#kickstarters

[nerdykeppie]

Launching Tuesday - Historically Queer, our next enamel pin collection!

We Have Always Been Here.

Ten pins - two pairs, five single pins, and the La Maupin mega pin (she needed extra room for her headdress) - each with multiple unlockable colorways.

We launch Tuesday, 9/12, at 3PM Eastern, noon Pacific. Follow us on Kickstarter to be notified when we launch -- or just to help out! The visibility to Kickstarter from having followers on our campaign helps a lot. :D

Featured in this campaign:

Enheduanna, oldest named author. Incorporating trans themes into writing thousands of years old.

David & Jonathan, king & prince whose love surpassed the love of women.

Sappho, Lesbian poet. She should need no other introduction.

La Maupin, also known as Julie d'Aubigny. The original disaster bisexual. Opera singer, swordswoman. May have burned down a convent.

Publick Universal Friend, American religious figure. Going by gender-neutral pronouns since the year the Declaration of Independence was written.

Anne Lister & Ann Walker, the Gentleman Jack & her wife. Acknowledged as the first same-gender marriage in modern Britain.

Dr. James Barry, British surgeon. A transgender man, Dr. Barry performed the first C-section done by a European in Africa in which both mother & child survived. He is also credited with vastly improving conditions for wounded soldiers in the British military.

Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American genius. Listing Tesla's inventions would take a series of posts. Liked pigeons better than people.

If you don't see your favorite historical figure, don't fret! We've planned multiple sets of Historically Queer figures. We can't use them all up at once. :) Help ensure we can make future sets by helping us create this one!

Frequently Asked Questions under the cut.

Hey, what flag is that on Sappho?

That's the Sapphic flag, created by @tepkunset. NerdyKeppie's owner, Spider, is a butch lesbian who uses that flag for their art.

Hey - what about [historical figure]? How could you forget [historical figure]? This is erasure!

We didn't forget, we promise - this is the first of several installments of this project. After the absolute stress of the last Kickstarter when we had 300+ different SKUs by the end of the project, we decided to take a more focused approach to Historically Queer. We attempted to provide a good cross-section of identities, and will continue to expand in future projects. Spider has a huge folder on his computer full of planned pins and reference images.  

But historically...

Yes, we know that it isn't totally proper to use today's terms to discuss people who lived a long time ago. But also, how else do we talk about our community history in a way that's understood, and celebrate our shared queerness, other than to use the words and iconography which are understandable to us now? We celebrate our shared history with the words and understandings most accessible to all of us, and we hope that by providing not just the pins but a few elementary facts about these historical figures, we'll encourage people to read more about them in their original context.

[batwynn]

Hey so, here’s something important for fans of artists/creators/crafters who are selling merchandise. If we do an interest check/ask you if you are interested in buying an item, or supporting a project, or anything regarding putting money in and getting something from us, we are counting your positive response as something like an investment. We gauge interest so we know how much to order, how well something is going to do, and/or if this project is even worth doing. We’re not just asking for fun so you can vote on a poll because you like voting on polls. We’re genuinely counting your positive response as a future purchase, because that’s how we know the item will sell.

If you know that you do not actually intend to buy said item, can’t afford it, don’t even have access to money/online payment services, please don’t tell us you’ll buy the item/want the item!

We understand that shit happens, and sometimes you do genuinely intend to order something but can’t when the time comes. That’s more than okay, and this not a post for you. But if you KNOW you can’t get this item, even if you want this item, please learn to just stay out of the comments or explicitly say: I want this item, but I can’t buy this item.

This helps us get actual useable info for planning projects and selling things, and doesn’t mean we end up investing time and money into something that ends up not being bought because we counted your interest as a real future purchase. We also appreciate it when you tell us you like an item, but can’t buy it. That shows us support in other ways, and makes us feel good about the direction the project is going in regardless of if we end up investing in it. 👍 But please try to learn to be honest about actually being able to support a project or not, or just staying out of the conversation all together. Thank you!

[owlhouseismyhome]

My stringbean sample has been made!!!

Measurements in cm

Available here!

Rbs very helpful

[passerkirbius]

What do you think about the timing of the article? It seems very weird to have it come out in the final week of the TMA kickstarter especially considering the followup tweets from the author and the shows they're associated with urging people to pull their pledge from TMA and move it to OTHER shows?

Honestly? I don't think the timing is more than coincidence - having chatted with some of the people behind the article, this is something they've been working on for months, and they've been shopping it around for some time. I think, if they had their way, they would have published this way earlier than they did.

Honestly, releasing it in the last week is probably the point where it was gonna do the least damage - If someone wanted to really hurt Rusty Quill's chances of success, you'd release something like this in the first week, when people are already looking up Rusty Quill, when the buzz about the project is at it's height. By the last week, yeah, if it were struggling, this would probably kill it, but this Kickstarter is over 4,000% over it's goal right now, with over 9,000 backers. Even if 50% of those people unbacked, they're still 2000% over their goal. And looking at the daily figures? Yesterday lost them 47 backers, and today they've increased their backer count. Once you're backed, it actually takes a conscious choice to unback. The key to destroying a Kickstarter is to ensure it never gets momentum in the first place. Add to that the fandom doing an amazing job of muddying the waters here - fans looking to the fandom for guidance aren't getting anything, so you have to make the choice yourself. Without the social push, you're most likely to make the choice that takes the least effort - if you haven't backed, you won't back, if you have backed, you'll keep backing. That's it.

So, no - if you're being conspiratorial about this, they should have published this way earlier, if they really wanted to screw with Rusty Quill.

[sailoreuterpe]

There is less than a week to back this amazing kickstarter! Aren't the pins cute? They're friend-shaped! @nerdykeppie is an amazing company for all of your queer wear needs! Someday I'll actually have somewhere to wear my pins...

[keltaria]

From my first mini, a mouseling, to one of my latest, Celestine of the Adepta Sororitas. I still have SO many minis to paint! Dern #kickstarters . 😆 After I finish my army I think I'll start on the Mouseling Space Marines. 🚀🐀 Can they help the sisters battle chaos?! 😄 🎨⚔️ #projectazurechalice #paintingwarhammer #reaperminiatures #mouseling #past #present #progress #warhammer40k #sistersofbattle #miniaturepainting #art #hobby #minis #diy #wip #adeptasororitas https://www.instagram.com/p/Cnz0RFmuhGu/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mysterious-aud-lou]

Hey howdy hey! I'm a part of this super cool indie horror anthology put together by a group of queer, awesome folks! K1ckstarter launches October 1st, so come and check it out!

Pre-launch link:

[kitsunefyuu]

This series just got me emotionally invested in a clumsy bat taking care of a human girl. And I think you all might enjoy it too!

[prince-atom]

This project went up today and is already funded more than 13 times over.

Dungeon Craft says it is already completed and he got a preview copy.

Estimated delivery is this July.

[abookishweasel]

Highlights from Today's Newsletter!

Sharp Wit &the Company of Women Fully Funded! 🍾🍾

A little late on the celebration train there, I know, but I had to gush a little~ Definitely be sure to follow the project over at http://swatcow.com while we get these stories done~

Being November… It’s time for NaNoWriMo!📖✍️

Bits & pieces of the manuscript will be made available for patrons w/ extras, such as sketches, concepts, & Spotify Playlists & Pinterest boards for the project showing up in Newsletters & Patron posts both…

Issue#01 of SQ. Ep3 launches on Kickstarter NEXT MONDAY!✨

The series is heading in a slightly different direction where print comics are concerned, starting with this first act of Episode Three: "Club Jude"!

Early Bird Deals include discounts on physical catch-up bundles & new exclusive Lore Packages! 🐦The pre-launch page is already up, so save it now to be notified the MINUTE the campaign goes live!

Save the Page Here!

Patron Rewards mailers are hitting the post office TODAY, including two new designs for November!

I’m a little ridiculously proud of these things 😂 Pledge at any time this month to get yourself these toothy little guys OR find them now at my Store or Redbubble!

[amandaishighlypredictable]

Ya'll like horror comics???

Then check out this newest kickstarter one of my authors on The Margins is working on! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chrisandersoncomics/spectral "Back in 2017, we were having some success at conventions with our small press books and Chris' original art commissions. But we needed more content. And we needed it fast. So we decided to strike out on our own and create a small-batch exclusive comic -- in black, white and red -- that we could print and sell ourselves. Thus, DevilSkin was born: a horror comic that allowed Dave to tell an atmospheric short story and Chris to bring it to life with pen and brush, making each page as fine a piece of art as he possibly could."

Chris Anderson has some definite cred in the horror genre with his recent work on the Creep Show reboot, and David Accampo is an amazing author that I got to work with over the 3 years it took me to illustrate our graphic novel The Margins , (WHICH btw is included in TWO of the reward tiers wink wink)

One of tiers also has actual friggin puppets you can get, and while I went with the one with the hand puppets, these are so rad

The campaign goes until July 7th, so please give it a look!

[dawnsplaceyt]

TTRPG Tuesday Week 19 is up! Features two kickstarters The wonderful @gobs-o-dice and their hoardscapes  A special feature to a friend The new form to become part of future blog updates A special surprise dice, and items for both your game and your home. 

[owlhouseismyhome]

One week left to back my Stringbean plush!!

Available here

Pls rb!

[passerkirbius]

You’re wrong about the timing, this is actually the perfect time for maximum destruction. If the article was released during the first week then RQ have more time to release a statement and get people back on side.

Releasing in the last week means that there is far less time for damage to be done. If you remove your pledge and only read RQ’s statement and change your mind 6 days later, it’s too late, you can’t re pledge because the kickstarter is over.

I think they were hoping that a sizeable chunk, (obviously not all, no one is that deluded) of people would pull their backing and make those ‘here’s where you SHOULD be putting your money to support small creators’ posts, and that RQ would not be able to recover in time before the kickstarter was over and that money was permanently gone. It’s actually quite easy to unpledge, especially if you’re money-insecure and dealing with a tough winter as we are in the UK, where that extra 10 quid could make a massive difference. People like to purport themselves as *good* people, and if the ball properly got rolling of people publicly declaring that they had cancelled their pledge and charting how much the KS had lost, then that social pressure and momentum would have been really damaging.

RQ knows this too, and that’s why there statement took us all by surprise by coming out so soon after the release of the article, this had to be nipped in the bud before too much damage could be done.

No, I think I know what I'm talking about. Like, the rules are different if you're a smaller creator that might just barely get funded, because when the pool of backers is smaller something like this really can cause a real hit. But once you're at 9000+ backers with 4000% of your minimum goal, frankly, you've won - there actually isn't any way to stop a crowdfund like that. It's literally not possible for any single action to get even half of 9000 people to do the same thing. And Rusty Quill has a huge audience, anyone in the industry would know that! We know this shit well! Like, I want to be clear here - before RQ put their letter out, maybe 100 backers had removed their pledge (around 40 the first day, maybe 50-60 the next), with a total monetary loss of a little less than £2,000. If that trend continued, RQ would have lost £14,000. Even if you assume some momentum occured, even assuming the worst case that the number of backers leaving doubled each day (which to be clear, simply would not have happened) - 5 days of this happening would result in a little over 3000 people leaving - which is huge, but it's not nearly enough to cause the Kickstarter to fail. Like, yes, they lose money, but they already have so much money to get the production done. that even losing half of it is still not actually that big a deal.

So, when you're dealing with a group with a massive audience like this, if you're planning to ensure failure, the only reasonable goal is to prevent any kind of momentum from happening in the first place, and that pretty much requires getting in on the first few days, sowing enough uncertainty and doubt that no one get on board in the first place. After the first week, it's stupidly difficult to drop that momentum, because a Kickstarter generally provides it's own advertising at that point - you can't stop people talking about it. So, throwing the article out in the last week, true, means there's less time for RQ to fix the damage, and thus more chance of backers removing their pledges, but there's also less time for the information to spread, and thus less time for that damage to actualise. Any mass exodus takes time, and the closer to the end of the project you leave it, the less effect you can generate.

But, to be clear, this is kinda irrelevant, because one of the editors has made it clear that the audience of the article wasn't fans, it was industry - it was a warning for collaborations about what was happening within Rusty Quill, a workplace that hasn't exactly been forthcoming about conditions inside it, as opposed to a direct appeal to fans to stop supporting the company.

[frankjamesbailey]

April Bender has a bit of a wild streak. She's very promiscuous, enters wet t-shirt contests, sometimes answers the door naked and is also known as the 'cut & blow' girl at her hair salon. (Hair cut and a blow dry. lol) Can a wild girl like April find true love? Find out in The Taming Of April.

Follow my Kickstarter HERE: https://tinyurl.com/yzbyc39t

[unsettledink]

Tiny frustrations:

I support a lot of kickstarters - a LOT - and I like to post pictures of those cool things on instagram. And when I do, I always try and tag the creator/link to them in some way, because hey, a little exposure for a independent indie creator! Like, I have ten followers or whatever so it's not much, but if they show up in the main tag maybe someone will be interested.

You would not BELIEVE how hard it is to figure out their instagram handles half the time. It should not take me twenty minutes or more to hunt it down, especially if you actually say 'tag me!' WITHOUT providing your handle!

Is it anywhere in the thousand word project description? No - though they might mention they are on instagram! But not what it IS.

Is it in their profile, where you can link other sites? No.

Is it buried on one of the fifteen updates? No.

Is it on a note I got in the package? No.

Do they have a website that lists it? No.

Do they even have a name that is not super common, or have used their name for their instagram handle instead of something very random? No.

Like, okay, fine, I guess if you make it that hard to find, I should get the hint and forget it, but... you don't want to try and generate that possible extra income? That extra interest? The things I tend to get are pretty niche and small, and I can't tell you how many times I've hunted down an artist to follow/buy from because of a post in a main tag.

Obviously I'll still credit it however I can, but god it's so much easier for someone to just click a link then go hunt down your product. Ask me how I know lol.