This project crowdfunded from June 15th, 2022 through July 15th, 2022. We will update this budget to reflect our final expenses once we’ve placed all orders.
Book Printing Budget
| Item | Number Needed | Total Price | Source/Notes |
| Front Cover Art | 2 | $460 | Friendly Pigeon |
| Manuscript Formatting | 2 | $400 | Hermit9 |
| Fonts, Graphics, and other Manuscript-related Expenses | n/a | $100 | Funds set aside for buying specialty fonts or other elements we may need to produce a polished finished product. |
| Payments to Authors | 36 | $2,160 | 1 cent per word US, for 36 authors (18 per anthology), writing stories up to 6,000 words. |
| Editing by Duck Prints Press staff | $1,500 | ||
| “She Wears the Midnight Crown” Book (Digest Size, 5.5″ x 8.5″) | 100 | $758 | Mixam |
| “He Bears the Cape of Stars” Books (Digest Size, 5.5″ x 8.5″) | 100 | $758 | Mixam |
| Book shipping from Mixam to Us | $167 | ||
| ISBNs | 4 | n/a | These were paid for as part of a prior project |
| Protective Packaging for Mailing to Backers | 300 | $48 | Papermart |
| Total to Produce 200 Books | $6,351 | ||
| Price per Book (all) | $15.88 | For estimated sales of 200 Print Books + and 200 E-Books |
Merchandise
We’ve only just begin to consider what extras and merchandise we might like to offer to our backers on Seed & Spark and what purchasing options we’ll give. Tentatively, we’re expecting to offer the following levels:
- Level 1: She Wears the Midnight Crown e-book OR He Bears the Cape of Stars e-book
- Level 2: She Wears the Midnight Crown e-book AND He Bears the Cape of Stars e-book
- Level 3: She Wears the Midnight Crown trade paperback book OR He Bears the Cape of Stars trade paperback book
- Level 4: She Wears the Midnight Crown trade paperback book AND He Bears the Cape of Stars trade paperback book
- Level 5: She Wears the Midnight Crown trade paperback book plus associated flat merchandise (bookmark, art print, sticker, pin) OR He Bears the Cape of Stars trade paperback book plus associated flat merchandise (bookmark, art print, sticker, pin)
- Level 6: She Wears the Midnight Crown trade paperback book AND He Bears the Cape of Stars trade paperback book plus ALL flat merchandise (2 bookmarks, 2 art prints, 2 stickers, 2 pins)
- Level 7: She Wears the Midnight Crown trade paperback book, He Bears the Cape of Stars trade paperback book, ALL flat merchandise (2 bookmarks, 2 art prints, 2 stickers, 2 pins), AND special merchandise (rainbow-strap tote bag, patch, candle)
- Level 8: the Treat Yo’self Package: everything in Level 7, plus a hand-made charm bracelet, chocolate from Uncle Sam’s Chocolates, deluxe rubber ducky, bath bomb, and a lace rainbow mask.
| Type of Merchandise | Number Made | Total Price | Source |
| Prints of the Cover Art (8″ x 10″) | 100 | $94 | PrintKeg; we’ll make separate prints of each cover. |
| Die Cut Stickers (3″ x 3″) | 100 | $221 | Sticker Ninja; we’ll produce two different campaign dux stickers |
| Bookmarks (2″ by 7.25″) with Tassels | 100 | $197 | UPrinting (tassel from Etsy); we’ll produce two different bookmarks. This price includes paying for two art commisions. |
| Enamel Pins (1.5″ circle, approximately) | 100 | $650 | Alchemy; we’ll produce two different enamel pins. This price includes paying for two art commissions. |
| Embroidered Patches (approximately 3″ x 3″) | 100 | $330 | Alchemy; we’ll produce two different embroidered patches. This price includes paying for two art commissions. |
| Logo-Stamped Tote Bag | 48 | $730 | Anypromo; this price includes shipping to us |
| Custom-Made Campaign Candle | 50 | $200 | Speculative Wicktion |
| Charm Bracelet | 20 | $224 | Sourced from various Etsy providers. |
| Chocolate | 20 | $200 | Uncle Sam’s Chocolates and Candy |
| Rubber Ducky | 20 | $100 | (to be determined) |
| Bath Bombs | 24 | $39 | We’re considering something like this. |
| Rainbow Mask | 20 | $33 | We’re considering this one. |
| Estimated Shipping to Us | $125 | Some of the above prices include shipping, some don’t. | |
| Estimated Sales Tax | $25 | Some of the above prices include sales tax; some vendors, we already have sales tax exemptions. We’ll apply for other exemptions as we’re able. | |
| Total Cost to Produce Merchandise | $3,168 |
Packaging for Mailing Items to Campaign Backers
As this is our third project, we’ve managed to build a decent stash of shipping supplies that we can use for this project and won’t need to purchase again. Hence, things like tape and some box sizes are not on this list, because we already have them. We purchase most of our packaging from Papermart.com.
| Item | Number | Total Price |
| Bubble Wrap (Large Bubbles) | 1 roll @ 500 ft. | $72 |
| Box for Book Alone (9 1/2″ by 6 1/2″ by 1/2″ – 2″/variable) | 50 | $43 |
| Box for Book + Flat Merchandise (11 1/8″ by 8 5/8″ by 1/2″ – 2″ variable) | 50 | $43 |
| Box for Book + Bulky Merchandise (11 5/8″ by 9 1/8″ by 5 1/4″) | 50 | $41 |
| Shipping from Papermart to Us (Estimate) | $150 | |
| Total Packaging Costs | $349 |
Total Estimated Cost for the Proposed Seed & Spark Crowdfunding Campaign
| Book Production | $6,351 |
| Merchandise Production | $3,168 |
| Shipping and Handling Materials | $349 |
| Shipping to Backers (estimated based on 200 backers ordering physical merchandise) | $1,704 |
| Estimated Processing Fees (approx. 4% of the total budget) | $450 |
| Sales Tax Owed for Backers in New York State | $150 |
| Total Estimated Cost for Everything | $12,172 |
Based on the number of authors and creators involved in this project and our sales on our previous two projects, we don’t think that reaching a funding goal of $12,500 will be challenging. We’ve also planned several stretch goals, primarily aimed at enabling us to give our contributing authors a raise.