Latest from the Creator
Publishing Goblin
4 days ago
Going Live on the Campaign Page at the top of the Hour! | Final Hour of the Misery Tarot!
Hello my dear friends,
In this New Year, the best thing we can do is acknowledge our healing journey and work toward understanding where it started, how it's going, and what...
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PROJECT UPDATE
Publishing Goblin
CREATOR
3 days ago
Project Update: The Campaign Ends | Finances and What's Next!
Hello my friends in Misery!
The Final Hours!
Happy New Year, and thank you to everyone who joined the livestream last night! It started at 5pm MST, and it lasted until 9.45pm MST! I was live for nearly 5 hours, as you guys kept the campaign alive by finding new backers, adding items to your pledges, and more, having us in overtime for almost 4 solid hours after the campaign was supposed to end! It's always a delight. You can watch it here if you want, and see the chaos in that chatroom!
For those of you who missed it, be sure to check the final hour stream out on the next project you back from me! It's become a tradition. (Your earliest chance will be on the Goblin's Journey enamel pin, plushie, and ita bag project launching in 20 days!) In those final hours, we saw cheaper discount pledge tiers and add-ons appear, and we saw new items get added to the project in the form of The Twisted Idol, a hand-made idol in the theme of the project that I will be making for 3 people, as well as a Commemorative Mug for Enoch, our artist, who we found out during the live stream I am keeping in a basement with a creature that I threaten to release any time we didn't have enough backers.
The Twisted Idol is a weird item I won't put available on the survey, but the mug will be available for anyone to add to their orders in the pledge manager. Likewise, the last minute cheap tiers and add-ons were only available in those final hours, and will not be made available in the pledge manager.
The Finances
If you've backed a previous project from me, you'll know I like to share the numbers whenever possible. I like to be transparent for a lot of reasons, but more than anything so people can see where their money goes! That always feels nice to me, at least!
We raised $77,800 on the dot with 812 backers.
In context, this is $22k more than the Hot Housewives raised, but $80k less than the Normal Tarot made, and $570k less than the Alleyway Oracles. I had no idea what to expect here, because I don't run projects in December if I can help it. I've been told it's not a good time to do so. But it did pretty decently I think, considering that I have so many projects going on at the moment. Overall, I'm happy with it.
As the 43rd project/product from me over the years, I'm feeling good. This is one that I intend to make a staple in my business for years to come, so this startup helped me found it and pay the artist what he deserved.
Now, let's chat about where the money goes:
First, it must be made clear that I won't receive all the money. People's pledges will fail, some people won't fix their payment methods, some people are paying over time and I won't get all their funds until 4 months pass.
We raised $77,800 on the dot with 812 backers.
In context, this is $22k more than the Hot Housewives raised, but $80k less than the Normal Tarot made, and $570k less than the Alleyway Oracles. I had no idea what to expect here, because I don't run projects in December if I can help it. I've been told it's not a good time to do so. But it did pretty decently I think, considering that I have so many projects going on at the moment. Overall, I'm happy with it.
As the 43rd project/product from me over the years, I'm feeling good. This is one that I intend to make a staple in my business for years to come, so this startup helped me found it and pay the artist what he deserved.
Now, let's chat about where the money goes:
First, it must be made clear that I won't receive all the money. People's pledges will fail, some people won't fix their payment methods, some people are paying over time and I won't get all their funds until 4 months pass.
- First, we lose $243.60 for having 812 backers. It's a small fee for the platform.
- Then, we lose $6,143.83 for platform and card charging fees.
- We paid $12,423.98 for ads, which brought in $32,962 of our pledges, of which we pay Backerkit $1910.30. We also made $22,636 from our Launch emails sent through the platform, which means we owe Backerkit $2263.60 of that.
- This is a Marketing total cost of: $16,697.88.
- Enoch is being paid monthly until the deck is done for $30,000 total. This increased by $2000 through stretch goals, for $32,000.
- Now, Manufacturing! These numbers are busier by a lot, so I'll try to simplify.
- Standard sets cost me about $8.20 to produce. Deluxe sets cost me about $32.95 to produce. Current plans are to make 750 of the Standard sets and 500 of the Deluxe sets. With the extra sets of dice, reading cloths, etc we are looking at $21,192 in manufacturing.
Based on these numbers here, if everything comes through exactly as imagined price wise and money in wise, we have just $1492.69 leftover. I could, if I want, pay myself $1500 and call it about even for earnings.
But from experience, these numbers won't be right. Maybe it turns out the Disk in the deluxe edition will end up being made differently, costing more or less than expected. Maybe tariffs on China will inflate these hugely and I'll have to go somewhere else to get it all made, throwing the entire project into disarray and changing every single number on manufacturing. Maybe people overcommit and I lost 2k-5k as people's cards fail to charge and they don't fix it.
You never know!
What I do know, is that right now I plan to have about 110 standard copies in hand to sell after the project is over, and 250 deluxe copies to do the same with. I needed to make at least 500 deluxe sets to make some of the components reasonable to manufacture, so it seems at the moment I'll be hanging out with more of those than standards, which seems quite backwards.
If they sell, we'll be looking at something like $36,000 in earnings. Now, if I sell through New Titan (the manufacturer who takes care of www.alleymantarot.com to sell my items for me) they take a cut that I agree on for their work handling the items, so the business would bring in something like $25,000. But that's all potential earnings in the future, nothing right now.
And that's the wild part of things with indie creation, it takes a lot of work and sometimes no money comes in when it's done until it gets setup to become more passive income in the future. So I march on to the next project to set up another stream of passive income, and the next, and the next. But the most exciting thing to me is that now the Misery Tarot is covered and I'll never have that big $30k lump sum to pay up front again if I want to make more, so on a reprint I can just focus on manufacturing costs!
So now what?
What's Next
I'm going to get the pledge manager set up in the next week or so, open the pre-order store, and get you surveys so you can add commemorative mugs that I know you deeply desire. (You do, don't deny it. No, I have no idea what it will look like yet.) Otherwise Enoch will continue to turn in cards, which I'll be revealing Mondays, I will get the guidebook together, the disk, the cloth, the mug, the dice, and we will watch the final pieces slot into place over the next few months!
On the way, I'll mention things that are happening elsewhere-- the enamel pin project later this month, the game in March, the Oracle Dice's final edition in May, and a new, actually regular normal tarot in July. A comic in September, mayhaps? Probably something in October, maybe over on Kickstarter to mix things up.
So stay tuned for Misery Monday updates, and for me to let you all know we're sending surveys out for you to update your pledges, give us addresses, and get more fun items! : )
Thanks for the fantastic start to the new year my friends, I'll see you all Monday. Have a good weekend.
7DA
your pub gob
On the way, I'll mention things that are happening elsewhere-- the enamel pin project later this month, the game in March, the Oracle Dice's final edition in May, and a new, actually regular normal tarot in July. A comic in September, mayhaps? Probably something in October, maybe over on Kickstarter to mix things up.
So stay tuned for Misery Monday updates, and for me to let you all know we're sending surveys out for you to update your pledges, give us addresses, and get more fun items! : )
Thanks for the fantastic start to the new year my friends, I'll see you all Monday. Have a good weekend.
7DA
your pub gob
PROJECT UPDATE
Publishing Goblin
CREATOR
4 days ago
Project Update: Going Live on the Campaign Page at the top of the Hour! | Final Hour of the Misery Tarot!
Hello my dear friends,
In this New Year, the best thing we can do is acknowledge our healing journey and work toward understanding where it started, how it's going, and what echoes of that pain and hardship have stayed with us. Join me in the final hour of the Misery Tarot campaign as we talk divination, the Misery Tarot, and more, live on the campaign page itself (and youtube!)
Also, there may be some fun secret tiers and add-ons slipping into the scene that are nice and cheap! See you here in mere moments!
Join us on the page now!
Regards my friends,
7DA
your pub gob
In this New Year, the best thing we can do is acknowledge our healing journey and work toward understanding where it started, how it's going, and what echoes of that pain and hardship have stayed with us. Join me in the final hour of the Misery Tarot campaign as we talk divination, the Misery Tarot, and more, live on the campaign page itself (and youtube!)
Also, there may be some fun secret tiers and add-ons slipping into the scene that are nice and cheap! See you here in mere moments!
Join us on the page now!
Regards my friends,
7DA
your pub gob
PROJECT UPDATE
Publishing Goblin
CREATOR
6 days ago
Project Update: Misery ...Muesday? III | The House of Wire Complete - Final 48 hours
Hello my denizens of the dark,
Our House of Wire is now alive in its entirety! You can see it on the main campaign page as the full house, but here are the five new cards! The 5, 6, 7, and the Denizen and Ruler.
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5 The Excess
In our suit of wire, we have The Sewn. This is codependency at its worst, when pain and guilt push us into a tight knit space with others. We become dependent on them to feel things, to weather the storms, and to survive. Love is good, but need is another thing entirely. -
6 The Ecstasy
In our suit of wire, we have The Bundled One. This is being bound away from what we need, the apple of our eye just out of reach. This is the most exquisite pain and suffering one can manage, to keep themselves from the things they want. The cage we've made stops us, but it is of our own making. We must learn to unwind ourselves from its grasp. -
7 The Finale
In our suit of wire, we have The Crowned. To complete this house and exit is to wear a crown of our pain and suffering as a badge of honor. We no longer hurt at all, either successful at enduring enough pain we feel we have earned release, or believing our suffering is something to bear for the rest of our lives. We make a martyr of ourselves, blasphemous to our healing journey. -
Denizen
In our suit of wire, we have The Wound Stitcher. This is the kindest stranger we may meet. Wire, suffering, pain, can be a healing tool. An even hand will turn excessive actions into coping mechanisms. The wire as thread will shift our suffering into survival. She is here to heal us, if we let her. -
Ruler
In our suit of wire, we have The Guilt King. The lowest of the Rulers, the Guilt King spends all his time making more suffering from his mind, pulling it through his eyes, and consuming it. All his hands waste their time grasping at the wire, drawing it closer into his web. He is his own trap, and he pays you no heed. You do not need to defeat him, you merely need to not become him.
The Final 48 hours are upon us, so now is a great time for you to hop on our offerings, upgrade your pledge if you've been debating it, and grab that tarot cloth (which is now its own add-on!).
Up next, Enoch is heading to another House of Misery.
Gee, I wonder what House is next?
See you later this week! Also be ready to join me for the final hour of the project (and up to 30 minutes after) as I go live on stream here on the campaign page (and youtube!)
7DA
your pub gob
CREATOR
PROJECT UPDATE
Publishing Goblin
CREATOR
13 days ago
Project Update: Misery Monday II | Enter the House of Wire
Hello my friends in Misery,
I actually put this together yesterday, then forgot about it while the video was uploading to youtube. So whoops, Misery Tuesday I guess!
Enoch got these six cards finished last week for us, so we are entering the House of Wire proper now. This is the suit of Pain and Guilt, but also Avoidance. It is the second step of our grief, the feeling that we are terrible, or that we deserve this. We hurt ourselves to drive in our wound deeper, making it all the worse.
A reminder of our numbering here, and a bit about these six cards so far!
- ⬛ The House
- The House of Wire is The Wired Woods, where we fall into suffering. We welcome the wire into our bodies, because we feel we deserve to feel this horrible. We may even feel we must hurt to feel anything at all.
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0 The Folly
- In the House of Wire, our 0 is The Stitched Mouth. We should suffer in silence, it tells us. We should use our pain to sequester ourselves off so no one can know what we think we deserve. This avoidance is our downfall.
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1 The Portal
- In the House of Wire, our 1 is The Winding Tunnel. To enter here is to accept the nest of wire. Even as we see the bodies caught in its web, we enter it thinking it is our new home. This is the suit of Avoidance as much as it is the suit of Guilt and Pain. It takes us away from people who could help us.
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2 The Nemesis
- In the House of Wire, our 2 is The Stitcher. This is a welcome friend who will weave us into the space. This can be substances, people, situations that we feel welcome us into a calm serenity in the pain. But do not fall for this, you deserve better. Do not let others make your bed and lock you in for good.
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3 The Wound
- In the House of Wire, our 3 is The Guiltthread. Anger can look explosive, but it can also look quiet. Drawing us thin. We pull our lives into threads of wire, making our own methods of pain and self-destructing by turning everything we are into more reasons to feel bad.
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4 The Harmonic
- In the House of Wire, our 4 is The Weaving. When we put our pain, guilt, and suffering together into a design, to put it all before us, we will see the pattern in the organization. The more you work through this suffering, the more you will understand how and why it's happening, and what to do. But you must put in the work to weave this tapestry first to see it for what it is. How did you decide you had to hurt, and what does it make up for? Have you not suffered enough for this cruel math?
Already 6 cards in, we have just 5 cards left in the suit. 5-7, Denizen, Ruler. I'm excited to meet one of our kinder strangers in The Wound Stitcher. So we will see who comes to join us next week!
Happy Holidays, my friends,
7DA
your pub gob
