BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter

***Steve Long*** · Dec 26th, '11, 08:05 AM

Howdy Herophiles!

Hero Games is proud to announce the launch of its first Kickstarter project: The Book Of The Empress!

You can go to Kickstarter and pledge your support here: Book Of The Empress Kickstarter.

Our goal is to raise $10,000 in pledges by January 29 to produce the book. We'd appreciate any support you can offer!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Kickstarter, here's how it works. Kickstarter is a form of "crowdfunding," in which people such as yourselves offer their financial support for a creative project to see it completed. You can pledge as much as you want, from $1 up to any amount. At certain pledge levels (such as $10, $25, and $50), there are special "rewards" you get for backing the project. For example, for the BotE Kickstarter, pledging $25 gets you a PDF of the book and thanks in the credits, while pledging $50 gets you all that and a copy of the hardcopy printed book.

When you pledge to back a Kickstarter project, no money is taken from you unless the project reaches its full funding level. If it fails to reach its goal (in the case of BotE, $10,000), then no money is taken from anyone and the project doesn't see the light of day.

But naturally, we hope that doesn't happen! Here at Hero we're looking at Kickstarter as an intriguing new way to continue to publish HERO System books the fans want. If this one funds successfully, then we'll plan and launch Kickstarters for other books. Please join us in leading Hero into a new and exciting era!

**McCoy** · Dec 26th, '11, 02:41 PM

Looks like 7.8% so far, in just a few hours. Reaching 10% on the first day would be a good sign.

**Lord Liaden** · Dec 26th, '11, 06:18 PM

Originally Posted by McCoy

Looks like 7.8% so far, in just a few hours. Reaching 10% on the first day would be a good sign.

And we're there now.

***Steve Long*** · Dec 27th, '11, 04:34 AM

We're at 17% as of this morning, which I consider good progress.

Statistically, 90% of Kickstarter projects that reach 30% of their funding goal at any point in time get fully funded by the end. So reaching $3,000 in pledges is a sort of sub-goal... or at least a good benchmark.

**thewomble** · Dec 27th, '11, 06:01 AM

The Kickstarter page states for $50 and $80 pledge levels "for shipping to Canada or Mexico add $30; for shipping to Europe add $50". These shipping costs seem very high. Hero Games can usually ship a book to me in Japan for $10.

**Lord Liaden** · Dec 27th, '11, 07:50 AM

Steve addressed that issue on another of the "Kickstarter" threads. Many book publishing companies are willing to absorb some of the real cost of shipping their books, but Hero Games can't currently afford that for a Kickstarter project.

***Hermit*** · Dec 27th, '11, 08:33 AM

I REALLY wish I had a thousand dollars to spend right now.

My own purchase will be a lot more modest, but I will be plucking down some cash

"Victory for the Empress!"
(Or at least successful sales!)

**cptpatriot** · Dec 27th, '11, 09:27 AM

Well, Imperial Herald Archie did his part! If I had more, I would have done it, but it isn't a book I would have normally bought.

**Matt the Bruins** · Dec 28th, '11, 03:00 PM

Steve addressed that issue on another of the "Kickstarter" threads. Many book publishing companies are willing to absorb some of the real cost of shipping their books, but Hero Games can't currently afford that for a Kickstarter project.

I've bought books from individual private sellers in Europe who presumably weren't absorbing any of the expenses and the shipping costs didn't come close to that. I'd advise the guys at DOJ to look into less expensive shipping methods/handling processes that might take longer to get product to the customer but won't utterly rule out international orders due to a shocked "!@#$% THAT!" reaction.

***Hermit*** · Dec 29th, '11, 06:53 AM

$2,704 as of this post.

**DusterBoy** · Dec 31st, '11, 07:32 AM

I kicked in $10. I hope that helps.

**torchwolf** · Dec 31st, '11, 09:27 AM

OK, I'm in.

**Hugh Neilson** · Dec 31st, '11, 12:32 PM

Pledged with shipping to Canada included - hope that works.

I've never visited Kickstarter before. For those wondering, the setup process is pretty quick and easy.

**McCoy** · Dec 31st, '11, 02:22 PM

Originally Posted by Steve Long

We're at 17% as of this morning, which I consider good progress.

Statistically, 90% of Kickstarter projects that reach 30% of their funding goal at any point in time get fully funded by the end. So reaching $3,000 in pledges is a sort of sub-goal... or at least a good benchmark.

Blew past the 30% mark, $3832.00 at this point.

**tiger** · Jan 4th, '12, 04:08 PM

Any chance the cover makes it to free stuff for wallpaper?

Thread: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter

Thread Tools

Display