We're officially two weeks after the campaign ended, which means it's time for backer surveys! I'll be sending them out today and that's where you'll select your rewards, make upgrades, purchase additional add-on items, and pay shipping fees. If your payment failed during the initial charge today is the last day to fix it.
During the campaign I offered the "Librarian Tier", which allowed backers to curate the collection by choosing a new genre of Mini Bookshelf pin to unlock. One person pledged to be a Librarian and the new genre is... MUSICALS! I'm personally very excited about this shelf and it contains references to six different shows, with an emphasis on stories inspired by fairy tales (which the Librarian loves).
This Mini Bookshelf pin will be available to everyone as a reward or add-on item during the survey and pre-order store. If you backed the Complete Collection tier and additional Mini Bookshelf Pin has already been added to your pledge to cover it.
If you're also excited about the Musicals genre I have a Broadway inspired upcoming project: Musicals Mini Pins!
Extra Unlocks from the Campaign
The campaign ended with a few stretch goals left to unlock. After revisiting funds raised, production costs, etc. I've decided to go ahead and fund these options for you. This means the Cinema Deluxe Bookshelf Pin, Young Adult Deluxe Bookshelf Pin, and two new colorways of the Bookwyrm will be available during the survey.
Upcoming Project
Lastly, I wanted to tell y'all about my next project! Southern Pride will be an enamel pin series celebrating the South's resilient diversity - in people and in nature. The collection will include some of my favorite critters from the Southeastern United States and each critter will be available in multiple colorways inspired by LGBTQ+ flag colors.
This project will be a part of the Pin Forge Collective's Pin of Pride event and will include freebie items for backers who support 3+ participating projects. I'm also partnering with Floating Frogs' isopod themed "Pride"sopods campaign to offer cross-collaboration freebies for backers of both projects.
Additionally, I'm partnering with my sibling, Pinyons Art, to offer their hand sculpted magnetic isopod brooches as an add-on item! Because these are limited quantity priority will go to backers of my campaign and any leftover will be available for individual purchase during the pre-order store. They've been working hard to sculpt the lil guys and this will be the first time they're selling their artwork.
That's all for now. Please fix any failed payments and check your inboxes for surveys later today. I'm excited to see everyone's item selection and gather counts for my manufacturer to begin production.
We're in the home stretch with this campaign! I wanted to give a quick update about poll results, new add-on items, and where we're at with campaign progress. I also wanted to share that I will be bringing all this literary goodness to New York City for BookCon in April!
The votes are in... meet the new Bookwyrm colorways!
The two new Bookwyrm pin colorways are pastel rainbow and forest green! These will become available to backers when the campaign reaches $20,000. Since ALL backers are automatically receiving a Bookwyrm pin this means you would get to choose your colorway. Additional Bookwyrm pins are now available as add-on items.
New Add-On Items
There are new items with content from this campaign AND the 2025 Bookshelves for Bibliophiles campaign in the add-ons section! The reusable sticker book from last year is making a comeback in addition to some new book review post-it notes. I'm also making all 25 Bookcase designs from both projects into professionally made 4"x6" prints.
Campaign Progress
ALL new genres have been unlocked and special effects "Deluxe" versions are funded for 8 of them. This includes the Deluxe Music Bookcase, which will be sparkly AND have a magnetic hat accessory for mama opossum (I'm really excited about her hat).
That's all the updates for now. I'm looking forward to seeing where this campaign lands after the end-of-campaign turbulance!
This campaign is slowly but steadily climbing and I'm feeling pretty optimistic in that $20,000 goal! Don't forget to vote on the additional colorways for the Bookwyrm freebie pin to unlock.
I also wanted to let everyone know that my other bookish project, Pride in the Pages, is ending on Kickstarter tomorrow night. That campaign has almost all the designs and is currently sitting a few hundred dollars away from the last stretch goal. Backers who support both projects will receive a free mini pin, qualify for this project's "returning backer" freebie, and will have the option to save money by combining shipping for their rewards.
This update has nothing to do with my own campaign, I just wanted to hype up some of the other artists and share the stuff I'm excited to be backing! All of the images in this update are clickable and will take you to their corresponding campaign pages.
Max's picks...
I've been in a raccoon era lately and trash animals are having a spotlight moment right now. There are a LOT of options, but these are the raccoons I've narrowed down (so far) from Laserbrain, Catmint, and Annadrawsstuff. The three raccoons in a trench coat are definitely my favorite!
To my bank account's dismay, I once again want everything from Kira Night Art... but I NEED that skeletal salamander with its dangly potion bottle.
I'm don't usually collect a lot of cyber punk stuff, but these designs from Marachi studios are so cool! I'm especially in love with the crashed opossum.
There's sooo many cool ocean themed projects this year. I know I've already shared the octopus design from Arledge Comics, but I also needed to give a shout out to this particular octopus from Kage Davis' project.
The lobster pin design from Abi Stevens Art is cool... but the embroidered patch version is AMAZING!
I love silly little critters these bug themed bakery items from ApothecaryOctopus and the little zipper mouthed frog from The Cozy Coven were a must!
Definitely getting one of these beautiful mech pins from Parable Games, the gosling trio from Quassireal Publishing, and the axolotl + mech patch and pin you get for backing both projects!
A couple of sleepy babies with the sweetest little florals from Moon Duckling and Pitshoni Studio.
I'm also excited to get these whimsical mash-up designs from DoomBloomArt and Geek and Artsy!
If you've followed me for a while you know I love making (and backing) cute little pride projects. I'm snagging this trio of trans pride pins from Theys and Gays Designs, NerdyKeppie, and The Tabby Taffy.
And last, but not least, this picture frame pin I designed for Sharrone Only Photography's mixed media pin project!
There are still a few pledge tiers for custom pins available!
The Librarian tier lets you pick a genre for a new Mini Bookshelf Pin that will be unlocked for everyone
The Publisher tier gets you a fully customized run of 30 pins
Fulfillment Improvements
The first Bookshelves for Bibliophiles campaign was my largest project to date and this one is looking like it will be even bigger! I did almost all of the fulfillment work by myself last year and it was a lot... so it's time to bring in help! To minimize shipping delays, this campaign has budgeted some additional funds to pay other local artist(s) to assist with fulfillment. More pairs of hands will hopefully mean quicker grading, packaging, and fulfillment of campaign rewards. There's still a risk that things will take longer than expected, especially with the manufacturing process, but I think that this will be a huge improvement.
That's all for now! If you're excited about what's coming next you can continue to help the campaign grow by voting in the poll, increasing your pledge, and sharing it with your pin or book loving friends!
With love and creativity, Max
P.S. Look at how incredibly cool this Octopus pin from Arledge Comics is. Seriously y'all, go check them out!
