One of the big things we learned in the Sissonne debacle Kickstarter was the insane cost of shipping.
Basically, shipping outside of the US to anywhere but Canada ($12.50-$14.00 ?) the cost is $24.40. Yes, that much.
But get this…IF the thing being posted is ‘letter mail’ (less than 6-6.25″ on one side, no more than 1/4″ thick and under whatever weight making it machine sortable) then it can be sent practically anywhere in the world for only $1.98. Yes, that much.
I’m testing this right now, and so far so good. I have learned that the heavier papers offered for practically no more cost by the printers (130lb covers and such) will increase the weight of the smaller comic and therefor cost more than $1.98 to mail. But a regular manga sized (5″ x 7.5″) comic, with 28 pages not including cover, on regular paper weights (80lb cover, 70lb interior pages) DOES come in under the weight limit and posts for $1.98.
Edit: Someone did say that they can mail first class for only $13. I will have to check that out. But even then, $2 is still a much better deal.
I need to look into customs forms for letter mail though. It might not be necessary to use them on regular letter mail, and that would be even better.
So, long story short you are likely to see my next kickstarters have these ‘manga sized’ books available to anyone outside of the US. I’ll still offer full sized books in the US, and have arrangements for Spook town to also be full sized in the UK and possibly the EU (thanks to writer David Thomas).
Please feel free to ask any questions. Cheers!