I’m just getting home from the book party , and I couldn’t be happier with how the night came off. Friends, family, fellow cartoonists, hordes of Sheldonistas, and even a splash of Hollywood celebrity turned out to celebrate the new book! Not too shabby a night, by any measure.

Tomorrow, after I’ve had the chance to sleep a little bit, I’ll post pics from the big night. But in the meantime…thank you to everyone who came out!

-Dave

P.S. Sheldonistas? Sheldonites? Sheldonians? We need to make a decision on this…’cause Lord knows I can’t decide.

The good folks at Fleen invited me for an interview over the weekend. My resulting ramblings can be read here.

Journalist Jeff Kapalka sent me a great surprise in my inbox tonight. It was his article, from New York’s Syracuse Post-Standard newspaper, recommending the Sheldon books as great holiday gifts. Thanks, Jeff!

In other quick news: don’t forget about the Sheldon book party Monday night in LA. (…times, info, and maps in previous posts, below.)

Also, my wife’s play for the Aspen Comedy Fest judges was wonderful tonight…thanks in huge part to the (unexpectedly) large crowd that came out.

She’s pretty darn cool, that wife o’ mine. 😉

Just a reminder: if you live outside of the US, get your orders in today for guaranteed Christmas delivery.

…the Sheldon store will still be taking orders, of course, but I want to make sure your gifts arrive on time via international shipping.

Lots to report today, so let’s get to it:

1.) THE BOOKS ARE HERE! And good Lord ‘n Butter, they look fantastic. I’ve always made it a priority that the Sheldon books look and feel awesome, and I was really happy with how Pure Ducky Goodness turned out. But I’ve gotta be honest: The Good, The Bad & The Pugly blows it out of the water. The cover stock is nicer, the inside pages are nicer, and the strips themselves reprint with such clarity that, as an artist, I couldn’t be happier. You’ll be very impressed when your copy arrives.

Haven’t ordered your copy yet? Then head over to the Sheldon store now for Christmas shipping. You’re gonna love this book.

2.) SHELDON BOOK PARTY! If you live anywhere near Los Angeles, don’t forget to join us on Monday night at the Pugly book launch par-tay. From 7-11 PM, sponsors Hpnotiq and Vitamin Water will be serving up free refreshments in the very, very cool lounge of Beverly Hills’ own Crescent Hotel. The drinks are free, book sketches are free, and the indoor/outdoor setting is awesome, so please join us! (Check this place out, it’s pretty dang cool.)

Here’s your map. There’s free street parking on the surrounding streets, or a valet out front, if you’re Bill Gates.

3.) CHARLES SCHULZ MUSEUM / CARTOON ART MUSEUM! If you live in Oakland, San Fran, or surrounding burbs, please drop by the Charles Schulz Museum next Saturday, or the S.F. Cartoon Art Museum on Sunday. I’ll be demonstrating how a strip is created, answering folks’ questions, and signing books. I’ve been to both museums before, and I can tell you they’re a fun afternoon out. Swing by! Bring the kids! Bring the cat!

4.) INTERVIEW! The Gigcast has an interview with me, for those of you who have wondered what my lilting voice sounds like. If you’re pressed for time, my section starts at 19min, 59 sec…
http://gigcast.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=156247

5.) HBO’s ASPEN COMEDY FESTIVAL! You may remember me mentioning my wife’s recent play, Skirts & Flirts, which had two sold-out runs and which raised $4500 for a local homeless charity. Well, HBO has called, and wants to see the show once more, for consideration in the Aspen Comedy Festival. So in true ninja-theater fashion, a one-time performance is suddenly going up this Sunday night in Santa Monica. Keep your fingers crossed for her — as this could result in a fun week of laughter in Aspen on HBO’s tab. 🙂

SKIRTS & FLIRTS
Westside Eclectic Theater
1323-A 3rd. St. Promenade
Santa Monica, CA 90401
7pm
No reservations necessary.

6.) CHRISTMAS ORDERS! If you live outside of the US, I’d ask that you get your Sheldon orders in by Dec. 1st or 2nd if you want guaranteed Christmas delivery. And if you live in the US, try to have your orders in by Dec. 9th for Media Mail orders, and Dec. 17th for Priority Mail orders. But help out the Sheldon elves and order now, if you can.

Man, how was THAT for a blog post? Hot diggety….lot going on….

I’m happy to report that Sheldon-By-Email deliveries have started. Now you can enjoy the daily strip, the daily blog, and all your favorite site links… delivered right to your inbox.

Folks have been e-mailing me all day letting me know how happy they were when they got their first strip this morning. Thanks for that. And if, by chance, you didn’t receive your Sheldon e-mail this morning, check out these helpful tidbits…

Q: I don’t seem to be getting my Sheldon e-mail. What up with that?

A: It’s most likely being flagged as spam by your mail filters. Take a minute to go through your filters and take Sheldon out of the “baddies” list…it shouldn’t be in there!

Q: I signed up, but have never received the daily delivery. What gives?

A: Did you click on the link in the confirmation e-mail? If not, that’s probably what’s holding up the works. Or, if you did confirm your signup already, and you’re still not getting it…? It may be that your mail filter thinks it’s spam. See the question above.

Q: My e-mail address changed when I moved/graduated/changed jobs. What do I do now?

A: First, sign up for Sheldon By E-mail under your new address. Then, please unsubscribe at your old e-mail address, as that will help us out tremendously. If for some reason you can’t access your old account, just pop us an e-mail so we can take your old address off the list.

Q: I get the e-mail, but the strip isn’t there! It’s blank! Why-oh-why must these technological woes afflict me so?

A: Some email programs (notably AOL and Hotmail) allow you to disable images. You’ll need to enable them in order to see the daily strip.

Still have questions/problems? Head to the Sheldon forums, and we’ll see if we can’t solve it together.

Since the launch of the new site, I’ve been happy to tout all the free stuff that the site gives you: free archives, free e-mail delivery, free RSS feeds, and lots of free, little extras. But since something has to pay to keep the lights on at “Sheldon”, I do rely on a few revenue streams. Among these streams is Google Adsense text ads.

For those that don’t know, Adsense ads are the text-based ads that match the content of the site itself, potentially offering you ads you’d actually be interested in. And up until this evening, they were working exceptionally well on the site.

In large part, that was due to the fact that Sheldon readers have ploughed through 6 million pageviews since the new site’s launch on Nov. 6th. This voluminous traffic, when coupled with Google site-matched ads (thanks to transcribed comic strips), was going well, and I was very thankful for the extra income that Google Adsense would provide.

But alas, tonight Google informs me that my account has been completely disabled, and all monies returned, due to “invalid clicks”. What caused that to happen, I’m not sure. (I have a cartoonist’s insight, after all, not a programmer’s).

I have asked them to take another review of the account, and my fingers are crossed that it was just a huge jump in traffic that triggered their fraud algorithms. But in the meantime, all I can do is wait to hear back from them.

-Dave

PS: I will ask this, though: if you’re a Sheldon reader, and you work for Google, please drop me a line. I’d appreciate any help I can get in clearing this up.

PPS: Don’t think the irony is lost on me that Google has a Sheldon original hanging in their lobby. *Sigh*

My chum-a-roos Kris Straub and Scott Kurtz are branching out into new and exciting territory. Today, they announced PvP: The Series. Based on the talent between these two, I’m excited to see the final product. Check it out!

‘Twas a good Thanksgiving at the Kellett house this year. We had our first Thanksgiving dinner in this house, and pulled it off rather nicely. Family, friends, and even a wayward Brit who had never been to an American Thanksgiving before.

Her best line of the night? “Well this is just like an English Sunday roast. Only with 85% more gluttony.”

(Speaking of England: I’m noticing, based on orders coming in for “The Good, The Bad & The Pugly”, that there are a ton (tonne) of English readers. Specifically, there are a ton (tonne) in Sussex. What’s going on in Sussex that Sheldon’s such a huge success there? And how do we get Essex in on the fun?)

Anyway, Thanksgiving was a wonderful extended weekend, and I am thoroughly stuffed with all the usuals, including jellied cranberry sauce. It’s an odd food, isn’t it? Never, ever in my life do I find myself going “MAN, I am ready to eat me some cranberry sauce.” Just never pops into my head. Never. But if I don’t have jellied cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving…Lord, there’s gonna be trouble.

…I wonder if the cranberry industry makes the majority of their sales this week?

– Dave

PS: One quick note: after one more test, Sheldon daily e-mail deliveries should be starting by Tuesday. I’ll keep you posted.

A lot of folks have e-mailed me in the last few days, asking why they can’t get an Artist’s Edition for “Pure Ducky Goodness”. I hadn’t planned on adding it to the Sheldon store until January, but they seem to really want one in time for Christmas…so I added it to the store.

And for the folks who asked about an Artist’s Edition for “A Well Balanced Meal”…I’m sorry to say there won’t be one. After three printings of the book, there are only about 80 copies left…so there’s rarity enough there, already.