Local pick-up / more backstage peeks!
about 5 years ago
– Sun, Apr 07, 2019 at 08:13:38 AM
Locals, several of you have asked about whether you can buy the cookbook and avoid shipping costs. Yes, but it's a little complicated. Here's the details:
a) during the Kickstarter, if you just want books / postcards, you can pre-order at this link: http://serendibkitchen.com/shop/
b) if you want the larger reward packages, you need to do the Kickstarter (because I need to track quantities on those, since they're limited). You'll be charged for shipping by Kickstarter, but I should be able to reimburse you about 85-90% of shipping costs after the fact, if you want to do porch pick-up instead -- some percentages do get taken out by Kickstarter and the payment processors, so you wouldn't get it all back. I'll calculate exact amounts when all this is over. (It's a little bit of extra work for me, but on the other hand, I want you to have that option, and it does help the overall visible funding climb, which is nice for making the project more visible. So feel free to choose this option if you like. When Heather is working on fulfillment, she'll send an e-mail to Chicagoland folks asking if you'd rather do local pick-up or have items shipped.)
c) we'll be having local events, such as a launch party in mid-June at Eastgate Cafe, and I'll have books there, and probably food photos, recipe cards, sweets, and soaps as well. But no guarantees on what exactly I'll have in stock at that point, or what I'll haul around to events. I'm hoping to be at What's Blooming on Harrison, but not sure if the books will be ready by then. I'm also hoping to have all of this ready for WisCon, where the SLF will be doing a party with Rad Magpie AND staffing a dealer's table, you should come to both, but no guarantees that the books will be ready that early! Hopefully!
Questions?
***
We are chugging along merrily on the Kickstarter -- past the first stretch goal of $7K, and at $7585 now, so heading nicely towards stretch goal #2, the gluten-free additional cookbook. I hope people are actually interested in that as a stretch goal, but even if most of my donors aren't, *I'm* interested in it -- I know so many people who are avoiding bread / avoiding gluten / are celiac / etc. It really makes me happy to think that if I can introduce them to Sri Lankan food, they can find a world of exciting new foods to enjoy. :-)
I continue to be a little startled by how popular the hardcover is. Common wisdom is that the sweet spot for Kickstarter pledge levels is around $25, but for this drive, it's been more like $45, with most people going for one of the hardcover packages. I have to admit, I almost never buy hardcovers myself!
But on the other hand, if I do buy print cookbooks, it's hardcover as often as not -- either because I want the nice glossy photos or because it's easier to cook out of something that will lay comfortably flat on the counter, or both... So I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. And yet, I am -- I almost didn't do the hardcover at all, because I wasn't sure anyone other than my dad would want it. Please do not ever hire me to predict future market trends. :-)
It's also interesting to note that a small percentage of people (15%) found it via Kickstarter -- I guess they have a dedicated audience who likes looking for new projects to support? The vast majority came from outside referrers, which I think mostly means Facebook. Thank you, Facebook? Hm. And 0% from custom referrers.
I admit, I actually have no idea what custom referrers refers to, which is a little painfully self-referential. (See what I did there?) But I should probably figure that out, eh?
Regardless, onwards!
- Mary Anne
