Woohoo! Last Day stretch goal unlocked! THANKS EVERYONE!
about 2 years ago – Sat, Apr 30, 2022 at 03:03:00 AM

Wow! When we decided to post that spontaneous final-24-hour stretch goal, we sincerely thought that it was going to fall just out of reach but still be motivating... and you all hit the mark with 27 minutes to go!

Congrats to all of you for unlocking those bonus postcards in the final hour! 😀🥳

We'll be setting up the Backerkit shortly to start collecting survey data, so watch for an update about that next week.

The book is being uploaded to the printer on Monday, so everything should be right on track for late-August shipping as promised!

We're so excited to get this book (and the other Add-on titles) into your hands this summer!

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WONDERFUL SUPPORT!!! 

The home stretch! Final 24-hour stretch goal added!
about 2 years ago – Fri, Apr 29, 2022 at 03:07:22 PM

Hi everyone!

This is it -- only 24 hours left to go! And while it looks unlikely we'll reach $30k to unlock the bronze challenge coin, we wanted to post one last stretch goal that's totally within reach...!

That's only about $2500 away, but with only 24 hours remaining, who's to say how many folks we can sway to come on board. There are a lot of people watching the campaign who haven't backed yet, so if you are one of those interested watchers, please join us before the campaign closes at 5pm CST tomorrow! If we break $26k, we'll add two beautiful postcards to each physical package. (They'll even include actual postage lines and guides on the back in case you actually wanted to send it to a friend or loved one to let them know you're thinking about them! 😊

This has been a very interesting and unique campaign for us -- while it may not have reached the heights of some of our previous campaigns, we're thrilled that it has found literally hundreds of eager supporters interested in Celeste's story. As we've mentioned in the past (perhaps too often), Magnetic Press is a rather tiny independent publishing operation, and with limited resources and mindshare, we can only produce a certain number of projects per year, so we have to be rather choosy about what we publish. I think that selective curation has helped to define our brand and help you, the readers, get a sense of what you can expect from us. Even though GIANTESS is unlike most of our previous releases (almost the polar opposite of, say, SMALL WORLD or THE WALL), there is nonetheless something special about it that sets it above most other books on the market (in our opinion).  Our taste in subject matter may be quite diverse, but we like to think our standard of quality storytelling is consistent. So if you've supported any of our previous campaigns but weren't sure what to expect from this title, rest assured: it's a wonderful tale, and we think you'll really enjoy it. 😊

Thanks, everyone! Hope to meet you on the other side of the finish line with a couple of bonus postcards unlocked! 

Ribbon Bookmark Unlocked! 😍
about 2 years ago – Sun, Apr 24, 2022 at 10:35:59 PM

Hi everyone!

Happy Saturday! And what a nice way to kick off the weekend -- by unlocking the $20k stretch goal!

 A satin ribbon bookmark will now be bound into all copies of the hardcover!

Next up: The Collectible Coin!

We would reeeeeally LOVE to unlock the bonus challenge coin at $30k... We've been unlocking these for almost all of our campaigns over the past 2 years, and the more we produce, the more collectible they have become! Collectibility aside, they're just really nice and hefty, a wonderful reward for supporting an independent publisher. Just take a look at a handful of our previous coins:

And that's just our first few coins! We've now produced twelve different coins for twelve different Kickstarter campaigns, all exclusive limited editions, with the most recent three starting to vary the formula with shiny gold and gunmetal black!

What do coins have to do with the reading experience? Nothing really (although the coin included in the ARSENE LUPIN "Cipher" Edition is a functional decoder key!) They are merely solid tokens of our appreciation and a really nice way to show that you have supported an indie publisher through the ongoing challenges of this constantly changing marketplace.

If you missed previous campaigns and are looking to add to your Magnetic Press Coin collection, we are looking at what inventory we may have left and ways to offer them to our most stalwart supporters. They may become purchasable exclusively with Ambassador Points, which you can earn by backing our campaigns and making purchases from our webstore. As a reminder, you will receive Ambassador Points for your pledge to this campaign, so that's hopefully even more incentive to hop on board if you haven't already! For more information about Ambassador Points, check out this webpage.
 

Thanks, everyone! More updates to come!
 

Even more magical reading to discover!
about 2 years ago – Sat, Apr 23, 2022 at 09:16:10 PM

Hi everyone!

We're back from a long weekend of travel to visit family for the Easter holiday. I can't tell you how relaxing it was to just sit out on the porch of my parents' home and do nothing but watch the bustling community of wild birds rustle around the feeders for hours on end... As much as I LOVE producing all of these wonderful books and Kickstarter campaigns, it is so nice to completely unplug for a long weekend without checking or responding to email or Kickstarter comments. 

Apologies if you were waiting on a reply to a message or comment or an update to this campaign! We're all caught up and recharged now! 😊

The campaign is proceeding nicely, and you've probably been waiting for us to acknowledge the milestone -- we unlocked the gold foil treatment on the cover! We should possibly clarify what that means, as we are discussing a few different options with our printer. The original French edition had a slightly-metallic/reflective coating on certain portions of the cover -- not quite foil stamping, like we've featured on several previous titles wherein the elements almost look like laid-in painted metal -- but I'm told it is a special "metallic ink" that can be printed as a 5th color (in addition to Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black) that blends with the other colors but has a different reflectivity score. I've tried to take some photos of it, but frankly, the effect doesn't show up in a picture. But trust me, it looks really nice in real life. 😊

We're really happy to see how many of the newly-added Add-ons you've selected to supplement your pledges! They are all great titles, and just a sampling of other great books Magnetic Press has released over the past 8 years. We are discussing adding a couple of other Add-on backlist titles before the campaign ends, for those of you who would like to maximize your shipping with some custom bundling... stay tuned for news on that.

In the meantime, however, we thought we might share a few other campaigns that we think you should take a look at. We will be honest: we don't usually do share-swaps like this, but these are from folks we know and we'd love to help them out as personal friends of ours. 😊

Forest Folk: Bands & Shenanigans

"I'm jealous if you are reading Forest Folk for the first time. You're going to experience all the charm, humour, and cartoon mastery that no one Dax's age should have. But he does."

- Skottie Young (Marvel's Rocket Raccoon, Image Comics' I Hate Fairyland)

"Meet Filburt the Fox, a jokester and a know-it-all with a knack for finding trouble. Lucky for Filburt that his best friend is Thomas, a happy-go-lucky elf, whose magic drawing quill can conjure the solution to any of their woes. MOST of the time…

Following the success of FOREST FOLK: Picnics & Hijinks, the first volume of Dax Gordine's acclaimed webcomic series, RAID Press is proud to present the ALL-NEW second collection of 105 strips, following the shenanigans of Filburt and Thomas, along with the rest of the peculiar cast, including no-nonsense Barry the Bearista, Grumpy Cat Gus, and nerdy Benni the Bunny. Watch as they deal with playful misunderstandings and wacky hijinks during spirited adventures in the forest they all call home."

We're big fans of all the stuff the crew at RAID produces, and have worked with many of their residencies in the past (Ramon Perez, Karl Kerschl, Marcus To, etc). They know comics and they do them quite well.

You can visit their campaign at this link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forestfolk-vol2/ff2?ref=ce5zds

MYTHSPACE: IGNITION – 200+ Anime Graphic Novel Anthology!

"Mythspace: Ignition is a graphic novel collection of six stories exploring a universe where the old tales of monsters and folklore creatures from the Philippines – Tikbalangs, Kapres, Manananggals – were inspired by actual alien civilizations. From a young man’s journey into myth, to a Kapre war, to a Manananggal coming of age, these stories (now depicted in full-color) will take readers on an unforgettable journey both strange and familiar."

We're fans of a lot of what Ablaze publishes (including a few titles we had hoped to publish ourselves...!), and this collection of manga-adjacent tales by Filipino authors looks slick.

You can visit their campaign at this link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/223713900/mythspace-ignition

"Creativity, hope, love, wonder, and more- the power of IMAGINATION and the importance of self-expression are celebrated in this fantastic picture book.  Written by Huggins and Lean and illustrated by 26 artists worldwide. A true testament to the power of art and creativity, these stunning illustrations have something for everyone! The artists used different mediums (watercolor, oils, pencils, digital, and more) to create this World Art Gallery in a children's book! Each illustration is coupled with lyrical text that conjures powerful magic and imagination through affirmations and art."

We love how many artists and creative backgrounds this book includes! We've been strong proponents of projects showcasing international talent, and also of imagination-sparking books of wonder, and this project does both! You should really take a look at what they're putting together!

You can visit their campaign at this link: https://bit.ly/ImagineAWorld111

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Thanks again everyone, and please keep spreading the word about GIANTESS! We appreciate your support!

We're off to a great start! THANK YOU!!!
about 2 years ago – Sat, Apr 23, 2022 at 10:30:54 AM

Hi everyone!

I wish I could carry all of you around on my shoulders and run around cheering! 😊

Thanks to you, we hit our goal in only 3.5 hours! Woohoo!

We're now on our way towards adding gold foil elements to the cover, then the ribbon bookmark, and then some other cool bonus extras that will be added to every physical order for FREE!

This is a different sort of book from our earlier campaigns (except perhaps BRINDILLE, although that had a bit more classic high-fantasy adventure), but we're really excited to release it. Not only were we immediately charmed by Nuria's unique and engaging art style, but the story really spoke to us, too. While the main character may be a young woman discovering her place in a historically patriarchal society, the heart of the story speaks to all of us trying to find ourselves while trying to fit into society. The fantasy elements of this story really do fade quickly behind the real, recognizable humanity of the story. We fell in love with Celeste, and we think you will too!

To those of you who have already backed the campaign, we'd really appreciate if you could share your support and a link to the campaign with your friends, family, and social networks. As a small publisher, we really rely on positive word-of-mouth and grass roots support. If you haven't backed the campaign yet and have bookmarked it for notification, sitting on the fence to see how we do before closing on April 29th, please consider joining today! This will not only help us grow, but will help unlock even more bonus freebies along the way!

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to message us or post a comment. We will admit that we are a bit slower in replying to comments (since we may miss some of them in a flurry), but we'll do our best to respond as quickly as possible!

Thanks again, everyone! We can't wait to see how many folks we can bring on board this wonderful title!