra $5 is lost in limbo).

Best,
Ron

[Amok the hungry]

Sounds good to me.  I just placed the order!

[Ron Edwards]

Hello everybody,

This is to let you know that Elfs is now officially "at the printer." I'm using Express Media, so turnaround time is going to be VERY fast. The only delay is checking out the proofs.

5.5" x 8.5"
96 60-lb pages, perfect bound
black cover with white-panel illustration and white back-text copy
illustrations by Jeff Diamond, Ed Heil, and Antti Karjalainen
$15.00

As for when it goes on sale, I'm going to wait until the books are actually, physically in the hands of the fulfillment people, so you won't have to wait at all. More announcements about that later.

Best,
Ron

[quozl]

Will you be discontinuing PDF sales of Elfs when the book is ready?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Jonathan,

Yup. No more PDF when the book goes on sale.

I occasionally get emails asking whether people can buy the PDF versions of Sorcerer or one of its supplements. To date, I have always refused.

Best,
Ron

[kwill]

hi ron,

will you still be distributing through tundra for elfs and (eventually) trollbabe?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi David,

I'll begin with direct sales only from my website. I know that advertising to retailers through their familiar channels (e.g. quarterly periodicals) is important to them, so I'll get that going at its own pace.

At the moment, I'm not especially interested in timing "store release" with direct-sales release. It doesn't seem to pay off in any particularly useful way for anyone, despite widespread perceptions to the contrary.

The good news is that Tundra is indeed warehousing the copies and handling fulfillment, so if a retailer did want to acquire copies, he could do that at the standard 50% discount.

Best,
Ron

[kwill]

excellent! I just wanna know that I can order it through the south african channels I carefully set up :)

[montag]

Ron, could you let us know, when you're going to discontinue the PDF sale? So we (or at least I) can know when we _must_ decide whether to get both or just the print version.

thanks
markus

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Markus,

I am merely estimating, so don't hold me to this. A great deal depends on the first proofs - if they present some things that need changing, that will delay the book's release considerably. Or, for a worst-case scenario, the books might end up being mis-cut during printing, and have to be done over. Stuff like that. Plus however long it takes to ship them from Tennessee to Illinois.

Given all that, I anticipate that the latest the PDF will remain for sale will be one month from now, and quite likely it will be cut off earlier than that. What I'm not especially sympathetic toward, though, is the possibility that a customer will say, "Wait! I was just about to buy that when you discontinued it!" My only response to that (hypothetical) customer, and I hope you can see why, will be "Sorry, too late."

I do think that I'll announce the cut-off before I do it, though, leaving people a day or two to make the final decision whether to buy the PDF. That seems fair.

Best,
Ron