Whovian Cookbook - Dining With the Doctor: Regenerated

Book(s) Update
over 6 years ago – Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 07:29:39 AM

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Update
about 7 years ago – Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 01:28:45 AM

Hey folks,

tl;dr - The book is absolutely still happening. 

As some of you may know, I'm a full time writer. Up until last year I was on a pretty strict schedule of one major tie-in holiday release and 1-2 smaller niche paperbacks per year. Losing my data meant not only losing my biggest, most ambitious project yet (this Doctor Who cookbook is literally 3 times larger than anything else I've ever written) but also 3 other smaller works in progress, plus all my research and notes on future projects. This meant I went from having a lot of potential income in the pipeline to none.

While I work year round, I earn 80% of my yearly income in 8 stressful weeks of holiday sales from November - January. Not having Dining With the Doctor or the two other smaller publications intended for 2016 meant I did not make enough money to survive in 2017. I've been scrambling for other gigs while also working on Dining With the Doctor, but the short term income just isn't enough to make ends meet. Finding a day job when you've been self employed for the last 7 years isn't easy.

I just turned in my 60 day notice at my apartment because I can't afford to keep living here.

None of my friends can put me up for an extended period (nor should they have to) but over the years a lot of folks have said they'd love it if I'd come to visit for a few days. This year I'm taking all of them up on it.

Therefore, when my lease expires, "officially" I'm setting off for a year long road trip adventure called The Geek American Road Trip. It's my very positive spin on a pretty scary situation. "Can I crash with you for a few days while I write frantically" sounds awful. On the other hand, "Can I cook you dinner and interview you for a podcast while I'm in town" has resulted in a lot of positive feedback.

While the road trip really will be fascinating, between us this is a way for me to check out cheaper places to live (Austin rents have gone up ridiculously every year I've been here) and scout for job opportunities while also keeping a roof over my head as I wrap up this book.

I'm sorry I haven't kept in more frequent contact about what's going on. It's incredibly hard to publicly admit that despite working my ass off and applying for plenty of jobs, I'm about to be homeless for a year. Honestly, I was severely depressed about this back in Jan/Feb.

Since I came up with the roadtrip plan, I've had such positive feedback (mostly due to putting an uplifting spin on my travels) that I'm cautiously optimistic. My goal is to get back on my pre-crash publishing schedule by the end of this holiday season without putting too much strain on any friendships.

I've got hundreds of photos, hundreds of recipes, and hundreds of pages of writing invested in Dining With the Doctor, so heck yes this is still planned for my big holiday release.  I'm hoping get at least one smaller niche paperback out this year as well. Plus, the travel podcast will absolutely be source material for a future book in 2018/19.

For the next few weeks I'm busy frantically packing all my worldly possessions into a storage unit and preparing for life as a writer on the road.

Thanks so much for all your patience!

The Parting of the Ways Dalek Crustless Quiche
over 7 years ago – Mon, Nov 21, 2016 at 10:30:46 PM

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Sontaran Blue Potato Gnocchi Helmets from The Poison Sky
over 7 years ago – Mon, Nov 07, 2016 at 04:28:25 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Non-Recipe Update!
over 7 years ago – Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 10:10:15 PM

Sorry about sending two updates in one day. Kickstarter doesn't let you schedule these things. Between the Jewish High Holidays and a food writing conference, finding an hour of privacy last week with good wi-fi was a challenge. Don't worry - I didn't stop writing. You don't need wi-fi for that!

PRINTING

At the conference I got to speak to a couple small presses which have printed books in the United States (my previous professionally printed books were all made in China, just like the big presses.) They both warned me that while the folks at Bang Printing are really nice, speak English, and are very friendly and cooperative, they've had some color printing issues this year. So far, they're still the best rated domestic printer for the money, but I'm going to put some feelers out about other places.

All printing facilities I've talked to, both Chinese and Domestic, are currently at a 14+ week delivery time - so late Jan/early Feb. My personal experience with printers (and my fellow small presses back this up) is that you should add another 4-6 weeks to their estimated delivery times. This is a seasonal issue. Around February, they should be back to their 8-12 week estimates.

MORE MATERIAL

Even if I handed them the manuscript today (which is not yet ready), I couldn't get a book in your hands before February. Since you're going to have to wait that long anyway, I'm going to add another chapter for series 9. I can squeeze it in page-count-wise because all the episodes were two parters. The cocktails chapter may end up two columns in rather small print, but I think it'll be worth it.

MINE VS THE OFFICIAL COOKBOOK

Since folks have asked, yes, I know there's a new official Doctor Who cookbook out. It has 40 recipes (only two of which are "heavily inspired by" recipes I've posted on Kitchen Overlord). The book you are so kindly and patiently waiting for will have over 200 as well as loads of accommodations for Whovians with a variety of dietary restrictions.

For example, I really hope you like the Fish Fingers and Custard chapter. It has both sweet and savory varieties of both fish fingers and custard/custard-substitutes for gluten free, paleo, vegetarian, vegan, and folks who can eat anything. That's 25 mix-and-match recipes you can serve darn near anyone, plus some ideas for things to do with leftovers. That chapter alone is almost the length of the entire official cookbook.

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SIDE PROJECT

Since Dining With The Doctor: Regenerated won't be out in time for Christmas, I really need to put something on the shelves if I want to eat next year. Losing all that data has been a huge stress and major upcoming financial burden for me. 80% of all books are purchased during the holiday season. I was banking on this being my tentpole book which I could market over the summer convention season and sell for Christmas. Spending the last five months frantically rewriting it (and delaying all future projects) has put me in a pretty tight bind.

Between you, me, and the internet, I've culled together all of Kitchen Overlord's zombie and Halloween recipes over the years (I didn't lose them because they were on my blog) and am taking a couple weeks off to turn them into a short (60 recipe), gory horror cookbook printed using Amazon's CreateSpace. This really is just piecing together existing parts of the blog.

Faster CreateSpace printing isn't an option for Dining With The Doctor: Regenerated because a 300 page Print on Demand full color paperback book would cost $42 per copy with low quality paper and a worrisome binding. (I looked into it.) My Amazon CreateSpace paperbacks are all 100-110 pages (with tiny print) because that's the sweet spot where the binding doesn't fall apart and the price is a reasonable $19.95.

Once that's out, I'll be back to work adding more content to Dining With The Doctor Regenerated and photographing new recipes for Series 9.

I think that's all the personal updates I've got. As you know, I canceled my summer convention tour after the virusing and don't have any conventions scheduled between now and IkkiCon over New Year's Eve because those get in the way of rewriting this book. My only plans for the rest of the year are writing, getting my Whovian cookbook to the printers, and marketing my existing books.