I'm awaiting art for the menu, still, and investigating with the printers/cover manufacturers on the cost of embossing that art into the cover, which would be extra rich and cool. All things going well, we might be able to begin sales before the kickstarter is completed, as I have banked monies waiting to move ahead on that. The kickstarter would make me feel more positive about not going broke on a boondoggle ... which I still do not think this is, as it feels so damn fine when I hold it. I've made arrangements to send a copy to JB of Blackrazor to review it, but that hesitancy again is keeping me from letting go of the only copy I have. So things are happening, even if it appears weeks are going by without word.
As far as purchasing the menus go, I haven't many options. Using Amazon costs $29.99 per month, +8-15% per product sold, so not very desirable since we'd like to keep our profit margins as thin as possible. There are online products that would let me process credit cards, but I'm not familiar with their set-up at this time, Stripe for instance; but I know from watching others not to invest in something like that until actual sales are coming in. Lots of people think starting a business means setting up to look like a full-fledged 20-year-old company from the starting gate ... and end up spending a bunch of money on products they don't need, sometimes bankrupting themselves. Trust me, I'm thinking about it.
Paypal is simple and practical, though I know some people don't like paypal. I've set up a bank account that people can e-transfer into, if they prefer. People can pre-buy if they want to, but I don't know why the hell you would; supply isn't limited and you might as well keep your money until I actually have the product, sometime in mid-to-late September. The price is going to be dear; the item is a work of art, not some slack piece of trash, in a faux-leather folder that will maintain it's attractiveness for a decade. I'm asking $45 + $20 shipping ... that last should surprise no one, for as I said, it weighs more than half a kg (1.3 lbs.).
Kickstarter did not provide a space for describing "stretch goals," as in what happens if I raise more than the $3,000 I'm asking for. I don't think that's going to happen, but then the hew and cry of angered internet villagers with pitchfork railing against creators daring to take in more than they ask for weighs upon me. As such, I've decided that if the numbers climb, I'll be ready to create additional meaningful content to reflect that, in the spirit of this project:
* $6,000. I'll create a second menu with specifically D&D themes, such as monster haunches, sweetmeats, creatures that are served alive, enchantment effects that aren't just magic items for purchase, things that humans can't eat and yet can be eaten by specifically elves, dwarves, etc.; as well, logically, items that will affect different races in different ways. This won't be an easy project but it will be easier than the next one.
*$12,000. I'll create a third menu based mostly upon pre-Columbian foodstuffs, such as sassafras and sarsparilla, maize, peppers, okra, cacao, potato and various beans, derived from Incan, Central American and Native America sources, as best as I possibly can ... and to fill out the menu I'll mix that with authentic Creole and a 17th century Carolingian cultural menu, favoured by pirates at the time as a general theme. This is going to take considerable research, more than what I can accomplish on the internet; and I can see from some investigation already that the origin of many items is a cherished dispute by many between whether it comes from America or Africa, or even Asia. The best I could promise is that it will definitely not be European.
*$24,000. A truly impossible number, but if that happens then I'll take the menu for the Jousting Piglet and create a functional, fully illustrated and kitchen-proven cookbook for (almost) every item in that menu. I have no doubts of my being able to make any of the foods there; they're all real, from legitimate sources, and about half I've cooked before. The beverages, however, are going to be a real challenge. Obviously, I think we can forgo recipes for Absinthe and Grand Chartreuse, among two or three others, but with a budget I'll locate someone who can teach me to make mead or spirits. I live in a city with multiple distillers of both beer and spirits so this isn't out of the question. I've worked in hotels and restaurants for a total of 15 years, some with a 5-star rating, so I'm confident I can cook anything, and even make a dozen attempts at something to make sure that when the recipe is attempted by someone else, it will taste good. I'll get a competent photographer to film it and the final book will be elegant and gorgeous.
Very well, that should do for now. I'll keep the reader posted on the kickstarter's status. I should get around to publishing something more intrinsically about D&D soon. After all, I don't want to spend all my time selling, like other bloggers have gone.
May the dollars mount up once the kickstarter appears!
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