Someone suggested calendars of my photography as a KS reward, which made me go look at costing them out (short form: definitely a doable reward, and I’d probably make up a special April-April one or something just to go with the campaign). Kitsnaps postcards and/or prints were also suggested, which–I would never have thought of using my photography as reward pieces, so *thank you* to those who suggested it.
But anyway, in looking, I discovered Lulu does calendars and has a format that isn’t hideous. Base cost to me, for calendar creation & S&H pretty much anywhere in the world comes out to $16 or $17, when I factor in shipping costs /to/ me (from the UK, not America, which would be prohibitive), and the percentage Paypal would take out of the orders. Is $20 a bearable cost for a signed 2012 calendar (with a theme, I think, of Dublin, this year)?
(God, I’m seriously feeling like I’m all “HI GIVE ME ALL YOUR MONEY” on here right now, which really isn’t my intention. I’m just throwing things out to see what sticks. This whole brave new world of direct sales and stuff is most strange and curious.)
I think that’s a totally reasonable buy in for the Calendar. I also love the idea of a set of postcards. Years ago I did a lot of B&W photography and made a ton of note cards from it. Not sure if there is somewhere that might be able to help do something like that at a reasonable cost but it’s another item to consider. I find that all of us, creators and consumers (which pretty much covers everyone as all of us are at least one if not both), are spending a lot of time considering the possibilities of this brave new world of marketing and sales and contact. As a fan I absolutely LOVE having more of my money get into an artist’s pocket. Not slamming traditional processes here, but it’s nice to have a way to contribute to one particular project. Or direct buy a short story in e-format. We’re all figuring it out as we go and I find it to be pretty exciting and interesting.