Highlights
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20+ projects backed in 2026
Please share in the comments -- we'd love to hear your stories!
Project Update: More stretch goals? We can do that!
We're currently in the "slow middle" portion of the campaign, which is entirely normal, but we continue to make excellent progress knocking down stretch goals as more fans sign up!
You all have added a bookmark, a postcard, dust jackets, and two new paintings from Jabari Weathers and Alyssa Nicole. You've seen their work in Grandmaster and Deluxe Heralds and it's a delight to have them returning. At $160,000 we'll commission a painting from Care Halverson as well, and we're working on lining up more artists for future stretch goals.
On the scholarship front, more than 150 people have applied. This campaign isn't likely to perform at a scale that will unlock scholarship books for every applicant, but we'll do our best to grant as many as possible.
Project Update: Deluxe Nodwick Update #1
Thanks to early support for the Deluxe Nodwick edition, we funded in just a few hours and have well-exceeded our goal. We had wanted to do a deluxe edition of this during the Attack of the Pwns campaign, but couldn't quite make it work.
Stretch goals on this campaign are a little bit different. We hadn't expected to have so many backers, but you all have ordered enough books to put a mass-manufacturing run worth investigating. We're waiting to hear back from the manufacturer for a quote on what they can do for us, but it's likely that they'll be able to fit all kinds of fancy upgrades into our budget if we are able to make at least five-hundred books.
So that's our stretch goal: 500 hardcover book pledges unlocks as many upgrades as we can throw at the volume! That's likely to include bookmark ribbons, more foil, fancy endpapers, upgraded interior paper, and more. But we won't know for sure until we get the quote back.
For now, that means we stay the course and keep accepting pledges for the duration of the campaign, then make sure that you all are the first to hear when we know what's possible with the unleashed power of mass manufacturing! (This would also mean upgrades for the softcover edition from the Attack of the Pwns campaign, because why not?)
We're also happy to confirm that every deluxe edition ships includes a DRM-free, high resolution PDF of the book as well. Beyond that, we're keeping the campaign simple and sweet, so we can get this book into your hands as quickly as possible.
Also be sure to check out our cross-collab partner, Adventure Cats.
Thanks again from everyone at ZOE!
(P.S. Want more deluxe book excitement? Check out the Halfblood Chroncles editions currently funding from Mercedes Lackey.)
Project Update: Name to Face
Today I thought I would put a name to face so to speak. Y’all know that I’ve worked on Misty’s campaigns, but knowing that I’ve drawn art, and knowing which art I’ve drawn are different things. Yes, I was (am) a horse girl, how could you tell? Misty’s books, specifically, the Arrows Trilogy-Heralds of Valdemar, was my gateway to fantasy. Hand a book of magical companions to a horse girl? Yes, please. Working on these is a dream come true.
In the background, I’m also still running numbers to choose the next stretch goals. There are Factors to the decisions and I have a number of emails out to see what the options are and how cool we can make this without putting leaks in the ship.
Project Update: The first guidebook chapter is...
Dave Swartz will be working on a map for the Old Kingdom soon, and I will post previews of the chapter in the coming days.
In the meantime, onto the next stretch goal!
15+ projects backed in 2025
Project Update: STRETCH GOAL TEASE! (Let's get to $7k!)
I hope you're having a phenomenal week. Thank you again for your gracious and eager support of Adventure Cats: The Outclaws!
I've been working hard on a stretch goal. I wanted to find something that I could deliver to my ebook friends AND to my paperback and hardback readers. It's still in the works, but things are coming together.
So here's the hint: ROLL FOR INITIATIVE, ADVENTURE CATS!
Once we hit $7k, I'll give you MUCH more info...
If you've already backed Adventure Cats: The Outclaws and want to help us get to our stretch goal, please share the campaign with friends and family (texts, emails, posts on social media, or anything of the like!).
Thank you!
We just hit our 8k stretch goal! That means every backer will be getting a digital travel guidebook to the world of Unicorn: Vampire Hunter. Each chapter will be roughly 20-30 pages long, and will have a brand new map illustrated by Dave Swartz, in-depth information on each location within the region, information about the denizens and dangers of the region, and more! Each time we unlock a travel guide stretch goal, you get to vote on which region gets a chapter next!
Engaged with this project 10+ times 🌟
I looked for a delivery date and found "by the end of the year. That's listed under "Why BackerKit?" The answer to "Why XYZ?" should be something relevant to XYZ's services. Instead, we get, "Ablaze will publish The Odyssey, The Iliad, and in exclusive formats available only to Backerkit backers. The editions will be finalized by the end of the campaign and will be going to the printer for delivery to pledgers for the end of this year!" This DOES NOT tell us why Ablaze picked BK. It tells us that the formats will be exclusive to BK, but not *why* they chose BK. This demonstrates a sever lack of reading comprehension at Ablaze. Clearly, these people aren't that intelligent if they can't distinguish *what* they are doing (making an exclusive format) from *why* they are doing it in a certain way (why via BK). There's no, "We are selling through BackerKit BECAUSE..." in the statement. I have found that this lack of reading comprehension--lack of ability to think critically, abstractly, and therefore concretely--is always concomitant with incompetence. And that brings us back to the possibility that this campaign will never get delivered or will be delivered only after the books are in retail shops. Ablaze still has 6 of 8 campaigns NOT fulfilled. Is that why Simon & Schuster are doing the fulfillment? Is it to take Abalze out of the loop of doing the hard logistics and rendering themselves only as a front to run the campaign's page? That's commendable to realize the limits of one's abilities and get out of the way so that the job gets done! Word is that the Nosferatu book is only just beginning to get fulfilled, while other books are just abandoned at this point. Perhaps that's "Why Backerkit." Other platforms have limits to starting new campaigns when you have non-fulfilled campaigns out there. Ablaze as SIX (6) campaigns that are not fulfilled (including Nosferatu), and two that were fulfilled. Two of the neglected, abandoned campaigns were on KickStarter. So it makes sense that "Why BackerKit" is because they may have burned their bridges at KickStarter. Perhaps this is why S&S is doing the fulfillment. Should I find that reassuring given Ablaze's bad track record? People have been promised first crack at books before the books go to retail, That promise was broken.