🚂 summer '24 zine updates!
Hello there!
We are a few weeks away from Summer ‘24 zine orders opening up on September 13th, so I want to send a few updates:
The zine will be ordered on Gumroad, not Google Forms.
Gumroad is an e-commerce platform that enables me to collect “pay what you can” contributions up front.
I’ve been testing this with my remaining ~200 zines from last edition, and contribution percentage has gone up from 58% to 89% and the average contribution has been $7.36 after 161 orders — sticking with it.
You’ll also get a shipping notification when I mail it out, which is nice.
When it’s time to order the zine on September 13th, I will email you the link here and post it on Instagram Stories.
The zine is still pay what you want.
$0 still works for those who need it.
Paid zines will have expedited shipping.
The suggested contribution will be $7.50. This encompasses:
Professional printing + binding + envelopes
Two stickers
A postage stamp ($0.73)
Paying all zine contributors
Administrative costs of running a “small business”
Gumroad and Stripe fees
If you want to “pay it forward” and help offset the free zines, $10+ will do the trick.
Average contribution has been $7.36 per zine with 161 orders on the Gumroad pilot.
There will be a Summer ‘24 zine merch store, and you are welcome to contribute less to the zine if you plan on buying some. It all goes to the same place: reinvested back into the train_songz operation.
I have less than a page of zine sponsorships left. If you’d be interesting in supporting the zine via a sponsorship, please reach out to conductor@trainsongz.net!
That’s all for now! The zine can’t truly be finished until Summer ‘24 tour wraps in Los Angeles, and then we’ll get to work on finalizing 20 pages of print media deliciousness! Feels like it’s becoming more what it’s meant to be with each edition.
The cover + back page are almost ready and they are (literally) pieces of art. We got very talented artists to do them. Stay tuned…
Lots of work ahead…and I’m in the middle of an apartment move…but when it comes together, it’s gonna be beautiful. The new place has a tiny little “office,” so we’re looking at an official Zine HQ that’s not my kitchen table (!!!) which is sweet.
Anyone have desk chair recommendations? Lol. No more working or stuffing envelopes from a dining chair! My back hurts!
-The Conductor