Lesbians in Space: The Anthology (Where No Man Has Gone Before)

Hi folks!

Thanks so much for all your support during Booktopia! This has been an amazing experience for me, working with a bunch of other creators at the same time. There was a lot of great support and mutual aid behind the scenes as the creators talked with each other and helped make this a success. Our campaign ended with an incredible $10,823 in total, more than doubling our $4,000 goal and even managing to raise a little income!

I mentioned last time, but almost all this money goes right back into the product, and I hope to get you the best version I can! We managed to pass four stretch goals, and get over halfway to the next one! That means not only is Lesbians in Space coming to you, but also:

- We're paying all our anthology authors $0.02 more per word than our goal!
- The anthology will have 5 illustrations!
- Everyone who's getting the hardback version will get some fancy extras! If you haven't voted in the poll yet, make sure you do so! Thus far, the winners are: color illustrations, cover embossing, sprayed edges, and premium paper. I'll start looking at possible suppliers soon to figure out how many of these features (and more!) we can have.
- We also got about halfway to our goal of paying ourselves (for the first time), so that means we even get to keep a little bit out of this campaign!

NEXT STEPS:
First, BackerKit will charge your cards in the next day or so. If anything fails, don't worry that you won't get your rewards. Just go into your account and check your credit card information and they'll charge the card again.

Then, after about two weeks, BackerKit will transfer over the funds.

In the meantime, I already have my surveys pretty much created, and it will go through checking by the BackerKit folks in the next few days. Then I'll send them on to you!

When you get your survey PLEASE FILL THESE OUT AND RETURN SURVEY ASAP, especially if you are getting existing books from Space Wizard. As soon as you complete your survey, I can start figuring out what to ship out and how soon. If you missed something you wanted in the campaign, pretty much everything is available as an addon (including the hardcover and oracle cards) so you have a change to snag them. I'll also have a pre-order store up soon if you missed backing the campaign!

***Remember: if you backed both collab projects (mine and The Warm Machine) at a physical tier, you'll get your cards from each creator. I'll send my three cards with my order and Aimee will send hers with hers.***

Lesbians in Space itself will be coming to you around June 2025. Submissions are open for authors until December 31st, 2024, so get those stories written! We'll be looking through the entries as they come, and will hopefully finish our selections by end of January or February 2025, leaving plenty of time for final edits before production.

Alright, I think that's it for now. I started my annual apple butter production today while waiting for the campaign to finish, so if you find me at a local market in NC, I might have some to sell!



I'll be back in contact in a few days!

William Tracy

Hi Folks!

I'm astounded at the progress over the last couple days! We just passed $10,000 and our fourth stretch goal, which means any of you who backed the hardcover option will now get as many cool options as I can reasonably stuff into the book! I've got a few printer options available to look at, so make sure you vote in the poll to let me know what features you want! This will help me prioritize which printer to go with.

And if you haven't backed the hardcover option...well, it's a pretty good time to do so!

We've got 18 hours left in this campaign, and one last stretch goal to unlock! Space Wizard is a small business, and as such, I put pretty much everything I get from it back into the authors and increasing the business itself. I've run 6 other successful campaigns before this, and haven't actually made a profit on any of them! Their sole purpose is to break even, so I have the funds to produce the great stories I want to see out in the world.

This time, my wife, Heather, and I decided to add a special goal focusing only on ourselves. Now that we've covered all the main upgrades I wanted to see in this project, remaining funds will be a source of income for us for once!



Thank you all so much for believing in the project! Let's see where it takes us on the last day!

William Tracy

P.S. Verne and Doyle also say thanks for backing and for helping out with the kibbles!

Hello folks!

(This original update was supposed to go out last Friday, but never made it out of the gate, so now you get the new and improved, updated version!)

We've crossed $8000! Thanks so much for making this happen. We're 200% funded, and author pay rates are going up again! This, to me, is one of the best things about my crowdfunding campaigns. I get to pay authors more for their art!

And what am I paying them for? Lesbians in Space! From the poll numbers, turns out you folks mainly just want the Lesbians, with 48% of the vote! Second is Science Fiction, with 22%, followed by Fantasy and Adventure, tied for 13%. Only 4% of you want the spicy, Steamy stories!



We've only got 3 days left, so I'm really hoping we hit our next stretch goal at $10,000 for Fancy Hardcovers! I've attached a poll to gather some information about what fancy features you want. Not all of these are available at every printer, so this will help me decide which company to go with. See below!

Finally, I want to point to you a few other awesome campaigns in booktopia. Remember, if you back at least 5 projects, BacketKit will send you a free metal bookmark!

First up, Nuclear Strudel, which, aside from having a fantastic name, looks like an excellent graphic novel!


Here's what the author has to say about it:

"Nuclear Strudel is an independent narrative set in the Quantum Marmalade universe. It blends intriguing alien cultures, giant monsters, questions about organized religion, and plenty of jokes about pastry. ("Kefsh’koopz" is the Diotashese word for pastry, in case you were wondering, which I KNOW YOU WERE.)

Strudel grapples with the process of letting go of one's faith. The characters in the narrative have grown up within the Kilviosh Church, a militant institution with sacred technological power. Fighting in the Church's many wars was their entire purpose for decades.

But what if the Church was built on a lie? As our characters discover the hidden past of the Kilviosh Church, they face a reality starkly different from what they've been taught. They must now wrestle with questions about their upbringing, their beliefs, their leaders, and even their very existence. As someone who grew up very religious, and has since let go of my faith, this story is a deeply personal one.

But hey, I've also tried to make it funny because we could all use some levity. And also baked goods. You're welcome."

Second, is another graphic novel, Sombulus, which backed myself because it looks really cool. They're 85% funded, so let's help push them to the finish line (so I can get my graphic novel!!)


Here's what it's about:

"ACT 1 of Sombulus introduces Astyr, a world-hopping scavenger from the winged, magic-based Demshul culture, where the essence they draw from objects/creatures in the Myriad Worlds is used as currency. Flippant and carefree, he's hit the jackpot this time: an immortal king who can't seem to get the hang of dying asks Astyr to take his immortality.  It's a tough task, but if he can pull it off, he'll have it made!

Sydney, the zealous paladin sworn to fight the Demshul, is not so lucky.  Her pursuit of Astyr quickly lands her in the royal prison and under the scrutiny of the stern princess, who is convinced she's sent to end her father's immortal life and won't take "no" for an answer.

Their mutual friend Rana is also caught in the middle of the kingdom's troubled past, though Rana's curious inventions, kind nature, and strange ability to talk to any machine might just come in handy when both Sydney and Astyr's situations take a sharp left turn.

Daring escapes, magic gone wrong, and desperate royals collide as the world bursts into color and they all must find a way to work together to save the kingdom!"

Check out Sombulus!

Alright, that's all for now. Spread the word so I can pay my authors more, and so you can get those fancy hardbacks! Remember to vote in the poll!

William Tracy

Hi Folks!

We just crossed over our second stretch goal, and now our anthology will come with 5 illustrations! We're hoping to have our amazing illustrator from our previous anthologies, Katie Cordy, work with us again. Here are some previous examples of her work, including one of the pieces in Fiery Deeps, our new anthology releasing this Tuesday!

We've got another 11 days to go in the campaign, so keep getting the word out to friends and family! Our next stretch goal is looming on the horizon. This one is again to pay it back to our anthology authors (and we're already starting to get submissions!)

At $8,000, We'll pay all our writers another $0.01 per word!

Remember, after that, we get fancy at $10,000, with upgrades for our hardback version!

Hope your September is stupendous, and I'll talk to you soon!

William Tracy

Hi Folks!

We're still working toward that second stretch goal of illustrations for the story, so be sure to tell your friends and family about Lesbians in Space! Remember, there's also tons of addons, like our new keychains, pins, and stickers (with holographic coating!)

While you're exploring Booktopia, make sure to check out all the other amazing projects running at the same time! If you back 5 or more (like I have), you'll get a free metal bookmark direct from BackerKit! Here's a couple examples to get you started!


I'm a beekeeper, so I was instantly drawn to this campaign. It's a great kid's book about a young boy who wants to help out in his family's apiary, and it's a great way to introduce kids to beekeeping!



I've also really been getting into LitRPG and progression fantasy lately, and this one looks like a great adventure! Go check it out!


We're one third of the way through this campaign, which means there's two weeks to go, and some fun stretch goals to hit, including fancy hardback options if we get to $10,000! Once we get there, I'll put out a poll for what features you want.

But speaking of polls, what do you like to read? What stories are you looking forward to in the anthology? Click in the poll below and let me know!

Until next time!

William Tracy