Please check your email for your BackerKit survey.
Survey Lockdown & Charges
Survey lockdown: April 8th, 2026
Shipping fees and any add-ons are charged on the lockdown date.
If you’re not ready by the 8th, no problem—just don’t complete the final confirmation step. You can return to your survey later.
Design choice guarantee deadline:April 16th After this date, you can still submit your survey, but we can’t guarantee all design selections. If we run out of one of your chosen designs while packing orders, we will reach out to you to choose a new design. It's very rare that this happens as we usually order more than extra of each pin.
Failed Pledge Charges
If your original pledge charge failed, you’ll still receive a survey where you can complete that payment to receive your rewards.
Add-Ons
Add-ons are optional and ship with your pledge (not separately).
Shipping Address Changes
You can update your address in the survey until lockdown.
After lockdown, email [email protected] as soon as possible for address changes.
Returned packages due to incorrect addresses will require a new shipping payment.
We’ll post a final address reminder before shipping begins.
This is a very long update, so if you do not want to read through it all, there's a TDLR at the bottom!
📋 Survey Update + What’s Next
Surveys have officially been submitted to BackerKit for approval!
Once they’re approved, I’ll be sending out a smoke test.
If you’re not familiar, a smoke test is a small test batch of surveys sent to a limited group of backers to make sure everything is working correctly. This includes selections, pricing, shipping, and add-ons. It helps catch any issues before the full rollout.
If everything looks good after the smoke test, I’ll send out the rest of the surveys shortly after. I’ll also post another update as soon as all surveys are live so you know it’s time to go in and complete yours.
🖤 A Quick (and Honest) Update
I want to start by saying thank you for your patience, and also apologize for how long it took to get surveys to this point.
In my last update, I mentioned having surgery and expected to be back to work in about 4 days. I completely underestimated what recovery would look like this time around.
This was my third gastrointestinal surgery, so it’s not my first rodeo, but my body just did not respond well this time. Recovery ended up taking closer to two weeks before I felt anything close to normal, and it was honestly a really rough stretch.
In hindsight, trying to fit surgery into a very small window between in-person events, active projects, and upcoming international travel probably wasn’t my best planning move. Based on past experiences, I truly didn’t expect it to hit this hard or last this long.
I know I’ve said it already, but I truly appreciate how patient and understanding this community has been.
Recovery was not just physically difficult, it also took a real toll on my mental health. I wasn’t able to function in my normal routine at all, and even basic things like eating and drinking became a challenge. I had to stick to a liquid and soft food diet, and at times everything tasted metallic. My options were extremely limited, swallowing was painful, and there were periods where I couldn’t even take my regular psych medications because it would trigger spasms with crippling, radiating pain in my back.
On top of that, staying hydrated was difficult, which left me dealing with low energy and not getting enough calories, as well as constantly being dehydrated. It was a lot to navigate all at once, and definitely not the recovery I expected.
That said, I am on the mend. I’m still in recovery, but things are improving every day and I’m getting back into a normal working rhythm!
⚙️ Behind the Scenes
Even though surveys haven’t gone out yet, work on the project has absolutely been moving forward.
I’ve been deep in the manufacturing process, working through design approvals, revisions, and back and forth with manufacturers to get everything ready for production. So while this part has felt quiet on the surface, a lot has been happening behind the scenes.
Once surveys are completed, I’ll have final counts and can move straight into production.
📦 Add-Ons + New Items
To get surveys out as quickly as possible, I made the decision to hold back some of the additional add-ons and new items I had originally planned to include.
I still love those ideas and will absolutely be revisiting them, but they will most likely show up in a future project rather than being added here.
🔒 Fulfillment + Transparency
I also want to reassure you that I have successfully fulfilled 14 projects prior to this one, and I have never left a project unfulfilled.
Sometimes things happen and timelines shift, but I will always:
Keep you updated
Be transparent about where things are at
Follow through and deliver the project
🔮 What’s Coming Next
I do have another crowdfunded project in the pipeline, but there is no launch date just yet.
Right now, my focus is on getting:
Firmly Grasp It currently in manufacturing
The Night Market currently in surveys
into a really solid place.
Once both projects feel caught up and on track, I will announce timing for the next launch.
I have also included a poll in this update where you can vote between two themes I am considering for the next project. I would love your input on what you want to see next.
Thank you again for your patience, your support, and for sticking with this project. It really does mean a lot.
Onward to surveys and production. 🖤📚
TLDR: Surveys have been submitted for approval and will roll out soon starting with a smoke test. Recovery delayed things more than expected, but I’m back, production work is already underway, and next steps are moving forward.
The surveys are about 90 percent finished. I have just a few more items I want to add, and I need to photograph those before I can list them properly.
I’m also having a hiatal hernia repair next Tuesday. It’s a routine surgery with a fairly quick recovery time, so I expect to be back on my laptop by Thursday.
You can expect surveys to go out by the end of next week or early the following week.
I also intentionally held off on sending surveys early because I knew everyone would be getting a flood of Pintopia surveys at the same time, and I wanted to spread mine out a bit so it didn’t get lost in the chaos.
The Secret Night Market for Readers has officially come to an end. Thank you for showing up, sharing, pledging, and making this campaign such a success.
By now, most backers have likely already been charged for their pledge. If you haven’t seen the charge yet, it should process soon.
📋 Next Step: Surveys
The next thing you’ll receive is your backer survey. This is where you will:
Confirm your shipping information
Pay for shipping
Add any additional add-ons to your order
I’m currently working on building out the surveys and my goal is to release them on February 19th.
I’m prioritizing getting these out as quickly as possible because I’d like to begin production as soon as surveys are completed and finalized.
Once surveys go live, I’ll send another detailed update with:
Exact survey deadlines
Shipping timelines
Production estimates
Any other important dates you need to know
We’re officially moving into production mode, and I’m so excited to bring these designs to life.
With just about six hours in the campaign, here's my final update about what's coming today and post campaign.
🖤 The Black Market
As we head into the final hours of the campaign, ending today at 4PM EST, I wanted to share a graphic showing what’s being added to our final stall, The Black Market Stall. ( see graphic below)
Some of these designs are still in progress and will not be fully finalized before 4PM, but I do want to show you what's being worked on and what's coming still.
While some pieces in this stall lean political or focus on banned books, not everything will. The Black Market is a catch all for bookish pins of any genre or theme. If it applies to readers, it belongs here.
Here’s what’s included:
📌 Reading Is Political
Black dyed metal with soft enamel. Simple, direct, and not overly decorative. Just a small statement pin for your bag, jacket, or hat.
📚 Ban Fascists, Not Books
This comes in either a gold plated or silver plated option. It's hard enamel and features either pearl or glitter enamel and UV printed details.
🎧 New Audiobook Pin
Not everything in this stall is political or about banned books though. This is a screenshot of a new audiobook design, currently in progress in Illustrator.
📦 Two New Bag of Books Trinkets
Two additional mini trinket designs joining the stall.
Even if some artwork is not fully finalized before the campaign closes, all designs shown will be completed, and I will share finished versions in a future update.
These will be available as pledge level pin options and as add ons in the post campaign survey.
📝 What’s in the Survey That Is Not on the Campaign Page
The post campaign survey will include expanded options such as extra campaign pins, past popular designs, stickers, bookmarks, and possibly other accessories.
BackerKit’s campaign page has limited customization, so the survey allows me to offer more flexibility and add on combinations.
We are almost at the finish line. If you have been waiting to pledge or adjust your selections, now is the time.
