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Lore Bit Game Tokens Color Variations

Here are the different Lore Bit’s colors.  We also are going to add the Kickstarter rewards on Monday to this website.

I still have hope that it will fully fund, however at 56% and four days to go, it’s not likely to fully fund.

All of these colors are also available as Magnets.

I’d like to do a special shoutout to someone who asked me to create a specific reward for them, but then never actually followed through with pledging.

*headdesk*

Laura

 

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53% Funded and Five more Days to Go!

There are five more days to go on the Lore Bits kickstarter.  I’m not sure it’s going to fully fund.  There is always hope, but mathmatically, the numbers don’t quite add up to being at 100%.

Which means that zilch happens when the kickstarter ends.

I will be adding all the rewards to this website after it finishes, rain or shine.  They will be up for about a week and then I’m raising the Lore Bits game counters.  The main feedback that I got on them was the shipping was too high.  I think that we have all gotten used to free shipping from the mighty zon.  The only real adjustment that I can make is to increase the base price and decrease the shipping.

I wish there was a magically shiny place where the post office or fed ex don’t charge for shipping.  Let me know when you find it. 🙂

Onward and upward!

Laura

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33 Days to go on Lore Bit’s KickStarter

Please support the Lore Bits Kickstarter.  Or buy them from Paper Butterfly Forge.  🙂

Hmmmm……. hmmmmm…. Only 12% funded………  It’s too bad that more people aren’t interested.  I don’t have a wish and a dream about the kickstarter project.  I have already made plenty of samples.  Lore Bits look and feel great when using them as game counters.

 

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34 Days until the Lore Bits KickStarter Ends!

Kickstarter Link: Lore Bits

Hey, Hope you guys are having a great day!  I know this blog doesn’t get any comments, but I see people visit this page all the time. 🙂

So Lore Bits started out as glass dome comic book magnets.  Like this one:

Jane Grey Magnet

 

While I was talking to my guy about game night it occured to me that these would make great game counters or tokens for game night.  We use these all the time to track lives, health and remaining turns.  It’s very helpful.

However, I’ve noticed that many game counters are rather bland, are just landscaping stones that have been repurposed.  I thought I could make a better product.

Taaaa daaaaa!!!!!  Lore Bits!

Kickstarter 1

They are on Kickstarter until April 22nd, 2015.  Consider purchasing them there or on my humble website that you are currently on.  The price is doubling after the Kickstarter to be competitive with other custom game markers/meeples.

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35 Days Until the Lore Bits Kickstarter ends

Ummmm…. please support!!!!!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1414668515/lore-bits-glimmering-game-counters

The game counters/tokens are well worth your support.  I’m probably going to double the price after the Kickstarter ends.  Hand finished game tokens are really, really, really rare in our world of factory made goods.  I had priced them to compete with factory made goods, but maybe that’s the wrong approach.

35 more days to go!  Get them at the lower price while you can!

 

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36 Days to go on Kickstarter

36 days to go and the Lore Bits Kickstarter has cracked 10% funding and has 7 supporters.  I’m not sure it’s going to fully fund.  But I’ve been assured that the last 48 hours of a kickstarter may see an increase in sponsors.

cropped-Lore-Bits-Promo-002.jpg

I get plenty of orders from other places besides kickstarter, so it’s all good.  However, they were specifically designed for Kickstarter and it’s game playing peeps.  So this is dissappointing.  I haven’t given up on it though.

I’ve gotten an email asking if I can make it in a larger size.  Not for now.  If I can’t get enough people to pledge to buy the 18mm size; I don’t see the reason for spending a few thousand on making custom sizes.  Plus, one guy asked for a custom package, but he hasn’t purchased the custom package, yet.  Or maybe he’s one of the 48 hour people.  Who knows. 🙂

Here’s hoping for more positive news about the Kickstarter.

 

 

 

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Fun Shimmering Fridge Magnets

I’ve been concentrating so much on the Kickstarter, I almost forget about the cool fridge magnets that can be made from Lore Bits.

They are all glowy and putting them on a fridge seems to make them even more glowy.  There are more photos on the way for the magnets!

Woo hoo!!!!!

The other improvement for the website is that I’m going to add some downloadable games.  Pente, Go, Tic Tac Toe, there are plenty of traditional games that use unmarked marbles or stones.  I think it would be a good addition.

Please comment or send an email if you have any specific game suggestions.

 

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40 Days Until the Lore Bits Kickstarter finishes.

Here’s the short link, in case you can’t find the other 20,000 places that I’ve posted it.

http://tinyurl.com/oqcbcgh

A part of me wonders if I should be promoting my own website as much as I’m posting the Kickstarter link.  Would this energy be better served if I posted my own links 20 times a day?  What about 40 links a day?

I’m working on this day and night.  Answering questions on Kickstarter, posting new rewards, and generally being on high alert every moment of every day.  Forty more days?  Yeeks!

It is not fully funded yet.  Not even 10% funded yet.  Should I have made it for a $100 and not $2000?  What will happen if it doesn’t get funded?  Lore Bits are a great product.  It’s a matter of getting them in to the right hands.

Just nervousing!

It would be great if there was a magic wand that would help it get noticed.  There is no magic wand, of course.  The Oatmeal’s kickstarter was fantasically successful just a few weeks ago.  The Pebble watch thingy was even more successful.  Maybe I’m on the wrong crowdfunding site if all Kickstarter is interested in is large projects that generate a lot of fees for them.

Oh.  Dear.   That might be the problem.

I’ve still been contacted by more marketers than potential purchasers.  Growth Hacking is apparently the latest marketing buzzword.  Too bad.  I rather liked SEO expert.  It had the word expert modified by SEO.  Which is fancy speak for someone who knows how to manipulate Google’s algorythim.

If you do see this post, go check out the kickstarter.  If you see this post after the kickstarter ends (April 22nd, 2015) , make sure you check out the shop on this website.  You can buy the Lore Bits at a reasonable price, support a small business and get some super shiny game tokens!

 Note:  Please send more comments about how many hits I’m missing out on google, search engines, and everything else.  It’s good to know that I’m missing out on 300 unique visitors a day.

 

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Why Make Stuff?

In our consumer driven society, it can be so much easier to order some factory made goods.  They look the same, they smell the same and let’s face it, they are usually consistent in quality.  All of which lend itself to the McDonaldaztion of America.  Sometimes there is a place for mass produced good.

Why not save a place in your house for hand crafted goods?  Pottery is one thing that comes to mind.  Plenty of potters around who sell their goods at weekend fairs.  What about toys?  Crave something other than plastic?  You might be luck, plenty of crafters make cloth dolls, toys, and wooden blocks.

Does it seem more expensive?  Sure.  But they aren’t mass producing their goods.  They are handcrafted, paying taxes here, and often are of great quality.   And you get to support a small workshop.  Tucked into corners around any large city, they preserve the old crafts.

One of my great loves is making paper.  Unfortunately, my Seattle soggy climate does not lend itself to producing large quantities of paper.  It’s nice making it for my personal use though!

All that fussing around with crafts has made create afghan’s, pillows, crocheting and now Lore Bits and their fridge magnet cousins.  I hope you will find them an excellent addition to your home and game table.

Do you hand craft something that could be ordered from a giant factory?  Send a picture and description,  I might feature it on this blog!

Laura

Note:  My humble game counters have been rejected by www.boardgamegeek.com because they aren’t for a specific game.  Then they rejected my company, because the game counters were rejected.  I’m sure they have a specific rule in place that supports that.  It’s an extremely large website, that I had hoped would provide a tad bit of traffic for the Kickstarter.   But alas, it is not to be.

One more mountain that I need to overcome.

No wonder so many people create their own game review blogs.  I didn’t even know they had that rule.  In addition, they have an old school thread system that I hadn’t seen in over 10 years.  I’m sure it would be a nightmare to migrate everything.  My suggestion?  They should check out BuddyPress for a solution.

Good thing that many more places are welcoming to upstarts like me!

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KickStarter is Live!

KickStarter: Link

I’m so excited!  We’ve been working hard to perfect the Lore Bits!  They are perfect for Game Money, Tokens, or Hoarding.

cropped-Lore-Bits-Promo-002.jpg

How could you resist supporting them on KickStarter?

C’mon you know you want toooo……

Link: Lore Bits Kickstarter

Note:  3/10/15.  Okay, so the kickstarter campaign hasn’t gotten off to the best start.  I’ve actually gotten more marketing companies contacting me instead of subscribers.  As of yet, not one seems to have read the campaign.  I’ll let you know when I get at least one that knows what Lore Bits are.

Kickstarter seems to have buried the campaign.  I even have problems finding it unless using a direct link.   While projects like exploding kittens get lots of love, not so much independents who make great products.  The only solution that I’ve heard for that problem is buy lots and lots of advertising.  That would push up the price of the products.  In addition, it seems to go against the spirit of kickstarter, which is to fund independent projects.

But who knows, maybe I will be pleasantly surprised if Kickstarter picks it as a good project.  🙂

It runs until April 22nd, 2015.

If it’s not successful, I still have faith in my Lore Bits.  They will make a great addon product at game stores.  Something by the register for people to buy.

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Etsy Filed to be a Public Company Today

Etsy filed to be a public company today.  I guess that explains why a small store like mine gets ignored.  Oh, but I can promote my goods.  Just pay a tiny fee.  Looks like there have been a lot people doing that from the looks of their S-1 statement that they filed.

I wish them the best of luck.  But if they are in search of someone to pay their filing fees and all that fine stuff, I’m out of there.  Not that they would notice.  I’m sure Paper Butterfly Forge isn’t on their radar.

I’ve helped prepare filings for public companies before and worked with auditors before.  I know it isn’t cheap.  Never mind the millions of sellers they have.  What are their sales?  I’m willing to bet the listing fees exceed the total sales.

A recent ABC news article said over 65% of the sellers make less than a hundred dollars a year on etsy.  I can’t say I was surprised.

It’s clear that some of the products on sale there are made in a factory.  Too many available, too perfect, photoshopped and completely not hand made by artisans.  The last time I checked the glass dome there were over 36,000 results.  I’ve seen products listed that were labeled with Daiso labels. (Japanese Walmart)  I’ve seen supposedly all hand made products with over 200,000 sales by one person.

Earlier this winter, they changed the rules, so you could hire workshops or FACTORIES to produce your products.  You only had to design your product.  Yah, that’s a factory folks.

I guess that the end of the day, I don’t want to pay for some finance whiz’s yacht.   I’d rather buy my own yacht.

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Kickstarter – Lore Bits

Hey guys, we are getting ready to launch a kickstarter campaign for Lore Bits.  What are Lore Bits?  Totally awesome game tokens that are made from tint, glass & actual metal.  Notice there is no cardboard and no printing.  How do they look?

Teal Lore Bits b

Shiny!

So far we have about eight colors and are researching and experimenting with tint.  If you have a suggestion, let us know.

Game on.  Laura

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Over Six Million listed on Etsy

I was trying to find out how many shops were on etsy.   I found a search box for shops.  When the search box was empty, it showed over six million users.  I’m not sure if that includes purchasers or if it’s just shops.  But it certainly explains why it’s so difficult to be found on etsy.

You do need an outside sales funnel pointed at etsy for it to be really effective.

One of the webinars that I attended for etsy; suggested that you should have at least 200 products listed.  Unless you are doing one of kinds, that would be difficult for most people to stock.  It’s time and materials invested into a hope and a dream.

What do you think?