Kickstarter Successful!... What does it all mean?

Yes we've raised a wonderful amount of money! It's amazing! Watching support come forward like that from all facets of the comic industry (and beyond!) was amazing (as well as inspiring & humbling ) to see.

This page is to further clarify & simplify who we are and where that money is going.

I built Womanthology on very simple basics. And as we have of course grown into more of a movement than just a book, these simple basics still apply.

1. ALL profits from the book after it's produced go to Charity. Profits go directly from IDW to GlobalGiving when the times comes. IDW is making no money from helping us.
2. ALL work is volunteered Even my around the clock efforts. ALL work is given freely, and everyone owns their creations completely. Ladies are free to leave the project any time and no one is obligated. Women on this book are only on to help others, not for financial gain.

People see a large $109,000 figure and automatically wonder where it's going. At this point, I can only give estimates, as we're in production currently, and large factors have not been finalized yet. Those major factors being how many copies are being printed, how much postage (and the labor for postage) will be, taxes, and production and shipping other other rewards. But based on that, here are my current estimates, please note I overestimate just in case, particularly the taxes, which could be much lower due to business write off's:

$109,000 Kickstarter Final

$6,000 Kickstarter "errors" such as bad card numbers, faulty pledges
$9,000 Fees (Kickstarter is %5, Amazon takes another %3 - %5)
$40,000 Printing for around 5,5000 Womanthology books (may change)
$20,000 Postage for 2,000 books (overest.of labor, postage is at least $5 a book/ may change)
$3,000 Printing/postage of 1000 Sketchbooks
$2,000 Postage of other rewards
$20,000 Taxes, for me, a self employed person, overestimate, may change

That alone is around $100,000 of the $109,000. But because of overestimating, I am guessing there may be $20,000 left over, if there are no refunds, or extra fees.

At the beginning we needed $25000. That was enough for 1500 books to be printed, a few sketchbooks, and fees/taxes for that amount. With the success of the Kickstarter comes more cost to fulfill rewards and make more copies to sell for charity, it's as simple as that.

IF there ends up being $20,000 left, I'd like to take that opportunity to extend Womanthology's purpose to help more people. I have been very honest & upfront of my intentions from the very beginning, and you can check out the Kickstarter's updates for what they are. But essentially, they are Womanthology in slightly different models, all geared to help give a hand up to comics creators who need it.

The women on the book from the beginning knew their contributions were voluntary and unpaid including me, the editors, and organizers who have put in months of nonstop work. But I have been trying hard to find other ways to show them how much they are appreciated. For now I know I can at least give everyone a copy (maybe more than 1) of the book, and sketchbooks. In which they can sell or get commissions in the sketchbooks. I am speaking with many publishers trying to find them further work, as well as hopefully getting their books published, speaking with conventions to get them comp tables, promoting their work, getting their creator owned stories in possible databases at movie/tv networks, and trying to find any avenue possible for them to further their careers. Not to mention working on the book itself, for many, is their first opportunity to work with professionals, gain experience, and get their work published by a major publisher. The success of Womanthology means it has a huge spotlight on it's works, having received coverage by Forbes, Washington Post, MTV, CBR, Newsarama and many more. It is also officially the most funded comics project ever on Kickstarter, as well as the 25th most successful project of any kind. This is a huge benefit for all of us.

This whole experience is meant to be nothing but positive, and helpful for everyone on every level. If you have questions or concerns you can email me at renaedeliz@gmail.com