We Did It!
almost 3 years ago – Thu, Apr 13, 2023 at 09:57:14 AM

I've got quite a few emotions hitting me right now, but gratitude is definitely at the top of the list.

When I first started planning this project late last year, I had no idea what to expect. It had been 7 years since my last Kickstarter project.  Though my readership has certainly grown a lot over the years, I had no idea how well this project would be received. 

I also knew the cost of the art for project was going to be in the $2,500-$3,000 range by itself, not counting any rewards or backer fulfillment. This meant that the project would need to raise at least 5-6k to break even. But I decided to take a leap of faith, and launch the project anyway.

Then y'all went and crushed the base goal in 7 minutes.  ❤️🔥

And you didn't stop there...

Because of all of you, we were able to unlock 4 additional stretch goals and all the exciting rewards and perks that come with them.

AND...

It appears that we may have actually unlocked the 5th stretch goal, BUT I will have to wait until the funds for the campaign are collected to see what that final funding number actually is. Hopefully 100% of the funds process, and I can award that goal as well!

What's Next?

It will be a couple weeks before I receive any of the funds. During that time I'll be working on setting up and organizing BackerKit. I'm using them to help with all of the backend pledge management & reward fulfillment. As stated in the project, all shipping will also be calculated through BackerKit. There's a ton of work that needs to be done behind the scenes to put all this together. I've already made some good progress, but there's still a lot to configure.

Surveys

Part of that set-up is the backer surveys that I have to send out. Those surveys will be sent out soon(ish) and will be dependent on your pledge level. So keep an eye out for survey emails (and yes, there may be more than one).

Art Updates

While I work on that (and editing The Darklight's War) the crew over at Bad Moon Art Studio is continuing to work on all of this amazing art we've been able to commission through this project. They are currently working on the new cover for Tales from Darkness as well as  all the interior art that we unlocked for the chapter headers. 

I will share the art as it's finished!

Oh, and there's that thing I promised...

You know, the one where I get to embarrass myself? It's coming! I don't have a set date yet, but as promised I will do an undoubtedly awful sing-along to some 80's song. Once I figure out how all the backer survey's work, I will setup a poll where you can vote for the song! Okay, that's all I've got for today.

And once again...

THANK YOU!!!

Stretch Goal #4 UNLOCKED! | Stretch Goal #5 AND #6 Announced!
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Apr 12, 2023 at 05:18:58 AM

Wow! Y'all are amazing!

We crushed goal #4 and have made much faster progress to goal 5 than I expected! 

As of posting this, we are already less than $500 away from the next goal.

What goal, you might ask?

If we unlock the next goal... I will commission Bad Moon Art Studio to do 1 more interior art piece dedicated to the Glossary section AND I will commit to writing a 2nd short story. Like the previous short story we unlocked, this one will also be a Kickstarter Exclusive. It will not be published anywhere else and Backers will be able to vote on which character the story is about. These short stories are typically around 5k words.

Well, with the way that things are going, I figured that I should probably have another reward to unlock for y'all this morning as well. So, here it is!

If we unlock this goal as well... I will work with The Foil Printing Co. to create metallic foil bookmarks! These are NOT cheap, but they are absolutely gorgeous. I'm not entirely sure if I'll use a current bookmark design and upgrade them to foil, or if I'll create an entirely new design. I just want to make sure it looks epic!

If you haven't seen these before, check this out!

What kinds of designs would you like to see made into a foiled bookmark?

Stretch Goal #3 UNLOCKED! | Stretch Goal #4 Announced!
about 3 years ago – Tue, Apr 04, 2023 at 08:50:16 AM

Y'all Did It! Another Goal Unlocked!

When this campaign ends, Backers will get to vote to determine which 80's song I will sing. 

I've been preparing a small list of song choices, and you'll get to vote! I'm not a singer and I don't do karaoke, so be assured this will be bad. LOL

What's Next?

Unlock this goal and... instead of Bad Moon Art Studio creating 1 unique art piece for the chapter headers for the series, we will upgrade the order and commission them to create 6 unique art pieces (one for each book)!  Here's some of the concepts they are already toying around with!

I'm also working with them to see what other art goodies we can squeeze into the project. I'm looking for more interior art, but it get's costly fast, so it all depends on the funding.

What do you think?

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A Flash Sale, New Art, & More!
about 3 years ago – Mon, Apr 03, 2023 at 06:39:31 AM

With less than two weeks left, we've got some fun updates!

First off is a Flash Sale!

All backers who pledge April 3rd through 8th will receive these four (4) books in addition to everything else you're already getting. 

AND...

All prior backers will receive them too! A huge thank you to all these amazing and generous authors for donating these books to all of you. ❤️

Some Fresh New Art

Over the past couple weeks I've had some great discussions with my lead artist over at Bad Moon Art Studio. We've tossed some ideas around for both the new cover for Tales from Darkness and art for the chapter headers. 

Today I got the first early sketches for chapter header art. Check these out! 

What we do for the chapter header art will ultimately depend on the final funding levels of this project. At a minimum, we will have one glorious art piece to adorn the entire series. Will it be one of these? Will it be something entirely different? Time will tell, but I'm so freakin' excited. I absolutely love working with these guys, and I love seeing what they come up with.

If the funding continues to climb over these final two weeks, we could see a stretch goal that would allow us to get custom header art for each different book (6 unique pieces of art). It's not free though, so funding will have to keep climbing in order to be able to afford it.

What do you think of those sketches?

Kit, my lead artist has also teased me with what he's started working on for the cover of Tales from Darkness. He hasn't given me any sketches yet, but based on what he's told me, I'm giddy with excitement. If I wasn't too old, I'd be doing cartwheels.  🤣

Project Update

The project has gone well overall. We've been teetering on the verge of unlocking Stretch Goal #3 for what feels like a very long time. It's funny too, because we've actually gained quite a few new backers over the past two weeks, but there have been a number of folks that have either lowered or cancelled their pledge. It's all good though, that sort of thing happens on Kickstarter all the time. All projects face it, and I'm just so incredibly grateful for the overwhelming support that so many people have shown me and my project. I just couldn't be more thankful! 🤗❤️

With that being said, we are just $41 away from unlocking this next set of features and rewards. So let's go ahead and crush this goal so we can add the glossaries, pronunciation guides, demon hunter bookmarks, and that really, really bad 80's performance I promised all of you. 

And then we can see what's in store for Stretch Goal #4...

We Are +82% of the Way to Unlocking...
about 3 years ago – Thu, Mar 23, 2023 at 04:00:19 PM

As of writing this update, we are over 82% of the way to the $5,000 target for Stretch Goal #3.

I am incredibly excited about the prospect of hitting that goal, because when we do, we will unlock some really fun features and rewards for all of you! It also means we are much closer to covering the full costs of the art for this project—which would be a huge blessing!

One of the those features that we can unlock is having a custom glossary for each book, complete with a pronunciation guide.

Why a Glossary and Pronunciation Guide?

Well, let me ask you.. 

What's a Hrall?

How about a Ni'al?

How about the Qarii?

You get the picture. If you are a long-time fan of high or epic fantasy, you already understand. If you are new to the fantasy genre, we are often talking about books taking place in made-up worlds. Those worlds have their own races, creatures, cultures, laws, history, and well... pretty much anything else you can imagine. 

Having the option to include a glossary right in the back of each book is something that many fans will greatly appreciate! That's one of the big goals that I'd really love to incorporate into this series. This is something readers tend to really like, especially in Epic Fantasy books where the sheer number of characters, places, and creatures can be a lot to take in. The glossary will help alleviate that.

And I don't want to stop there either! One of the other nuances of the fantasy genre are  the abundance of strange names for things, like Ni'al. How the heck do you pronounce Ni'al? The whole thing has kind of become a running joke among fantasy lovers, but many readers ask for these sort of things. If we unlock this Stretch Goal, I'm committed to all the time it's going to take to implement it (and it's a lot)!

In addition to that, I will also be throwing in a signed Demon Hunter bookmark to every backer with a physical reward. Readers have wanted Demon Hunter bookmarks for a while, and this is a really fun way to make that happen!

AND if that wasn't enough...

I'm willing to make a complete fool of myself, by performing Karaoke to the 80's song of your choice. That's right, when we unlock this goal, Backers will be allowed to make suggestions/vote on the song.  I don't do Karaoke, so I promise you this will be terrible...

And that is all just for hitting the $5k mark.  I've got lots of fun stuff planned for stretch goals well beyond that, with the potential to unlock a lot of extra art. 

So, let's keep this thing going, and as always, please share this project!

Oh, and by the way, it's pronounced nee-all.  ;)

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