Steampunk Animal 2014 Calendar Kickstarter, four months later

Steampunk Animal 2014 Calendar was my second Kickstarter. The print run and the funding goal was a tenth of my previous campaign for Steampunk ABC at 100 calendars for a funding goal of $900. I completed the calendar in a two months' span, including running the Kickstarter for three weeks, a few events, and shipping 96% of the rewards. Working with a US printer also made it easier to meet the shipping deadline because the printing turnaround was days, not a couple months.

Given the limited time frame to get the calendars shipped out in December, I did not promote the campaign as heavily as the Steampunk ABC one. I was focused on finishing all the illustrations and design work. I used my social media contacts, posted on a couple steampunk forums, and shared the campaign with Steampunk ABC backers. Nearly half of the backers were from previous Steampunk ABC Kickstarter.

The campaign was funded twice over, but I lost a backer once the payments were processed, leaving a final total of $1787 with 67 backers. I ended up doing a print run of 150, instead of the proposed 100, so I could sell the calendar at holiday events. I had three international backers in Australia, United Kingdom, and Croatia respectively. The rest of the backers were in the US. With the increased print run, packaging, and postage, the total was $926. After paying that and Kickstarter fees, I netted $695 before taxes. The Kickstarter campaign pre-sold 84 calendars along with the other rewards. From various holiday sales of the calendar, I gained another $300 gross.

From the Steampunk ABC Kickstarter, I learned that doing sketches and watercolor commissions took too much time to complete. I enjoy doing them for the backers, so I scaled down similar offerings for the calendar. The short time frame to get everything done and shipped out on time was also part of that decision. All the Steampunk Animal Calendar rewards were claimed by the backers. Had I kept the original print run of 100, the funding goal of $900 would have covered all the fees and various reward expenditures. The Steampunk Animal 2014 Calendar was right on the mark for its funding goal.

If you missed out on the original Kickstarter, you can get the Steampunk Animal 2014 Calendar now at a discounted price. I have a limited supply left, so have at them!