The last two days I have been working through the budget of what can be cut, added and rearranged. I still need funds to guarantee I can pay for an editor or editors. That’s priority number one. I don’t need more art, but it I do want art to accent some areas of the book; mostly in the techniques chapter. I don’t like the map that was commissioned, which is why it wasn’t shown in an update. That needs reworking.
Some art for techniques & new map is a universal simple cost. Savage Worlds needs an editor. 5e needs an editor and a writer to flesh out mechanics for classes and archetypes.
Meanwhile looking at Kickstarter rewards can have a direct influence on how the project makes money to fund future budgets. A kickstarter has rewards that need to be covered and included in your funding goal. A PDF reward has no material cost, but should have a reasonable cost/value associated. Retail value for PDFs should be half or 3/4 the price of your physical reward. Money earned through a PDF reward does go straight to the project.
Physical rewards such as Books & Miniatures, have a physical cost that is directly deducted from the reward and should be listed with a margin above cost, close to shelf sales price. Most kickstarters will mark these rewards at shelf price, so they can count their profit as money to the project. Most books are marked up 4x production cost. So if you mark the book reward 3x production cost, but sale price is 4 or 5 times cost, backers tend to see it as a good discount. This does mean, you need to sell more physical reward pledge levels in this section to make it worth your wild. After you deduct your cost , the “profit” then goes straight to the project.
My initial goal was a cost margin spread across both versions of the book. If we keep half and make the next project focused for strictly on one version of the book, that covers cost and helps with more adventures and additional material resources. In addition, this gives time for the other version to catch up and finish development. Savage Worlds is finished, except for the editor. I think I have my next direction.
Trying something new
I have reworked my stretch goals and compared them to other kickstarters. I have also adjusted pledge levels to be a little more inciting. I want to try a short run campaign like I have seen others do in the past. They are exciting and at half price, it’s all or nothing. The goal will be to raise money for just an editor. It will be a 15-day campaign, and will will launch it on May 29. Art of War for Savage Worlds will have a goal of $1,000.00 or $1,250.00.
Tentacle Greg 