Who am I kidding, I relish airing our dirty laundry in public, but professionalism and good taste often makes doing so... "inadvisable." But this is a special situation and in this instance it's easy to talk around the specifics so to protect the innoce—well, in this case, to protect the guilty. As we've been trying to show off our editorial processes with this project, even more reason to let you all in on how things sometimes play out around here.
The product in question: From Shore to Sea, our Pathfinder Module partnered with Wolfgang Baur's patron-fueled Open Design venture.
The topic: Sometimes we get screwed.
So, let's backtrack a little bit. Here's something most folks didn't notice—unless you've been getting emails from me or really enjoy reading the credits pages of our projects. Around October of last year my title here at Paizo totally didn't change. What comes after that title did, though. Thus, "Managing Editor of Pathfinder" became "Managing Editor of Paizo Publishing." The distinction: now I'm not just in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly for Pathfinder Adventure Path, but everything else we publish too. And, as a special bonus challenge, that it all happens in a timely manner. That's been the real trick. It's like telling someone to build a number of towers (one for each product line) but, hey, for fun, let's start at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon, in this case, is our "schedule debt," a sizable hole with depth markers called Dragon and Dungeon magazines, the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, and other beautiful fiascos that have gradually meant nearly everything we publish has fallen off its intended tracks. A real nasty peril when you've got thousands of gamers rightly demanding the products they've subscribed to and expect from month to month. But with my shiny Paizo-brand carrot and Paizo-brand stick, and the incredible efforts of our insanely talented and even more dedicated designers, editors (with a special nod to Judy Bauer, Chris Carey, Rob McCreary, and James Sutter), and folks at all levels of the company who have sacrificed nights, weekends, sleep, and meals to write and edit, those towers have reached up and up toward the light. The first tower to break the surface was the Pathfinder Module line with From to Shore to Sea, scheduled to go to print, on time, March 5th.
Or rather it would have, if the art we ordered actually came in. Oh, I don't just mean came in on time, I mean, was going to come in at all. What we got on the due date instead of a half dozen illustrations was an apology from Joe "You'll-Never-Work-in-this-Town-Again" and a very empty "good luck!" Lame. Now, art directorix Sarah Robinson is a goddess for a variety of reasons, but the power she employed in this particular crisis was to bat her eyelashes via email and coax a whole host of fantastically talented artists to take up the slack, and in record speed. What that did mean, though, is that instead of going out on time, From to Shore to Sea is now going out next week, three weeks behind my precious schedule. Ugh.
Illustration by Dan Scott
Wolf set us up with this great plan, author Brandon Hodge pulled together a fantastic adventure, the Open Design patrons made a host of inspired suggestions, and Rob developed this thing into a fine addition to our Pathfinder Modules line in record time. And Dan Scott, our ever reliably awesome cover artist, did the incredible cover I’ve attached here. (Again, Dan: great and timely work. We love Dan’s stuff.) Yet despite top-notch materials and everyone who touched the adventure doing heroic work, sometimes things still don't work out the way they should. Sometimes it makes things frustrating and stressful, but never, ever boring.
From Shore to Sea will be awesome, there's no doubt about that, and I'm more excited about this one than I am about most. But, sadly, this one has had a bumpy journey, and my first tower breaking the surface will likely have to wait for City of Strangers in the Pathfinder Chronicles line later this month. Missing a deadline sadly isn't something new, so don't go adjusting orders or rechecking release dates; this happens sometimes and no one outside this building ever hears about it. Our website and warehouse teams are also quite adept—to our chagrin—at picking up our slack. And, should all our plans continue to work and there are relatively few additional catastrophes, you shouldn't ever hear me griping about our "editorial debt" again.
So just a heads-up for all the folks who have been invested in and keenly anticipating Open Design's From to Shore to Sea: it's awesome and it's coming, but sometimes the path from author to your hands has some unanticipated adventures. And expect a very boring blog post from me in a few months announcing that all our product lines are, at last, shipping to the printer on time. It might not matter much to folks outside these offices, but here, it's going to be cresting the top of a very tall hill.
This makes me very worried about the artist in question, as in hoping he/she isn't one of my faves(as selfish as that sounds as I read over my post again...).
i bet you the reason Valeros is the one being grabbed is that he insulted the thing... again...
Justin Sluder(Paizo Charter Superscriber, Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber)
Wes, just remember we all love ya. Keep doing what you're doing to the best of your ability and I will have nothing bad to say about Pathfinder, Paizo, or you. Except that hair...pick a color already! :p
This makes me very worried about the artist in question, as in hoping he/she isn't one of my faves...
Naaah, it was a new guy/gal we've never used before.
Justin Sluder wrote:
Except that hair...pick a color already! :p
Qua? Aside from a nearly imperceptible crimson highlight that lasted for all of three days five years ago I have never dyed or otherwise despoiled my luxurious mane. Perish the thought.
Mairkurion {tm}(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Tales, Battles Case Subscriber)
Oh and Wes, your starting to sound like James. Which, as you know, is sexy.
I... I don't know how to f... wow... huh. Thanks?
Mairkurion {tm}(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Tales, Battles Case Subscriber)
Speaking as someone who finished his dissertation a couple of years late, hoo-ray for the late guys! Here's to skewering the blasted hares of this life.
Justin Sluder(Paizo Charter Superscriber, Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber)
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
Justin Sluder wrote:
Except that hair...pick a color already! :p
Qua? Aside from a nearly imperceptible crimson highlight that lasted for all of three days five years ago I have never dyed or otherwise despoiled my luxurious mane. Perish the thought.
Really? I must be confuzzing you with another GolemLord....
Qua? Aside from a nearly imperceptible crimson highlight that lasted for all of three days five years ago I have never dyed or otherwise despoiled my luxurious mane. Perish the thought.
Your mane will never look as good as my luscious curls.
Speaking as someone who finished his dissertation a couple of years late, hoo-ray for the late guys! Here's to skewering the blasted hares of this life.
Mairkurion {tm}(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Tales, Battles Case Subscriber)
Sinvel Menter wrote:
Mairkurion {tm} wrote:
RE-LEASE THE PRODUCT!
Don't you mean "Let loose the Product!"?
Apparently the line got changed. Laurence Olivier or Liam Neeson?
Mairkurion {tm}(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Tales, Battles Case Subscriber)
Tarren Dei wrote:
Mairkurion {tm} wrote:
Speaking as someone who finished his dissertation a couple of years late, hoo-ray for the late guys! Here's to skewering the blasted hares of this life.
And expect a very boring blog post from me in a few months announcing that all our product lines are, at last, shipping to the printer on time. It might not matter much to folks outside these offices, but here, it's going to be cresting the top of a very tall hill.
This is my first post but I have been a closet reader for years. Wes' post compelled me to send a shout out: I really appreciate the inglorious real-life adventure that must be slogged through to publish such high quality products. I can hardly wait for the next white Paizo envelope in the mail, but the contents are always worth the wait!
so... bets on how long until Joe Lame's real name is generally known? :)
don't worry too much about the deadlines, you're all only human. pathetic humans who shall one day cower in the dark dominion of the drow elves. muahahahahaa!
Both quite superb actors. But only one (so far) was made a Baron. Just saying.
And although you've been reading the boards for a bit Entrerus, welcome!
Mairkurion {tm}(Pathfinder Adventure Path, Tales, Battles Case Subscriber)
Entrerus wrote:
This is my first post but I have been a closet reader for years. Wes' post compelled me to send a shout out: I really appreciate the inglorious real-life adventure that must be slogged through to publish such high quality products. I can hardly wait for the next white Paizo envelope in the mail, but the contents are always worth the wait!
Wes, ConceptArt.org has a repeating challenge "Character of the Week" that demands the turnaround of an illustration on the weekly concept in a fairly short period of time. Some of the stuff they come up with is pretty darn good, this might be a good place to look for unknown artists that can turn around illustrations to spec quickly.
Word is that James is awfully protective of merisiel when it comes to getting ones buttkicked in artwork. and when an angry dinosaur roars "no hurt merisiel" you tend to accommodate.
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Hugo Solis
(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
