For some time now, we’ve been warning you that a dragon is coming. His name is Bill. He’s friendly and strives to be useful. He’s just your average neighborhood dragon…with one small exception. He’s completely imaginary. Or might be. He’s just not sure. And it worries him quite a bit.
We’ve been looking very much forward to sending him to your mailbox. But before we could, he had to land in ours. Which he did, late last week.
We like how he looks in a stack with all of his friends.
Once Bill (and all of his friends) made a safe arrival, we did what we do in times like these.
We wrote you a letter.
And folded them in half.
And put them in Bobbledy envelopes.
And put an address label on each.
And printed out a bunch of stamps.
In case you didn’t know, it’s actually possible to MAKE your own stamps. You still have to pay for them, though.
And not long later, we had a bunch of stuffed envelopes ready to go to the post office.
But Bill’s arrival was not yet complete. The most important step remained: market research.
One might suppose that the research phase of the product development process should proceed final delivery from the factory. But that’s not how it works in these parts.
Once a new book arrives, our very favorite thing is sitting down with our in-house focus group and seeing the audience reaction. Only we don’t sit behind mirrored glass. We face our public head-on, enduring their feedback with as much bravery as we can muster.
The first reading was a success! Even August agreed to sit there for a page or two before wandering off to browbeat some unsuspecting plastic object into submission. But Alden and Kato listened attentively. And upon completion of the first reading, promptly requested another.
We’ll take that as a compliment. Here’s hoping Bill finds as much love in your home as he has in ours.
NOTE: If your Bobbledy Club membership began with The Girl With Frogs in Her Ears and you haven’t resubscribed, you have already expired and Bill will NOT be coming to your home. Rather than fall into despair, do the only sensible thing and correct this situation immediately! We still have a few copies of The Imaginary Dragon left for the lapsed subscribers in our midst.