October 2018 – Moby's! Media

So, Aboot That Kickstarter

Oct 232018

First, let me thank everyone who supported the project, whether you pledged or not. We had quite a few fellow indie comic book makers supporting us but it was not to be.

First time Kickstarters are hard, and this was no exception. We plan to try again and hopefully we’ll have better luck and a better plan.

Part of me figure it was the ‘ballet dancing’ thing that turned of some readers, but how do you go about explaining that what they see on the cover is not what the book is ‘about’.

Still, it was a learning experience, and we did get threatened with ‘hungry lawyers’ by a certain ballet professional, so that was fun.

So, maybe after the New Year we’ll have a bit more one the email list and we can give this sucker another go. Fingers crossed!

Expanding Universe is Out There…

Oct 222018

Well, I recently had more printing done. The finished files for all the books are piling up here at the studio, and I wanted to see what some of them look like in print. Mostly manga sized stuff, though I did print up a bunch of full sized Sissonne for those involved in making that book.

Anyways, one of the books I had printed in manga size was Expanding Universe, my sci-fi anthology. I used Mixam for the printing, and the books came out great, though I think I made a mistake.

With Mixam the book came out at the exact same size as the manga runs form Ka-Blam, but were a bit cheaper I believe. Plus, with Mixam you have more choices for paper weights. I was able to increase the cover paper from 80lb to 130lb, which is basically a thick postcard, a non-bending cover. While this is nice, I discovered that the added weight might put the book over the 2 ounce limit for mailing internationally at $1.98. No huge deal, but by ordering 100 books I was able to get the piece cost down to under $1, with shipping.

In fact, the cost per book was only 93 cents each with shipping!! (84 cents not including shipping), which is quite a bargain, considering it is 28 pages and I chose such heavy paper.

So anyways, I’ve been handing out a few copies of this book, before it is officially available. I have also been handing out a few of the other manga sized as well, and hopefully soon we’ll see some on Instagram or what not. You never know who has a blog, am I right?

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Oct 212018

One of the big things we learned in the Sissonne ~~debacle~~ Kickstarter was the insane cost of shipping.

Basically, shipping outside of the US to anywhere but Canada ($12.50-$14.00 ?) the cost is $24.40. Yes, that much.

But get this…IF the thing being posted is ‘letter mail’ (less than 6-6.25″ on one side, no more than 1/4″ thick and under whatever weight making it machine sortable) then it can be sent practically anywhere in the world for only $1.98. Yes, that much.

I’m testing this right now, and so far so good. I have learned that the heavier papers offered for practically no more cost by the printers (130lb covers and such) will increase the weight of the smaller comic and therefor cost more than $1.98 to mail. But a regular manga sized (5″ x 7.5″) comic, with 28 pages not including cover, on regular paper weights (80lb cover, 70lb interior pages) DOES come in under the weight limit and posts for $1.98.

Edit: Someone did say that they can mail first class for only $13. I will have to check that out. But even then, $2 is still a much better deal.

I need to look into customs forms for letter mail though. It might not be necessary to use them on regular letter mail, and that would be even better.

So, long story short you are likely to see my next kickstarters have these ‘manga sized’ books available to anyone outside of the US. I’ll still offer full sized books in the US, and have arrangements for Spook town to also be full sized in the UK and possibly the EU (thanks to writer David Thomas).

Please feel free to ask any questions. Cheers!