Big Guidebook Cover Art Reveal!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Nov 18, 2021 at 11:14:49 PM

Morning lovely backers!

Thanks for your patience with us as we sprint toward this mad deadline! We’re making really good progress! Pending a few renegade authors needing to turn in their card meanings, the last handful of card artwork, and endless, endless proofing, we’re still very hopeful we’ll be able to make it! WEEEE!

(Though we are all very, very grateful for all your kind words in the comments of our last update. We are trying to take good care of ourselves, and we’ve all set alarms on our phones to remember to eat and sleep and stretch! Thanks for being so lovely!)

We’ll keep it short so we can get back to editing and drawing, but we’ve had some very pretty art come in that we simply couldn’t keep to ourselves.

COVER OF THE BIG GUIDEBOOK

First off, the cover art for our Big Guidebook (final title pending) is nearly finished! Longtime F(r)iction artist, Hailey Brown, came to our rescue to design this special cover and make sure we could make our accelerated deadline. We’re printing this baby on vegan faux leather with TWO different foils (a gold and silver—that’s what the yellow and white show below), with gilded edges AND gold metallic print on the inside of the pages (which knocks out three of my big Art Director dreams, so I couldn’t be happier).

Here's a work-in-progress shot of how the cover is coming along…

Hailey snuck so many hidden treasures into the design, I just can’t stop staring at it. From the rabbit’s pocket watch to the Monkey King’s intricate outfit, I just can’t wait to see this baby in foil!

Remember, everyone gets the pdf of this big book for free, but if anyone wants to add this swanky gem to their shelves, it’s available in the preorder store until Nov 30 (that’s the survey deadline, for those of you yet to fill yours in!).

DEMOS OUT THE DOOR

We just submitted test files to the printer to see how everything will fit together, testing endless foils and vegan leather samples and tarot cloth printing. We’ll shower you with photos and videos when the demo copies arrive at our end!

NEW CARD ART

And, of course, the art team is drawing up a storm to finish this project. Here’s the cards we’ve finalized since our last preview. We’ll have many more for you soon!

OTHER TAROT-ESQUE PROJECT

Creators supporting other creators is our jam, so please forgive us a wee plug. Last month, I had the pleasure of meeting NYT bestselling author, Geoff Gray, who was in the process of launching his own tarot-esque project: Nine Arches. To say it’s ambitious is an understatement, for it’s not just a game of pulling cards that inspire you to evaluate your life…but it also strives to make you do something about it. Think choose-your-own-adventure meets tarot.

It’s also very, very pretty and immaculately designed. If any of this strives your fancy, take a gander. It’s their last day today!

Right, that’s it! Back to InDesign and Photoshop for us! Have a great day all and thank you again for being so amazing!

Cheers,

Dani, Helen, and all the Brinkeroos!

Literary Tarot BackerKit surveys coming soon!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Oct 20, 2021 at 04:47:44 AM

Dear lovely backers!

We have news! After much liaising between our five international warehouses, shipping platform, and VAT advisor, we have been able to build out the pre-order store and prep the information needed for you to fill out your shipping surveys and add any extra items to your order that take your fancy. <Wipes sweat from brow> Woot!

As such, you will all be receiving your BackerKit surveys in the next few days. This email will contain a lot of information about the process, so to make it easier to navigate, we’ve divided it up into the “short and sweet” version and then a series of FAQs at the end of the update for all the nitty gritty detail.

BUT A TOUCH OF CAUTION TO THIS TALE…

As you may be aware from the news, the banner on Kickstarter’s website, or many an online shop, the whole world is currently experiencing mega global supply chain disruptions.

As a result, we’ve been advised that our onlychance to deliver on time is to get these lovely decks (and all the accompanying swag) to the printer significantly earlier than we anticipated due to a shocking lack of boats, regulated electricity to factories, and new shipping/customs delays. So, instead of turning it in at the end of the year and spending January tweaking and proofing, we need everything FINALIZED and ready to print by December 1. Which is, you know, only six weeks away…

[Insert group panic attack]

Although it makes infinitely more sense to just delay our timeline—like most other companies and campaigns—we’ve talked with our authors and our artists and rejigged our pipeline, and we’re gonna try to hit this escalated deadline. It’s gonna be hard and make for a lot of all-nighters from the team, but we owe it to all of you to give it our all. So that’s exactly what we’re gonna do.

In order to put every ounce of our time toward this crazy plan, we might be a little light on updates until we get all the files handed over. So please bear with us!

Right, with that said, the rest of this email is written based on us working like mad people and hitting this deadline. GO TEAM GO!

The Fulfilment Process

1. Shipping Survey: In the next few days, you will each receive an email from BackerKit with a link to your individual shipping survey. You don’t need to create a BackerKit account or submit a separate pre-order to access your survey. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and (if you like) purchase add-on items by the deadline of November 30th.

2. Order Payment: Once the survey deadline has passed, we will lock all orders and charge cards for any additional items. Please note that you will not be able to make any changes to your order after this and BackerKit does not allow us to offer refunds.

3. Fulfilment:

•  Approximately 6–8 weeks before we start fulfilment in spring next year, we will lock addresses. Up until this point, you have access to your shipping details so that you can update your shipping information if you move residence.
•  Approximately 4–6 weeks before fulfilment begins, we will then lock your shipping information again. You will receive an email from Easyship with an invoice for the shipping of your tarot items.

4. Shipping Out: Currently our fulfilment partner is estimating that it will take 4–6 weeks to send out all orders from the date that fulfilment starts.

To make this process as smooth and cost efficient as possible, please note that you will receive emails from multiple partners over the next few months: Kickstarter, BackerKit, and Easyship.

Shipping & Taxes

We have created this Shipping Estimates page to give you guidance regarding the estimated shipping and handling costs. It is important to note that the figures on this page are only estimates and will be subject to change depending on fluctuations in the cost of worldwide shipping and courier services. We have been advised that charging you as close to the time of fulfilment as possible will give you the best shipping rates as well as ensuring you get as smooth a process as possible.

 Shipping Out F(r)iction 

Remember the terror of those global supply chain disruptions? Yeah, they have taken out F(r)iction too—with printers and shippers experiencing a backlog of several months, this means our only choice is to get the F(r)iction issues on the ship we’ve already booked for tarot, which means Arcana won’t make it to our warehouses until the same time as all our tarot products in Spring 2022. We are extremely sorry about this. For those of you out there dying to get your hands on some issues, we’ve wrangled the budget to give you all a discount code to use in our F(r)iction store to purchase any back issues you like with a 30% discount. Orders through this store are dispatched within 2–3 working days as this back stock is already sitting in our warehouses just waiting to be bought by new readers. Just use this discount code at checkout by December 12th, 2021: FrictionGift30

Wooo, that was a lot of information! We’re super excited to get this phase rolling and thank you so much for all your support!

Cheers,

Helen, Dani, and the Brinkeroos

FULFILMENT FAQS

I am a Kickstarter newbie, can you please detail the BackerKit survey process a bit more?

Soon, you’ll receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. You don’t need to create a BackerKit account or submit a separate pre-order to access your survey.  When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link just yet, but it will be available soon via email.

Note that if you used your Facebook credentials to log into your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey will be sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you elected to hide your email address using an Apple device, you will need to provide an alternate email address to ensure you receive your BackerKit survey and Easyship payment survey. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact support at literarytarot.backerkit.com/faq#contact-us.

What if I want to change my order before the survey deadline?

After you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before the deadline on November 30th.

If you need to review your information or pledge status at any time before then, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at literarytarot.backerkit.com.

When will I receive my digital products?

Very soon after the survey deadline!:

• Digital F(r)iction Items: These digital products will be sent to you via a download link in an email from BackerKit in December, after the survey deadline has passed and all orders are locked.
• Digital Tarot: Digital tarot items will be sent your way in January, again via a BackerKit email, once we have handed over the files to our printer and received confirmation that printing has begun.

Will I have to pay tax and duties on my order?

For backers outside the US, UK, Canada, and Hong Kong, you may be required to pay tax and duties on your order. As import tax and duty will be due upon the shipment's arrival to your country, closer to the time of shipping we will reach out with a clear outline of exactly what tax and duties are due to be paid. We will also provide a quick and easy way for you to pay for this.

I am a retailer. How do I add to my order?

If you were verified as a retailer during the campaign and therefore pledged at the Retailer’s Tier, you will be given access via your survey link to a Retailers’ section of our pre-order store. You will be able to add any tarot items to your order in multiples of 5 with our wholesale 40% discount.

How do I roughly get a sense of how much shipping I may be charged?

Never fear, we have created this Shipping Estimatespage to give you guidance regarding the estimated shipping and handling costs. It is important to note that the figures on this page are only estimates and will be subject to change depending on fluctuations in the cost of worldwide shipping and courier services. We have been advised that charging you as close to the time of fulfilment as possible will give you the best shipping rates as well as ensuring you get as smooth a process as possible.

You mention multiple partners that you’ll be working with, can you give us more detail?

Of course! To make this process as smooth and cost-efficient as possible, you will receive emails from multiple partners over the next few months:

•  Kickstarter: Whenever we send out an update, you’ll receive an alert email in your inbox from Kickstarter.
•  BackerKit: Your shipping surveys will be sent to you in an email from BackerKit. Additionally, you will also receive all digital items via an email from BackerKit that will contain a download link, after the survey deadline has passed and credit cards have been charged for any extra items purchased.
•  Easyship: The shipping platform Easyship will be handling the payment process for all shipping, handling, and taxes. As such, you will receive a separate invoice email from Easyship for shipping shortly before fulfilment commences.

Where is my hat?

We’re not sure. Have you checked under the couch? Or on the cat?

More Updates, Booster Voting, and Pin Designs!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Oct 05, 2021 at 02:22:39 AM

Dear wonderful backers!

We have a lot of updates from our end! Get ready for SO MANY CARDS, new booster voting, and (drum roll please!) enamel pin mockups! Aside from cooking with our art team, we’re also designing the bejesus out of the guidebooks (we’ll show off some pages soon), resisting the urge to do custom illustrations for EVERY suit (and failing…we are totally gonna do that), and creating some fun guidebook resources for new and seasonal tarot readers alike!

We also wanted to extend a special thank you for bearing with us as we navigate the complexity of this project as Covid wreaks havoc with shipping systems worldwide. Every time we are sure we have a plan in place, some new issue crops up with a new regulation or shipping shortage. But fret not! We’re working hard to ensure we have a solid plan (and a slew of backups) in case the Delta variant tosses in a few more wrenches (more below).

NEW ART!

Oh man, have our artists been busting their digital paint brushes to create some gorgeous cards! Below, you can see SO MANY new beauties have joined the roster! As always, please feel free to guess away and then we will jump in and let you know the literary pairings next week in the comments!

BOOSTER PACK VOTING:

We had so many of you take part in the second poll for the Booster Card votes—thank you so much! Sam painted up a storm and look how BEAUTIFULLY they turned out:

So now it’s time to wrap this booster pack up! We have just two more cards for you to vote on. In the google poll here, select which thumbnail you like best for each card. Please get your votes in by midnight PT Thursday 7th October.

• The Moon (paired with The Rabbit of the Moon)

•  The Lovers (paired with Hades and Persephone) 

ENAMEL PIN VOTING

Another of our wonderful artists, Edge Ebenebe, has been hard at work creating possible enamel pin designs for you all! Of course, these babies are just rough sketches, but to visualize, we’ll be using gold metallic (who’s surprised?) for all the places you see gold below, and our aim is to make them about 1.5–2 inches wide (we’ll test it with the printer to get the perfect size once you all decide which one you want!).

If you’d like to vote, please complete the same Google Poll as for the final booster pack cards above (here), so please get your votes in by midnight PT Thursday 7th October.

FULFILMENT UPDATE

We are now in the final stages of our preparation! *FIST PUMP*

We have been tackling a slew of problems, especially as the impacts of the Delta variant have hit shipping systems worldwide (and by all accounts, will continue to do so for the next few months at least). As such, we have been fighting hard to find ways to keep your shipping costs as low as possible. BackerKit is reviewing our store as we speak so we expect to roll out surveys as soon as they give us the go ahead (hopefully in the next 1 – 2 weeks).

So keep your eyes peeled for another update soon! And in the meantime, be sure to cast your vote by midnight PT Thursday 7th October.

Cheers,

Dani, Helen, and the Brinkeroos

MORE booster pack voting!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Sep 08, 2021 at 10:06:29 PM

Dear lovely backers!

We hope you’re doing well! We’re popping in with an update on our progress and some more thumbnails for you to vote on.

BOOSTER PACK VOTING

Firstly, after SO many of you took part in voting for our booster Death card, our wonderful Major Arcana artist, Sam Dow, whipped up this absolute beauty:

And what’s more, she‘s on a ROLL, so she got together three more sets of thumbnails for you to vote on!

So let’s get voting! You’ll see the concept thumbnails for 3 out of the 5 remaining booster cards below. In the google poll here, select which thumbnail you like best for each of these 3 cards. Please get your votes in by midnight PT Friday 10th September.

• The Star: Amaterasu (Japanese Myth)

• The Magician: Anansi (Akan, West African, and Caribbean Folklore)

• The Lovers: Achilles and Patroclus (Greek Myth – bonus extra alternative Lovers card!)

We’ll be back in our next update with more thumbnails for you to vote on the final two booster cards: The Moon (paired with The Rabbit of the Moon) and The Lovers (paired with Hades and Persephone).

SHIPPING AND BACKERKIT UPDATES

Things have been progressing well and once we have some final issues worked out with our VAT advisor (curse you EU for changing your shipping rules so recently!), we will be ready to send you your shipping surveys. We’ll be sure to pop back in here with an update at the same time that we release them, so don’t worry about missing them—we’ll let you know once they have been sent out. Thanks so much for your patience here—unfortunately where we have to wait on information or work from other parties we are unable to speed up the process (besides sending poking emails every two days... which you better believe we're doing), but rest assured that we are working as speedily as we can to coordinate everything correctly and to get you the best prices possible.

IRON CIRCUS COMICS KICKSTARTER

Spike Trotman, one of our amazing contributors and an absolute comic legend, heads up the publisher Iron Circus Comics, which is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for The Woman in the Woods and Other North American Stories, an all-new anthology of fantastic comics inspired by original North American folktales. As a publisher of short comics ourselves, the collection looks truly stunning and has been written, drawn, and created by an incredible, diverse team of contributors.

If you reckon this could be your jam, we highly recommend scooting on over to check it out ASAP as the campaign only has 4 days to go. Link here, dear backers!

We’ll be back with an update as soon as we have more news from our advisors about the shipping process. Until then, happy voting!

Cheers,

Dani, Helen, and the Brinkeroos

More cards, updates on progress, and booster pack voting!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Aug 16, 2021 at 08:56:09 PM

Dear lovely backers!

Thanks so much for your patience as our entire team recovered from the six-month sleepless race required to prepare for and run the Kickstarter. Man, what a sprint!

Although we all took some desperately needed time to recover in July, the big old tarot making machine kept rolling, and we have a lot of fun updates for you all! First of all, let’s start with some updates from our amazing team of artists.

ART UPDATE

Below you’ll find new cards! Just like we did during the campaign, anyone who wants to guess which books they illustrate, feel free to guess in the comments! We’ll jump in after a few days and let you know what’s what!

As we are no longer able to edit the campaign page, we've added the huge graphic of all the cards together to the bottom of this update so that you can see them all in one place!

SHIPPING AND BACKERKIT UPDATES

Let me hand this off to Helen, to give you all the lowdown on fulfillment…

“Hello everyone! I have been madly liaising between our new shipping platform, shipping tax specialist, and fulfilment services to work out how to get you the smoothest and most cost effective system possible. We’ve made great headway on building out the BackerKit pre-order store and shipping surveys, so now we’re in the process of tying up some loose ends regarding how to correctly manage the shipping in two waves (F(r)iction items this fall and tarot next spring). Once we’ve got that sorted (hopefully in the next couple of weeks if possible), we will be sending out surveys so for now hang tight and we’ll be back with more intel on this as soon as we have it all worked out!”

BOOSTER PACK VOTING:

For all you fine folks who added the Booster Pack to your order, you’ll be getting five new cards, paired by our backer community! I have some cool art thumbnails to show off below, and just as with our celebrity authors, you’ll get to weigh in on which you like best! But before we get to that, we’re going to be adding an additional card to the pack for free, since the competition for the Lovers Card was so tight (and because we all really wanted some rad queer rep!).

Thus, as a gift for all your amazing participation in the pairings—and because we’re just so damn grateful—everyone getting the Booster will automatically get an extra, EXTRA Lovers card, pairing it with Achilles and Patroclus!

To start, let’s vote on thumbnails for the Death card, which you all voted to be paired with “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edger Allan Poe. You’ll see the concept thumbnails that Sam drafted below. In the google poll here, select which one you like best. Please get your votes in by midnight PT Wednesday 18th August.

Then, we’ll have Sam do the final art and keep you updated on the progress!

WHAT ELSE WE ARE UP TO

As the artists crank through the remaining 38 cards (we have 11 more in different stages of development RIGHT now!), Dani is working with our team of celebrity authors to finish writing up their card meanings, designing the interior of the guidebook, and getting ready to send in samples to test various gold foils. We can’t wait to send you all photos and videos of the new production proofs once we get them!

We’ll be back next month to update you with more card art, booster thumbs, and shipping info. Once we get the demos out the door, we’ll also get start on making those enamel pin designs for you all to vote on.

Right, back to work for us! Thank you all again for backing this project!