Broadsides?!?! + Burglary Update
over 3 years ago – Sat, Oct 17, 2020 at 02:55:43 AM

Friends,

What a week it's been! We've catalogued what was stolen, and have ordered replacements. Leather is being re-dyed and re-tooled, more paste paper paints are being made, and we're back to work on the press. (For those of you who have reserved our Preludes, Frêle is remaking the two stolen artworks.) We don't have much hope of recovering the stolen stuff now... One of the stolen laptops was turned on and tracked to a block only 1/2 mile from our office, but we couldn't get ahold of the police to take any action. 

As we wait for the replaced materials to continue our production work and shipping, we've begun, for the first time, experimenting with printing a broadside.

Broadsides?!?! (TLDR: Take this survey!)

There are countless small texts and works of art which we'd love to print, but could never fill an entire book. The poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley is among them—

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

—as are the woodcuts of Rockwell Kent, and in particular his Oarsman, who reminds us to "Row your own boat." 

Taken together, these works capture the mood we're in, as we get back on track after our burglary. So, we paired them up and are printing our first ever broadside. (We had a little experience with broadsides before, when we taught a group of students last Spring how to print their own.)

 They're being printed on heavy Zerkall-Bütten mould-made paper, leaving a gorgeous impression, and we've even partnered up with a studio in Salt Lake City to have them set in custom handmade frames! 

We're having such a great time making "Invictus" that it got us thinking about a broadside subscription series. There are so many texts and artworks we'd love to print, so many different papers we'd love to print on, so many different styles, and genres, and typefaces – far too many to ever do them all in our books. Furthermore, we'd love to bring our collectors into the decision-making process as we make these choices. With broadsides, we could greatly expand our horizons.

If you *might* be interested in joining a "Broadside Collectors Club" to receive a handmade broadside from No Reply every so often, please fill out this survey:

Broadside Survey! Broadside Survey! Broadside Survey!

This is just a way for us to gauge interest. If it turns out there *is* some interest, we may pursue it. For now, we're just happy to be back at work, and soon to be back shipping the remaining packages of Red Death.

More soon!

Team No Reply

 

Burglary & Shipping Update
over 3 years ago – Sat, Oct 03, 2020 at 01:07:25 PM

Friends,

First of all, WOW! Since our burglary ten days ago, we've had such an outpouring of support. It's been really touching, and hugely helpful as we've been scrambling to get things back on track.

There's a mix of frustrating and goods news.

The burglary was, it turns out, caught on camera. The advertising agency which shares our building had a security camera in exactly the right place to record the burglars walking in and out with our stuff. The burglars were also seen by our friend Larbi, who works the night shift at the 7-Eleven across the street. Larbi put us in touch with the owners of a small grocery store about five blocks away, who report that the same guys have been breaking into their place to steal (you guessed it!) vapes. So, it looks like we're dealing with a repeat offender in the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, despite our having a videotape of the burglary, plus a description of the car they were driving from Larbi (and maybe footage of it!), plus camera footage from another burglary, the police have not yet shown up to investigate or even take a statement. Our building management has been calling every day. This has been doubly frustrating for us, because some of the items stolen are insured by the credit cards which were used to purchase them. However, those policies require a certified police report (i.e. one where the account of a theft is verified by an investigating officer) within a week of the theft. So, despite having some insurance, we may not be able to collect on the insurance because no officer has yet come to the scene.

(In fairness to the Portland Police Bureau, there are much more serious crimes out there, and they've spent the last week preparing for and trying to mitigate the possibility of violence caused by a rally of 20,000 alt-right provocateurs from out-of-town. Still, very frustrating.)

The videotape shows, so far as we can tell, that the burglars used cartons which had been sitting on a table in the press office to carry out our stuff. Basically, they loaded the speaker system, computers, typewriter (!), scanner, and other such valuables into the cartons to carry. Unfortunately, this creates a double headache, because the stuff already inside those cartons, which they likely didn't care about taking, is actually more important to us. One carton included about 20 packages which were ready-to-go, and another included gold tooled leather which had just arrived from McKinley Leather Co. in Ohio. On the scanner bed were two artworks for our upcoming edition of T. S. Eliot's "Preludes," and of course the digital files used for giclée prints were on the stolen laptop. There are a hundred minor headaches. For example, we've had to file individual refund claims for over 100 shipping labels for packages which won't go out on time.

All-in-all, there's a small series of setbacks. As of yesterday, we've replaced our computers and label printer.  (To everybody who wrote in but didn't yet get a reply, we've been without a computer to do so from! We'll get back to you today and tomorrow!!!)  We've put into motion the processes needed to replace everything else – Frêle is working on new artworks for "Preludes", we've put in a new order for leather from our tannery in Scotland, new shipping labels are being ordered.

So, where does that leave us?

As of the burglary, 3/5 of packages had been shipped. We've received such lovely feedback from everybody – it's really encouraging. We're really glad you like the books. 

We should be able to ship another 1/5 of the packages in the coming week. If yours is in this group, you'll receive a tracking notification by Friday.

The final 1/5 of the packages will have to wait between 4 and 6 weeks to ship. 

Why? Because these were either stolen, or the materials necessary to produce them were stolen. Basically, for these, we have to start from scratch. 

We know from experience that y'all are incredibly generous and understanding people, but still, we feel bad about the delay, and so we're going to make it worth the wait. All packages which ship after September will include a complimentary gift (we won't say what, but we're excited about it!), and De Luxe and De Morte copies which ship after September will include a complimentary clamshell box to house them. The wait is a pain, but we think you'll agree it was worth it!

As always, please feel free to reach out for anything!

If you have a question about your book which has already arrived, or are wondering when your book will be shipping, or if you have a suggestion for our next edition – reach out! With things as hectic as they are, we may be a little delayed in getting back to you, but it's always a delight to do so.

More soon, and thanks for everything in the meantime,

Team No Reply

Unbelievable – 2020 strikes again
over 3 years ago – Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 11:44:23 PM

Dear friends,

Griffin here – editor at No Reply. I have bad news! But first of all, thank you so much for all the kind and wonderful messages we've been receiving as books have been arriving. We're glad you like them! 

I'm writing this from my grandmother's Windows Vista computer, because last night our office and workshop were burglarized, and this is the nearest computer I could find! Three of the five businesses in our building (the historic art deco Campa Building in Ladd's Addition, Portland) had all of their electronics, among other things, stolen. We seemed to have been hit the hardest, because we had the most obviously valuable stuff in plain sight. A partial list of what's gone includes:

• Our office iMac – which we use for shipping, design, campaign and data management. I've remotely locked the machine, so your data is safe.
• My personal laptop, a macbook.
• My LC Smith & Corona typewriter, which you've seen in this campaign and on our Instagram. This is especially saddening to me, as I've taken it all over the world with me, and its model, Corona 19, was fitting for these times! Who steals a typewriter???
• About a thousand dollars cash – though another thousand euros kept in the same box went untouched. I guess the burglars thought it was Monopoly money?
• Our speaker system and office headphones.
• A box of books in our stock shelves marked "Rare" – the exact contents are to be determined once we get a computer again and can look through our records.
• Our shipping label printing system was broken, but not taken.
• Two smaller cartons of packages on our office desk. (Another, larger carton was left alone.) I'd estimate about 30 packages total were taken. We're going to have to go through our records to figure out which packages they were. Because we have to declare the value of the package on the label for customs and insurance purposes, my theory is that the burglars saw a package with $300+ stated value and thought, "We'll take whatever this is." Likely, once they see that books are inside, they'll either sell them at a local bookstore (we've alerted them all), or simply trash them.
• There may be more... I am particularly concerned about some gold tooled leather which I can't locate.  I don't think burglars would have taken leather (though I didn't think they'd take a typewriter) but the leather may be in a box containing other more valuable things which was taken. We'll see.
• Our workshop, right next door to the office, was trashed, but I don't think anything was taken. From an initial glance, I think most everything is salvageable, but it remains to be seen.

Our neighbor, Amy, who owns a hair salon, had her speakers and payment processing iPad stolen. It could have been much worse, though. In her words, "Thank god they didn't touch the shears!" I'm most relieved that the books in our display cases – primarily presentation copies of books from fine presses like Barbarian Press, Allen Press, Midnight Paper Sales, Thornwillow, Arion, etc. – weren't touched. The burglars clearly didn't have much taste!

Overall, the losses are around $10,000, not including the packages. Our small business insurance covers liability (if somebody eats their book, chokes, and sues us because we don't print "DO NOT EAT" on the title page, we're covered for up to $2,000,000) but doesn't cover our stock against theft, and likely doesn't cover our electronics or other losses. The credit card which was used for some of the purchases, however, may insure them against theft. To be seen!

I want to take a moment to appreciate how gnarly 2020 has been. Our last update was "When it rains it pours" – so this update is simply unbelievable.  

Here are my immediate takeaways and things to note:

1.  We'll probably have a significant delay in 1/5 of the orders. Depending on what was lost in the packages which were ready for shipment, and pending any further discoveries of what was stolen, we could still be shipping the last packages into November. Still, about half are shipped now, another 50 are going out today. I expect by the end of September, the vast majority will have their books in the mail.

2.  Without the success of this campaign, 2020 would DEFINITELY have run us out of business by now! Your support on this campaign has given us the financial cushion we need to weather the storm.

3.  We had planned on launching another Kickstarter campaign to fund our first edition of 2021 in January.  We've been planning it for about six months now. It's three times as long as "Red Death," quarto size rather than octavo, uses finer paper, and commissions original artwork. In other words, our biggest effort yet! We had planned to launch this campaign in January, but we may need to launch it earlier, and perhaps before 100% of "Red Death" has shipped. If you're looking for ways to support No Reply Press –  even more than you already have! – support our next campaign when it comes!

4.  To be totally clear, this burglary has nothing to do whatsoever with the protests happening in downtown Portland. The national news has made Portland out to be in total anarchy, with small businesses being looted left and right. We have no reason to believe that this is "looting" of any kind – just garden variety burglary! We know that whoever broke into our building does not represent any cause or movement, left or right, up or done, other than the cause of their own thoughtlessness. 

With that, my grandmother and I are going to have some pad thai for lunch. I'll update you in a week or so when we know more. In the meantime, thanks for your support as always. 2020 hasn't been easy for us, but it's been much much harder for others, so stay safe and be well!!!

Griffin

Here's some photos of the *crime scene*

When it rains, it pours...
over 3 years ago – Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at 12:01:11 AM

Friends,

We had planned a small shipping update for today – we've been delivering 30 packages to the post office every day, with an eye toward having all packages sent by the end of the next week.  There are some minor hiccups: The post office is now much slower than the past.  Whereas a year ago we'd expect packages to be halfway across the country within 24 hours of our posting them, we're now seeing packages wait for days before even being scanned into the system at the local post office.  HOWEVER, when it rains it pours...

The New York Times top headline pretty much sums it up: Oregon Orders Widespread Evacuations as Fires Near Portland Suburbs

As of this morning, 10% of Oregonians are evacuated, and Portland has the worst air quality in the world.  Ladd's Addition, the neighborhood where our press is based, is clocking a air pollution index of 438 – well into the "Hazardous" range.  Many have seen the photos of the hazy orange skies, but the most striking thing, to us at least, is the smell.  It's totally pervasive – as strong indoors as outdoors.

And, on a very, very, very sad note: The parents of one of our teammates lost their home in Talent, Oregon a few days ago.  This was the epicenter of one of the wildfires, so they were given only three minutes warning to evacuate their home – three minutes from "nothing to worry about" to "go now!"  We've been using the press office as an HQ for applying for aid and setting up a GoFundMe page for friends and family to donate.

So, we're stopping shipping for the moment.  In the best case scenario, cooler weather early next week should help hamper the wildfires, returning us to a safer level of air pollution, and getting everybody back to work.  We'll keep you updated.  So far, 150 packages have shipped, 100 are packaged and ready to ship, and 100 (primarily those with special requests, those which added our upcoming Preludes, etc.) are yet to be packaged.

We'll keep you updated.  To our 47 backers in Washington, Oregon, and California – we hope you're safe!!!  
 

Two further things of note:
 

 1.  Subscribers list
 

The subscribers list will soon be up and available on our website for all the world to see.  We want to make it as public as possible to honor the communal effort that made this edition happen.  We'll let you know when it is!

In the meantime, when we ran our poll in June about the printed subscribers list, the response was overwhelmingly against delaying for it.  Y'all are a modest bunch.  We have run into some problems with the list due to stationery constraints (we ran out and need to reprint), and so some packages are posting without a printed subscribers list.  We thought it was more important to get you your book than to delay further.  If yours arrives without it, and you'd like one sent to you in the mail later when we can print more, we'd be happy to!  Just shoot us a message.

 
 2.  Please send your feedback to [email protected]

Griffin, our editor, is eager for your feedback.  As he designs the next edition, he wants your input as to what worked, what didn't – what really worked, what really  didn't.  We're eager for all your thoughts, but if you have the time, there are three questions of particular interest:
 

A.  Anticipating a much smaller edition (our goal after all was $5,000) we printed with a lovely Mohawk vellum-finished paper, made in America.  Had we known the edition would be so popular, we may have instead chosen a mould-made German or French paper, such as Zerkall or Arches.  The cost of importing these papers easily runs into the thousands of dollars, so with our $5,000 goal, it would have been prohibitive.  However, if and when we run another Kickstarter campaign for another edition, would a higher goal and higher price point (say, $10 more per copy) be worth the upgraded European paper?
 

B.  We love the cover paper for The Masque of the Red Death, but it was *dramatic turn* a nightmare to work with.  Each cover is, essentially, a unique painting, requiring four coats of specially-mixed paints.  Binding a book with a painting is a very delicate process, causing huge delays in the bindery.  We might have been able to deliver the book a month or two earlier if we had chosen instead a bark paper, or some other machine-made decorative paper.  On the upside, our paper is completely unique – it has never existed before and likely never will.  On the downside, it's delicate and delays the book.  So, what do you think?  Worth it, or nah?
 

C.  What to include, what to include?  The success of this campaign has empowered us to increase our capacity significantly.  We can now do longer books, more artwork, more artwork mediums.  What most interests you as a collector and reader?  Original first edition work?  More artwork?  Longer texts?  Our capacity is increased, but naturally – as handmade bookmakers – we still have plenty of constraints.  Where do you think we should focus our energies and spend our time?  
 

That's all for now.  We'll update you when we are able to resume shipping!

  Team No Reply

 

Short Shipping Update
over 3 years ago – Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 10:07:24 PM

Collectors,

We just wanted to pass a quick note along on shipping.  When it rains, it pours, and there have been a few roadblocks – from one of our team members contracting Covid (she's ok!!!), to our bank flagging postage purchases as fraudulent, and everything in between!  But shipping is still going apace!  Nearly all of the U.S. paperbound copies have been shipped.  International paperbounds and U.S. hardbounds will start going out this week.

For international backers who responded to our survey, thank you.  If your response requires us to reach out to you, we'll be doing so soon.

Finally, this is the last opportunity to add a No Reply edition to your package and have your shipping waived with the code REDDEATH!  This is especially lucrative for our international backers, as shipping books overseas can be quite expensive.  You can check out all of our current limited editions on our website.  And here they are for your perusal:

"The Great Man" by Leo Tolstoy

"The Failurist" by Markus Zusak

"The Most Efficient Language" by John McWhorter

"Preludes" by T. S. Eliot