Hi everyone! Since the fan books are finally arriving at their final destinations, I'd like to start a discussion on the actual contents of the books. BTW, if you missed pre-orders don't worry, I will post a new ordering page and contact everyone who has contacted me so far about the books.

Fist I'd like to say again, THANK YOU to everyone who submitted to the book: Rachael, Michelle, Mena, Tracy, Josephine, and Nemissa. Without you, there wouldn't be a book, so thanks and way to go!

And now for everyong! What do you think about the stories and art included? Which are your favorites? Would you like to see more fan books for Valkyrie Profile? Anything else you'd like to say about the books, you can post here.

*flails about in excitement.* I just got my fanbook a few  minutes ago. *bounces* It looks great. :D So many pretty pictures...*can't help drooling over the Lezard pics that were sprinkled inside.*

Thanks 100 Series for my Lezard Lenneth sketch. I love it tons! <3

Lol. I am running out of titles, ok?

Everyone should be getting their books soon. Except for Zaftgirl. I am sorry Zaftgirl, I haven't sent your book yet because I wanted to double-triple-quadruple check your address first.

So the list of "everyone" means:
simargl_wings
nemissa
ayekasong
alicia_hime
cleoious
flamgaruru
melusine
and Zaftgirl's will go out soon.

The shipping was really bad at first because I made the mistake of going through UPS, and I thought all the packages would cost $8 to ship them. >_> They are WAY too expensive. The same thing cost only $2.50 at USPS. From now on I will go to US Postal Service, thank you United States government, lol. Really, for a package to Singapore, UPS wanted to charge $65 while the post office only charged $8. It will get there a bit slower yes, but OMGWTFBBQ cheaper!

So everyone, if you haven't gotten your books you should get them in the next week, except for Alicia_hime and Zaftgirl who are outside the US and will take more like two weeks.

Zaftgirl: SORRY AGAIN. I sent you a PM. If you can confirm, then I'll go send it tomorrow asap.

I feel really bad it took so long. Sorry guys!

I just wanted to post and say that I just got my fanbook and sketch in the mail...and it's so cool!  I feel like a 13 year old rabid fangirl! 

Thank you to all who contributed, and thank you 100_series for providing us with this book!

Fanbook Process

This entry doesn't have much to do with the pairing of the group, but I agreed to post it for anyone else attempting to make a fanbook for Valkyrie Profile.

So here are some things you need before you make the book.

Funds: this was big issue for me, as I believed that the books would pay for themselves and I could break even. WRONG. I would say have at least $100 saved up and expendable for this project. If all goes well, you may make all your money back. If not, you don't want to find yourself in the hole and the project grinding to a halt. At the very least have enough to cover the set-up costs for your book which will vary depending on the service you choose and the size of your book. For our fan book, the set-up cost was about $30.

Interest: I can't stress enough how important this is. I think only about a third of the people who said they would submit actually ended up submitting, and for some of those it was like pulling teeth to get it out of them. As a result, more than half the book is my own work. Since I can both write fanfiction draw fanart and comics myself it was no problem, but if you lack these skills then make sure you have someone reliable who can submit for you and give your book content. I would suggest having this content completed before you even open the book to submissions just so that you will know that the book has something in it even if no one else enters. Get people to commit seriously to he book before you even start the project and keep in mind that a good percentage of them will inevitably drop out. You need a good platform like a dedicated community in order to gain interest for your book. I've advertised for this fan book on deviantart and several forms, but the only submissions I received were from people in this group.

About making your book:

Topic: The broader your topic the better. For this book I allowed people to do work featuring one character or the other, not specifically the pairing in a romantic fashion. I also encouraged stories about other characters that might involve the pairing but not completely focus on them. As a result, there's a good variety of images and a large response. You don't have to be a total RuAli freak to like this book (but it helps). Like I said before, make sure you have an audience interested in the book before you start to make it.

Guidelines: I thought it would be best to be open with my time line and rules for this book, and I was woefully wrong. I was lenient with the time schedule, so damn near everybody was late, haha. Some people didn't even start until AFTER the deadline. I also allotted way too much space for submissions. I thought it would be a good idea to let fanfiction be as long as possible because a bigger book the better, but when I got five fics about 3 pages or less in length and then one massive upwards of 20-page fic, it became an issue because the book became unbalanced. What I suggest is making some rules and sticking with them. Give people time extensions if they show honest intent to finish, but don't wait around for "if" and "maybe" submissions.

About publishing your book:

Technical specs: If you don't understand the technical aspect about how to layout your book, if you don't understand DPI or what margin and bleed areas are, then study up on printing before you start your book, and feel free to email me if you want some one-on-one help. You also need to relay the information to your artists in a way they can understand.

Publishing Company: It pays to find a company that looks the other way with fan art even if it costs more because they will then handle the shipping services themselves. The service I went with allowed me to print these books, but I can't put them in their stores for people across the world to order. I have to order them myself and then send them out from my house. This is not terrible for orders inside the Unites States, but when I send books to a foreign country, the charges are crazy. Since several of our members are from outside the US/Canada, it ended up costing me a lot more than I anticipated.

Accepting Orders: #1 advice I have was something that didn't occur to me until it was actually too late. You need to ask people for their username in addition to their real name in you are going to handle the orders yourself. I have been confused all this time trying to figure out which address goes with which person. orz It's not fun.

Shipping: Make sure that you have extra cash in your bank when you go to ship the books in case it turns out to be more than you anticipated. Right now I am kind of stuck because I have no more money to ship the books until my next pay day. ^^; OH. And, international shipments need a phone number as well. I'm not sure why, but they were very specific about it when I went to the UPS.

Okay, so learn from my mistakes and go make more fanbooks! Yay!

I am in the process of sending out the books. I got them in a few days ago. It's taking me a while to do the request sketches.

You may get some emails or LJ comments from me in the next few days asking to confirm your address or remind me of what your username was. XD

If anything, this is teaching me more about the ordering process. *headdesks*

IF YOU DID NOT PREORDER, I WILL ORDER MORE VERY SOON. The problem is purely my own funds, not limited supply of these books (shipping was more expensive for some than I anticipated). I can have more printed at any time, I just don't have the cash ATM.

Well, I got a proof copy of the fan book today. It printed very well, I must say! There was a problem with one of the comic pages, so I have to have it edited, but that was the only technnical difficulty. Everyone's work filled the page great, and there were no unreadable areas. The areas where screentone was used had a stripe here and there, but no unbearable moire patterns.

Anyway, once I fix that one file the thing should be ready do ship out to you. I estimate it will be another month before this gets to your doorsteps, but it DOES exist.

I've been working on this fic forever, and though I'm not satisfied with it yet, I'm going to post it because I know if any of you have advice, you'll give it. I appreciate it in advance. : ) Also, forgive my typos.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5044092/1/On_Lenneths_Wings

I did this fandub recently today with a really good friend of mine. I know we both don't sound like the characters but this is our own portrayal of the characters, so please be nice with comments oh and the vocal-off was not that good but it was the best my friend could do. Please rate and comment!

Starring
Me as Alicia
Daigo787 as Rufus

OK, I sent the book to the printers and I'm having it shipped to my dad's house so that my address doesn't get messed up. Still, they said it can take over a month. =/ So hang tight.

I did a couple of videos featuring our lovely princess and handsome elf.



This one was a commission by someone who wanted a cross over. The song is in my mother tongue so it might be a tad bit foreign to the Americans/Europeans here. Full summary in the video's page itself on youtube.



This one is me messing around with adobe.

More can be found on my youtube page.

Cross posted to valkyrieprofile

Fan book update:

I've got everybody's pre-orders except for a few of you who mailed from outside the US, I'm sure yours are coming soon.

I've finished the editing for the book. It came down to a total of 122 pages. It is pretty much ready to send to print right now, BUT...

I am going to be moving in the next few weeks. I read on the printer's webpage that the "I need it" date can't be sooner than one month in the future. Long story short, I cannot print the books until I get my new address. It'll be delayed a week or two longer than I expected for that reason. Very sorry!

Other than that everything is going well.

Alicia's world of make believe........ Where reality and fiction crosses together. Tribute to the Princess of Dipan - slight mentions of Alicia x Rufus and Alicia x Lezard if you squint hard enough.

Crossposted tovalkyrieprofile  !!!!

Yes, I am just about ready to print fan books! Here is a run down on how pre-ordering will work and what the benefits will be.

Pre-ordering will be open for two weeks starting today! It will close on Tuesday the 17th of March!

Why Pre-Order?
Because I can only order a limited supply of copies with the amount of funds I have now, pre-ordering will ensure that you receive a book in the first batch. Otherwise they will be sold on a first-come first-serve basis until I run out. After all the issues are sold I can print more with the return I get from the sales (completely non-profit btw), but this could take a while. Pre-ordering means that I will be buying a copy specifically for you.

Price
The price of the books will be $7.00 USD. This includes shipping and handling.

Payment Method

1) PayPal
You can make your payments via PayPal by using the email address 100series@gmail.com. It is important to note that PayPal charges a transaction fee to pay directly from a bank account. To avoid the fee, transfer funds to your paypal account first, then make the payment. In the "email to recipient" area, please note your name, shipping address, and that this is for the AliciaxRufus fan book.

2) Snail Mail
I will take check, money order, or cash in the mail. If you send cash, be sure to conceal it in a folded piece of paper or something like that. Send it to this address:
Jamie Jennings
111 Brentwood Dr.
Daphne AL 36526
Be sure to include your name and shipping address in the envelope as well as the money.
Note: as long as you mail it by the 17th I will accept it even if the post turns out to be slow.

Also, let me know by commenting here that you've sent payment either electronically or by mail so that I will know to look out for it.

Special Gift
As a special gift for everyone who pre-orders, I will send a requested drawing! So when you send payment, let me know what your request is either by commenting here or including it in the payment notation.

Delivery Time
When the comic will be released and delivered will depend on the printers, but I expect somewhere around the 15th of April at most.

Finally, I apologize for being so late with this project. Thank you in advance!

Hi all! This is probably my first time posting in this section! Don't mind me! Just wanted to share some of my Rufus and Alicia vids with you all! I know I'm not really good, please bear with me! But please enjoy!

I conjured up this baby a month ago for little_rachael's birthday =D!!! Nothing really special though. The sound quality isn't that good though....Sorry about that.....

Regarding the fan book for this community...

Due to the nature of the service I'm using and the err... copyright issue of the book, it will be safest for me to print a number of books ahead of time and then handle the transactions myself. Their direct-to-order service lists the book in their stores indefinitely, and I only want to make this available to fans.

Currently I do have plenty enough cash for the set-up fee, but printing a number of books in advance gets expensive quick. So I need to know a few things. Keep in mind, the cost per book will be about $6 USD.

1) How many copies will you buy? If I have an idea of how many to print in mind that will save me some trouble.

2) Would you pay in advance? I'll throw in a bonus request sketch if you do. The advance may be a month or longer, depending on how long it takes them to print the book.

3) If you submitted to the book and you have no way of paying for a copy, I will gladly send one to you free of charge. Please let me know now.

I WILL FINISH IT.

So after a very long chapter full of convoluted plot twists, Ewald deserved to get his very own Ewald-centric chapter! Sadly, this only means that Ewald is going to start angsting out all orifices like the rest of them. But at least we're closer to the end! Right? ...maybe?

( Chapter 15 )

Alicia takes a moment to ponder about the misfortune on her shoulders. She swore never to be betrayed ever again.

YES, IT IS FINALLY GETTING MADE.
I've gotten all the entries and I am currently putting the Rufus/Alicia fan book together!

I wrote this introduction to the book. If there is any objection to what it says let me know! I hate speaking for other people. XD

( introduction )