By Kevin Siembieda

Merry Christmas!

Happy holidays to all of you. It is Christmas Eve and all that is stirring are a bunch of wacky artists, writers and game designers here at Palladium Books.

We held the Palladium office party last Friday. It was an intimate gathering of the Palladium crew held at Kathy’s house. There was plenty of scrumptious food and drinks, gift-giving, and lots and lots of laughter. It was a nice break from the daily grind. I work with a great bunch of people, but you know that already.

On Sunday, everyone came in to do some work so that we can take another long weekend for Christmas. Wayne was in to work on The Rifter and some business matters, Jeff went through his endless sea of email and rearranged part of the warehouse, Matt worked on writing and editing, and Alex and Julius on prepping and packing Christmas Surprise Packages. I came in to wrap more gifts, work on Surprise Packages and take care of some business before heading out to a neighbor’s Christmas party later that evening. That was a nice affair too. I think everyone is feeling the warmth and camaraderie of the holidays.

Yesterday, I selected more goodies and signed more books for Christmas Surprise packages, paid some bills, and had a meeting with our printing rep. Wayne has been working on Rifter® #69 and the rest of the crew have been busy little elves signing books and working on various projects.

Read more: Palladium Books® Weekly Update – Dec. 24, 2014

 

By Kevin Siembieda

Every day has been a whirlwind of activity. With Christmas just next week, the Palladium Grab Bags/Surprise Packages have been pouring in and stealing away much of our time. Making sure the Christmas Surprise Packages ship in time for Christmas has been our top priority for the week. We love offering the Christmas Surprise Packages, but they are very time consuming. Lots of orders and comments to read, books to select, sign, pack and ship. And since I try to make each Surprise Package special, there is a fair amount of time spent reading comments, writing notes, selecting the right items. It’s awesome to know we make so many people happy with this seasonal item, but it takes time. I don’t know how Santa Claus does it.

When I wasn’t working on Christmas Surprise Packages and immediate business matters, I’ve been wrapping and packing the gifts I send to our many freelancers as a thank you for their efforts in writing, illustration and other work. As I often say, Palladium is one big family. The photos below show me with an Imperial helper standing guard over some of the presents being shipped out to freelancers and their families. So pretty much this entire week has been spent on shipping, prepping for shipping, building and sending out Surprise Packages and holiday related work. And that spells looong days. I’m writing this Update at 8:30 PM Thursday night for posting on Friday afternoon. I figure I should get home about 10:00 PM. Alex and Wayne are here too.

This week there were meetings with two printers, a meeting with our UPS representative, a visit from a fan, art dropped off by Chuck Walton, planning for advertising, some discussion about book releases, reserving advertising space and other stuff. Like I said, a whirlwind of a week.

Read more: Palladium Books® Weekly Update – Dec. 19, 2014