My Next Kickstarter Launches Next Week!
6 months ago
– Mon, Sep 22, 2025 at 01:07:38 AM
Hello backers of The Palace of the Dragon King! I hope you are all well.
I just wanted to drop a quick note to let you know that next week, I am launching a Kickstarter project for my next book: Echizen-Wakasa Kidan. Check it out here!
We're trying to get the strongest launch possible, so we're offering a special reward: a free yokai pin badge if you back the project on launch day: October 1st.
Early bird backers will get either a hajikkaki or a rokurokubi metal pin badge for free!
On top of that, anyone who has backed one of my Kickstarters in the past (that means all of you!) will also get a free pin badge as a thank you for returning! If you are a return backer who pledges on October 1st, you will get both pin badges.
On top of that we are offering some extra special, unique rewards that are different from anything I've offered before. So please bookmark the pre-launch page and click the notify button so you don't miss out on this awesome project!
Thanks again for all of your support!
- Matt
Shipping Is Complete! Happy New Year!
about 1 year ago
– Sat, Jan 04, 2025 at 08:25:15 PM
Hello backers, and Happy New Year to you all! I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday.
I am happy to report that after working non-stop through December, we were able to finish shipping all of the packages by New Year's! With the exception of Israel (which we still cannot ship to yet) and pledges that did not complete the survey, all of the orders have been fulfilled! (Israel packages will be sent out as soon as Japan Post resumes parcel services to those countries.)
While you are waiting for your packages to arrive, here are a few points to remember:
- You can find your tracking number at Backerkit and you can track your package at Japan Post's website.
- Packages are shipping via sea, and can take 8 to 10 weeks to cross the ocean. Please allow enough time for transit before panicking that your package has not arrived yet!
- Your tracking number will not update between the time when it leaves Japan and when it arrives in your home country, because it is at sea and not being scanned. When it is scanned at the destination port, it will be transferred to your country's postal service and the tracking number will resume updating.
- Any customs duties or taxes that your country applies are the responsibility of the recipient.
- Some countries' postal services might not contact you if there is a customs duty owed or some other delivery issue. If your tracking number shows that your package has been waiting for a long time in customs or at your post office, please contact your postal service by phone, because after a month of waiting they might return the parcel to Japan. If your parcel gets returned to Japan, you will have to pay for shipping again.
- My fingers are crossed that everyone's package arrives safely and quickly, but if you have any problems or concerns, you can contact me using Kickstarter messaging or via email.
- If you want to order more books (paperback, hardcover, collectors edition), Servants of Ryugu posters, postcards, bookmarks, art prints, etc., you can do so at https://yokai.com/shop
- If you enjoy The Palace of the Dragon King, please rate it and review it on Amazon or Goodreads or wherever you like to review books. As a self-published author I don't have a huge publication company out there promoting my work, so this is the absolute best way you can show your appreciation!
This will probably be the last update for The Palace of the Dragon King, now that all packages have been fulfilled. I will be launching a new Kickstarter project later this year, and if you want to keep track of my work and upcoming announcements, you can follow me on Bluesky or even become a backer of my Patreon project to get weekly updates, monthly postcards, and behind-the-scenes access to my work!
Thanks so much to all of you for making this project a huge success, and for making my dream come true!
- Matt
December Shipping Update, and a Request
over 1 year ago
– Sun, Dec 01, 2024 at 12:18:56 AM
Greetings backers!
Another month has passed, and snow is beginning to fall on the mountaintops here in Japan. We're getting closer and closer to finishing shipping out all of the orders! There are just a few hundred packages left, and we're on target to finish shipping out the final orders this month. This includes several European countries which only accept airmail parcels from Japan (we saved the airmail parcels for last so that we could get as many surface mail parcels out as quickly as possible). So if you haven't received a tracking number yet, don't fret! You should be getting one soon!
In the meantime, those of you with tracking numbers are probably excitedly waiting for them to update with the latest news. Since the majority of the packages are going by surface mail, this means that there is about a 8 to 12 week gap with no updates, from between when the package leaves Japan to when the container ship reaches the destination country. But once the parcel arrives in your country your tracking number should continue updating.
If you have a tracking number, please take a moment to check it now on Japan Post's tracking website. Every so often, we've had issues where a local post office receives a parcel and just sits on it, never notifying the backer, and after a month passes they return it to Japan as "unclaimed." To make sure that doesn't happen, please check your tracking number for a message such as "Item held at inward Office of Exchange." That means the item is at your country's post office, through customs, and should be delivered soon -- but if it stays there for several days without update that means your post office isn't notifying you that they have your package, and you may want to contact them. The last thing anyone wants is for parcels to get returned!
Lastly, if you enjoy the book (or ebook!) and want to leave a review, I would greatly appreciate that! You can do so on Goodreads, or Amazon, or anywhere else you like to leave reviews. Small authors like me live or die by reviews and word of mouth, and your help is so, so appreciated!
As always, please feel free to send a message if you have any questions! I'll post another update when shipping is complete.
- Matt
November Update
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Nov 02, 2024 at 10:16:06 PM
Hello backers! I'm just here with a quick update on the shipping process.
Many of you have already received your tracking numbers, while many of you are still waiting. There's a limit on how many orders we can pack per week, so while we are going as fast as humanly possible, it will still take some time to process everything.
New tracking numbers will be uploaded every week with the week's shipments, and in addition to your tracking number email from Backerkit, you should also be getting emails from Japan post when the status of your package changes.
Please note: in the past, there have sometimes been issues where a parcels arrived in its destination country and went to customs, but then the local post office failed to notify the backer that the parcel had arrived. Usually they will hold a parcel for one month before returning it as unclaimed. So if you see on your tracking page that your parcel has been sitting in customs for a few days, please check with your local post office to see if they are holding it and forgot to notify you.
I know everyone is eager to get their books. We're eager for you to get them too! Your patience is greatly appreciated!
Shipping has begun!
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Oct 01, 2024 at 05:43:59 AM
Hello backers!
I'm happy to announce that all of the books have arrived, and shipping begins this week! Two 10 ton trucks delivered the books this morning, and we unloaded them into the office. In case you're wondering what 6000+ books looks like spread over 3 rooms, here are some post-delivery photos of the packing area:
Although shipping is now starting, packing and shipping all of these is going to take quite some time. Paper costs and international shipping costs have increased so much in the past couple of years (this printing alone cost almost double the cost of the previous one!) that we didn't have the budget to hire a fulfillment center to handle this project; so all of the processing and shipping is being handled in-house here at Yokai.com.
Shipping is being handled by Japan Post sea mail, and this will be exchanged to your country's local postal service when it arrives in your home country. You will receive another email from BackerKit when your package ships out, but these will be staggered over the next several months, so don't panic if you don't get a shipping notice right away. Sea mail takes on average 8 to 10 weeks to arrive, depending on the country. Your patience is greatly appreciated during this monumental task! As always, feel free to send a Kickstarter message if you have any questions!
(P.S. I know you're all super eager to get your books! In the meantime, if you want some Japanese folklore stories to tide you over, I'm doing A-Yokai-A-Day again this year, sharing one translated yokai folktale and painting one illustration every single day for the month of October. You can follow that over on my blog if you like!)
