What a crazy weekend! This Kickstarter has really turned into a monster and I’m just trying to hold on and keep from loosing my mind. Thanks again for all your help in spreading reMIND around the internet and telling your friends about it. 

I have had 3 interviews about the project with more being scheduled. Kickstarter was super kind and put reMIND as their featured project for Sunday. Thanks Kickstarter, you never seem to stop blowing my mind!

Anyway, there are tons of new things to announce today so I’ll get started.

Reduced International Shipping!

(These are pictures of how I plan to pack and ship a box set)

I have been getting lots of comments about the expensive shipping cost that I’m charging to ship 2 or more books anywhere outside of the United States. I came up with $45 for 2 or more books because it cost me about $47 on my first Kickstarter and I never insisted that people pay for shipping. I ended up loosing LOTS of money on international shipping. So this time I decided that I had to set a standard shipping charge for international orders.

Now even though I spent the last year sending books all around the world, I decided to go in and talk to a few companies this weekend to see if I could get a better deal and to try to help explain why I am charging what I’m charging. First I went to the US Post Office to see all my options. Here are the prices they listed me for my box of 2 books with extra packing material and almost an inch on each side of the books.

US Postal Service:

Canada and Mexico:

Medium Flat Rate Box – $32.95

Priority Mail – $33.45

Express Mail – $48.70

All other International Destinations:

Priority Mail – 50.40 (no tracking)

Express Mail – 59.30 (with tracking)

There were other options but they were all more expensive. So I went to FedEx to see if I could find a better deal and this is what they said:

FedEx International Shipping:

Canada and Puerto Rico:

Ground – Around $25 – $30 (depending on size and weight of each box)

Most other International Destinations: $151 (gulp)

So it looks like Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico are going to get the cheapest shipping charge. Everywhere else will be $50 or more. So, with all that said, I hope it is clear that I’m not trying to overcharge anyone for anything. In fact, with every order, I have always estimated a loss of $5 for shipping and handling anyway because the boxes and packing material cost money as well as shipping even in the US.

But even so, I have listened to all your frustration and the last thing I want to do is make it hard for anyone overseas to get a copy of reMIND. Here’s what I am going to do. If we reach $50,000 I will lower the international shipping from $45 to $35 for two or more books. Basically, I’ll pay for $15 if you can pay the rest. Does that sound okay?

I’ll update the shipping chart to reflect the new prices after we hit this new stretch goal, which I don’t expect to be to long from now. You (my international friends) have been such a great support that I really want to make it worth it for you.

So please be patient and after we hit 50k, I’ll announce the new international shipping and then all you need to do is manage your reward and lower your pledge amount to reflect the new shipping. If you are feeling generous and still want to pay for all the shipping then I would really appreciate it though. :)

So this brings us to…

New Stretch Goals!

Obviously the more money we raise the higher the print run will be on extras and this means that it starts to become affordable to print up extra things to include in your rewards! So here are a few fun little extras that I would love to send everyone if we hit these new goals.

$50k – Reduced International Shipping + Free reMIND bookmark for everyone! (with $25 pledge or more)

$53k – Free Victuals postcard (with $25 pledge or more)

$56k - Free Lizard Man postcard (with $25 pledge or more)

$59k - Free Cyrene postcard (with $25 pledge or more)

$62k - Free Sonja postcard (with $25 pledge or more)

$70k – Top Secret Reward (or I haven’t figured it out yet)

New Original Art Options!

Now that all the fancy Collectors Box Sets are claimed, I decided to start offering some VERY unique rewards. Unique as in art right from the book. I have never been a big fan of selling my original artwork because I get so attached to what I’ve done, but after sifting through my piles, I don’t think there is any better time than right now to try to get rid of some original reMIND art.

It was hard but I divided up all the art into 4 stacks. 1) small art, 2) medium art, 3) full pages, 4) big spreads or hero shots.

For now I’m going to offer 1 – 3 as a pledge option. The thing to remember about my artwork is that it’s mostly all clean pencils on random sizes of paper. I draw some panels by them selves and every now and then I do a full spread on one sheet of paper but it’s rare. So don’t expect the standard comic size paper with everything blocked out perfectly. I have everything from small panels to super wide panels on single sheets of paper. Every piece will be mounted onto bristol board to improve durability and make it nicer to display or frame. Every piece is unique in size and shape and some might even have ink brush work in areas.

Once again, Thank you so much for your generosity and helping me share this with everyone you can. It's really starting to get some attention now and I am excited to see where this can go. 

See you tomorrow morning!

- Jason