Lunate vol. 4 & 5

Aim

After the success of our vol. 3 Crowdfunder campaign, we're repeating that process for vol. 4... and vol. 5!

Hello again, friends. A quick rewind...

We ran a Crowdfunder for our third print volume back in March. To our great delight, we hit our £900 target in just two weeks. Incredible! And then, once we had the physical copies back from the printer (the wonderful TJ Books, as always) and we were able to share images and video in our webshop and on our socials, we sold the remaining few dozen copies of that print run in just over a week.

We were dumbfounded! An entire 100 print run sold out in barely no time at all. For once, caution had been proven to be perhaps not the best policy. Certainly, the number of requests and enquiries we received about another print run confirmed we could have sold more.

Damn!

Well, actually, not really. As we've said all along, we're building something here, and we're more than happy to go at a sensible pace. But, still, we were genuinely taken aback by the response to just our third volume. And, now that we've had time to reflect, we think we know why it did so well. One: readers really connected with the exceptional content. Six new extraordinary fiction and non-fiction pieces from established and emerging writers. Two: it, well… it just looked really cool. Design is so important to us — it has been from day one. In line with the clean, minimal design aesthetic of our website, the print edition has to showcase its content with style and with care. From the cover to the layout, typography and typesetting, it has to sing. And with vol. 3 we nailed it. Three: we've benefitted from proper positive word-of-mouth — an organic growth, if you will. Readers were keen to share their thoughts on Twitter and Instagram, and we saw orders come in as a result.

We’ve decided, as a result, while we plan a funding application for next year and, we hope, continue to benefit from ongoing growth, to plan one last CrowdFunder campaign. This time, to allow us to more meaningfully build a real foundation for the journal, this fundraiser will focus on our next two volumes: vols. 4 and 5. For each edition, we plan to publish at least six pieces of new work: a combination of longform short stories and non-fiction (essays/personal memoir.)

Vol. 3 Crowdfunder supporters showed a remarkable faith in us, committing their money before we had even launched the call for submissions. We’d like to show our appreciation for that trust this time around and share a little of the content of vol. 4 with you. You’ll be thrilled, then, we’re sure, to hear that it features a brand new story by the remarkable Jenn Ashworth. Her 'Digging Deeper' is a 6,000 word masterpiece: a chilling, folkloric tale of a couple attempting to fix their failing marriage against the backdrop of the local news story of a missing child. It is a dread-filled, bravura piece of storytelling. As you turn the last page, it will leave your jaw on the floor. We hope that it signals not just the scale of our intent but also offers an indicator of the quality of work that supporters can expect. 

We are again keen to be entirely transparent about finances. As with previous volumes, writers will be paid £100 (with the vol. 4 submission window opening, if we are successful, in early November for two weeks), and our printing costs will be approximately £700 in total. In short, with writers’ fees and print costs, Lunate vols. 4 and 5 will each cost approximately £950 to produce. There are no ‘hidden’ costs, no third parties to pay: all reading, editing, proofing, typesetting, software/hosting, designing, etc will be done/paid/absorbed for by us. (Full-time jobs, studying, new baby, single parenting, upcoming house move be damned, right?!) Vol. 4 will feature at least five more new pieces of fiction and non-fiction.

We’re using Crowdfunder again, in part, to allow supporters to have clear sight of progress and all donations. (There will be no mysterious large ‘donations’ if it’s looking tight near the end, either — we don’t have the money or rich friends!) We know that people’s disposable income is stretched now more than ever, and that buying books in advance is not high on everyone’s list of priorities. But… Still… We’re confident, hopeful and philosophical — if it goes to plan, and the support for independent publishing and the short form is there, the future of Lunate will be secured for future volumes.

So…Should the project succeed, we envisage commissioning all vol. 4 work by the end of November, and printing and shipping before Christmas. Quite the stocking filler! (Vol. 5 will follow in June next year.)

Now that we have an idea of the current size of our readership, we’re also happy to increase the print run… but gradually! We’d much rather produce a sensible number of copies and sell them all… than go mad and then be left with stock sat around for months. Therefore, Lunate vol. 4 and vol. 5 will publish in a numbered, limited edition of 150 copies. (Will you get number 001..?)

We’ve put together and some new and, we hope, exciting rewards and we do hope that those of you who’ve been with us for a while and those of you who’ve discovered us more recently might choose to take advantage of the two issue ‘subscription’, which saves you money as well as guaranteeing you your name on our Friends of Lunate page.

Thank you, as ever, for indulging us. We love this weird, beautiful little thing, and we know how much it means to so many readers and supporters. Carving out a niche in a crowded market is not easy, but we've managed to build something quite distinct and very special. We hope you're able to help us keep on keeping on.

Our love and thanks,
Han, Gary & Claire

PS Postage is included for all items. However, do please note that we are shipping to the UK and Ireland only. For our our friends in Ireland, if you could add £2 as a donation to cover the additional costs, that would be great. Thank you.

This project successfully funded on 31st October 2023