Hazel I & II Reprinting: A Witches' Lifestyle Zine

Hazel Campaign Wrap-Up
over 2 years ago – Sun, Nov 28, 2021 at 07:37:24 PM

Hello dear friends, 

The weather is getting chiller and the leaves are falling faster. It feels like winter is knocking at our doors much sooner than expected. I've been taking a break from social media for the most part just to rest and recuperate, which feels appropriate for this season of hibernation that has begun. While I'm doing year-end wrap-up work and planning big for the future, you can find me on Patreon at least once a month, but I'm keeping much of my socializing and sharing to warm cozy hangouts with friends at home.  Taking time to just absorb the sights and sounds of the season feels essential to my magical workings, and I hope you get plenty of time to do so as well. 

Thankfully now, the campaign is mostly wrapped up, and the vast majority of the rewards have been sent; physical rewards should be arriving and digital downloads should have come in from BackerKit, which helped us with distribution and organization behind the scenes once again this year.  There are still 10 surveys unanswered, so if you have not completed a survey please don't forget to do so by the end of the year!

Thanks again for another spectacular year, and while I anticipate taking a full year off this time to perhaps work on my first full graphic novel, I'm always thinking of the Hazel coven and the warmth you bring. Enjoy the season, and best wishes~

Lucy

Locking Orders & Prepping Fulfillment
over 2 years ago – Fri, Oct 22, 2021 at 08:32:45 PM

Fall has truly arrived! The weather is getting cooler and the leaves are turning beautiful shades of red, gold, and orange. Mushrooms are popping up after the rain, and a fairy or two might even flit right by the corner of your eye.  With the arrival of fall comes our books, which are reported to be on their way to us now! There was a bit of a delay in the start of production, since I added the Extras as a printed option as well, but they're finally finished and in the mail, so if you'd like a physical copy, please be sure to find your BackerKit Survey email and add it on! 

That being said, EVERYONE who hasn't responded to their surveys yet should do so as soon as possible - they're very quick to fill out, aside from the decision-making involved in whether you want to add on anything else to your order, of course! We have 88% of the surveys we sent out completed. We'll be locking orders and addresses soon, and we can't fulfill your reward without doing so. 

It's a great time to choose your favorite cup of tea and sit outside your porch, and of course fill out your survey if you haven't. I hope you enjoy this incredible season of magic, the thinning of the veil between worlds, and celebration of the harvest. This season always feels more like the true "new year" to me, so I'm reflecting on the year in a soon-to-come Patreon post (which will be free to read), planning for next year, and getting ready to settle into the season of rest. 

Best wishes, 

Lucy

Surveys Coming Soon and Printing the Extras!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Sep 30, 2021 at 07:50:20 PM

Hello, witches!

BIG NEWS: We're printing physical copies of the supplemental reading! I decided to pay for it out of pocket, since I really want everyone to have the opportunity to get a physical copy, and a few of you had been saying how much you had hoped we'd hit that goal. It's a bit of a hefty price for me to pay upfront, but you can help out by preordering your copy through the BackerKit store once your survey comes in very shortly! I can't wait to share these with you!

We just sent out a smoke test of backer surveys, so a small percentage of you will be able to check your email and find your survey already. Once we confirm that there are no hiccups with that, the surveys will go out to everyone else within the next week or so. Other things in the BackerKit shop you can look forward to are our deer charm, fox cottage pin, and witches' retreat tote bag. 

With all the prep to get the extras PDF printed, I was behind on getting our files to the printer, but I'll find out the printer's estimated delivery schedule soon. They have everything they need from us, and they're usually pretty fast, so it's just up to when they're able to get everything finished and shipped.  It's a lot more books than we usually order at once, so it may take longer than usual, but I'll keep everyone updated! Digital copies will go out around the same time that the books begin to ship, so everyone can get their orders in the same time frame.

It's been an overwhelmingly busy month for me, but the pace is finally starting to even out, so I'm excited to get these out to you. I'm hoping to start on some other witchy projects, so if that interests you, you can follow along on Patreon for free or back me at a paid tier to continue to see and support my work as I take on these new projects. The Herb Gardener tier gets you a digital download every month, which is sometimes stationery, sometimes digital wallpapers, or even a moon calendar every now and then. I'm trying to find ways to keep in touch with you all without having to rely on Instagram so much (though you can always find me there), so Patreon and the Cottonbook website are going to be my focus more and more going forward. I hope I can find a good spot to keep the conversations with you going and share my artist's studio with you, so to speak!

Have a lovely end to your week,

Lucy

First Stretch Goal Reached! Contributors Get a Raise!
over 2 years ago – Sun, Aug 22, 2021 at 08:46:08 PM

Hello, dear coven-mates,

Wow, thank you for helping us get to our first stretch goal, with 9 days in the campaign left to go! This has been a tricky project for me to organize, because so many of you are returning readers, and the new material we were able to put together is just $5, so it takes a lot of you to get to $4,500! I'm so happy we could reach a lot of new readers, too, so we could make this thing happen and bring back the first two issues to those who have been asking for a copy. 

Running out of copies of issue III has really hampered our ability to offer the full set to new readers, too, so I'm trying to see what I can do about that. It's a really high goal for printing all three beginning issues, and part of that is getting better compensation for our contributors as well as printing this supplemental reading we put together this year. Maybe there's some reshuffling we can do to prioritize reprinting issue III over printing the supplemental reading?

I'm looking forward to what this last week of the campaign will hold! We're partnering with BackerKit once again, so you can add extras to your order once the surveys go out, and any funds you add now will help us get closer to our stretch goals, and then be applied as credits for add-ons in BackerKit, a win-win!   Thanks for helping us get the word out, too, and bringing more at-home magic into the world!

Best wishes for your week,

Lucy