I tried to delay it, but I have to do this. I gotta raise the prices on my books. Not by much – only an extra $1 for most books.
But here’s why – the cost of printing has gone up. Part of it is the paper shortage. The other part is that ink prices have gone up, too.
In my original pricing, I ate up the difference. Even though books are my biggest selling item, they did not make a profit. But with printing costs going up, something had to give.
So…yeah. My books are going to cost a little extra per copy.
The prices are already adjusted on my Ko-Fi shop. Not all of my books are listed, though. I’ll add more books as soon as I can.
PDFs will stay free (though tips are optional if you have the means).
I got inspired by this decision after seeing Faith Schaffer on Instagram. This badass artist takes time off at the end of the year to plan projects for the next year. That, in turn, is inspiring me to do the same.
So, for December, I’m taking a break from Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Tumblr, and Twitter. I won’t be posting anything new on those platforms during the last month of the year. (Yes, that means no live streams, too). I’m also taking a break from posting new blog posts here on this site. Then, I’ll be back in January 2022.
I have SO many ideas for next year! And I want to plan out how to make them happen.
I need to be away from the keyboard for a few days, but I’ll be back soon.
Why? First, I seem to have come down with a cold a few days ago. And it won’t leave. So I’m resting as much as I can.
Second, I’m out of town this weekend to check on my family. The catch is, my family lives in an area with no cell signal or internet. So I won’t be able to answer emails or direct messages, much less post content.
Thank you to the fans on the latest livestream for helping to come up with this idea. Coming soon, (like, if all goes well, this should launch on July 2), the Sticker of the Month Club!
See, after that livestream, I had the thought, “Stickers were super popular at the Mini Pop-Up Event. Why not a Sticker of the Month Club?”
I did the math, and once I did, I thought, “HOLY BANANA PANTS, WHY DIDN’T THIS HAPPEN SOONER?”
Here’s what I want to do:
Each month, subscribers get a sticker in their mailboxes, along with a personalized thank-you note.
The cost? $10 a month for subscribers. That $10 will cover the sticker AND shipping/handling. (This price point is for USA patrons. There will be a separate tier for internationals). Subscribers also get access to my Tiny Dinos Discord server and shout-outs in the credits for KickStarter projects.
For fans who already give $10+ per month through Ko-Fi... Well good news! I can add you automatically to the Sticker of the Month Club if you’re interested! No need to go to a separate site to pledge.
My goals with the Sticker of the Month Club are:
to offer something cool and different to subscribers,
to engage with folks in a unique way,
to have new offerings at convention and author appearances,
to have another source of income so I don’t have to do (so many?) DoorDash shifts.
Now, let me answer some other questions:
Some folks had originally pitched a “T-shirt of the month club,” because another artist had some success with it. I want to address that real quick by saying: First, everyone and their brother does a T-shirt business. They’re oversaturated. To the point that a business educator told me once, “Don’t go into T-shirts.” I’d like to do something that stands out instead.
Also, T-shirts are not as environmentally sound as folks think they are. It takes a LOT of resources to make T-shirts, and despite the best efforts of lots of folks, most of them end up in landfills.
Not to mention, I live in a small apartment. I don’t have room to store extra shirts. And to folks who say, “Well, you could get a print-on-demand service to do it,” I’d rather not this time, for reasons I’ll get into in a second.
If you’re wondering, “Are you going to do the art AND the logistics?” Yes. I’ll make the art and mail these out to subscribers. I already have a printer for these stickers, because I’ve printed with them before and REALLY liked their quality and pricing. I also already track inventory for my convention appearances, so I’m comfortable with that step already. (Not to mention that I’m used to tracking customers – things that sound creepy, but aren’t – because of KickStarter reward fulfillment).
Plus, if I print extra stickers each month, I can post the remainder for sale on Ko-Fi and take them with me to conventions.
Should this idea EXPLODE, I’ll revisit this arrangement. But I’m comfortable with this idea. Right now, I don’t expect this Sticker of the Month Club to overtake The Legend of Jamie Roberts in popularity. I have the bandwidth to do both (especially since I don’t work at NeverEnding).
Excited? I hope so!
I’m announcing the official launch of the Sticker of the Month Club on my email newsletter when it’s ready, so if you want on board, go sign up to get the news first.
Like I said before, if you already give $10+ per month through Ko-Fi, I can add you to the Sticker of the Month Club automatically. Hit me up at kelcidcrawford@gmail.com if you want to sign up.
Broke? Share this news with your sticker-loving friends!
