 | Get Cheap with Joey Royale! |
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In this newsletter | Get Haunted Industries | Ham & Egg Publishing | Stillfleet Studio |
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Joey Royale, Get Haunted IndustriesI’m Cheap and So Can You |
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Ciao Paesans! Let’s talk business. So you’re sitting in the park feeding firecrackers to squirrels like one does, and BAM—an idea from Olympus smacks you in the head. Now what?
Want to see my eyes glaze over like a donut? Corner me at a party and start telling me about the great idea you’re totally going to start one day.
Baloney.
Just do it. Get it out there.
“How do I get it out there?” you ask. Here are some quick tips:
Graphic Design
I’m cheap. I downloaded Affinity Publisher through Canva for free and watched a few YouTube videos about moving things around and changing colors. I only stopped using Microsoft Publisher because it’s going out to pasture next year.
Printing Zines
I’m cheap. I send a PDF to Mixam, and then my zines magically manifest on my doorstep a week or two later. I keep the orders small, so I don’t stretch myself too thin. That leftover money goes straight into the next print run.
Printing Stickers
I’m cheap. Sticky Brand is fast, and they run a sale every five minutes. Stay away from Sticker Mule unless you like jackasses.
Set Up an Online Store
I’m cheap. I use DriveThruRPG for PDFs and Etsy for physical stuff. Both are free to set up, but they take a cut of sales. There are tons of platforms, and everyone has opinions about them. My advice: pick one that feels right, stick with it, and treat your customers well.
Mailing
Did I mention I’m cheap?
Stay away from ULine:
https://refuseuline.com
Get a label printer. Seriously. It will save you hours of stress. I grabbed a BT620 Bluetooth thermal label printer for about $80. I print labels downstairs while watching Unsolved Mysteries upstairs.
For the WHPA BackerKit, I printed hundreds of labels and never hit a snag.
For A5 zines, grab a stack of 6×9 envelopes. I like the stiff white ones that prevent bending. Thin envelopes can get mangled. Bubble mailers are good too. I buy whatever’s cheapest in bulk.
That extra touch:
I slide my zines into 6×9 self-sealing clear plastic bags for extra protection.
Media Mail
$4.47 for a package under a pound, and it usually lands in 2–8 days. Bada bing, bada boom.
LLCs and Taxes Once you have some steady ground under you, think about forming an LLC so your zine business is separate from your personal accounts. I got my Connecticut LLC license online for about $100.
Etsy and other platforms make it easy to report profits for tax purposes. I write off everything mentioned above—but I’m not an accountant, so take that advice however you want.
I’m no expert, but I’ve learned from my pals and my mistakes. Reach out if you need advice on any of this stuff: lordbludd@gmail.com
Ok, speech over—go have a sfogliatelle and relax. If you want to go deeper, check out my homeboy Hambone McGuire’s masterpiece: Crowdfund Your F#@king Life. Oh yeah, and PWYW! Throw the guy a couple of bucks if you can, though. |
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| | Ham & Egg PublishingThis Week in Hambone |
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Ahoy! It’s your old buddy Hambone here with a few cool things I’d love to hip ya to. Firstly, while most know me as a podcaster and writer, I am also a lifelong musician. It’s been one of the great joys of my life, and I’ve been lucky to be able to play just about everywhere with everyone I’d wanted to over the last three decades. But for the last ten or so years, I have been holding it down as the bassist of an Outlaw Country band called Secret Country.
Now, I know that when people hear the term “country,” many negative connotations come to mind. But we don’t play any of that crybaby modern country bullshit. Secret Country is a bunch of punk rock kids who play Outlaw Country in the tradition of Waylon and Willie, albeit faster.
You can check out our latest single, Hoppin’ The Hudson at the link below. Our next full-length album, Word To The Wise, will be out in May from Killing Horse Records. | | |
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This week I also burned through a couple of books, one of which, Here Lies A Vengeful Bitch by Codie Crowley, stood out as my favorite. It’s a paranormal thriller about a murdered bad girl back from the grave and bent on revenge, set amongst a cast of characters who feel lived-in and real. I had a blast reading it. Check it out at your local library or snag a copy at your friendly local bookstore! |
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Coming to BackerKit on 4/21 |
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Finally, we’re just one week away from the launch of my next crowdfunding campaign for use with ShadowDark RPG. Check it out.
Darkness isn’t creeping in; it’s already here.
Of A Harmonious Nature launches on BackerKit April 21st as part of a brutal Dark Double Feature with Nothing Left To Lose.
Two nightmares. One system you already love.
If Shadowdark thrives on tension, risk, and the fear of what’s waiting in the next room, this is where it gets worse because this isn’t just horror. This is SAW inside a murder maze built to break your players!
Early birds. Minis. Twisted choices you don’t walk away from. |
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Stillfleet Studio Bringing Danse Macabre to Un-Life |
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Hey y’all, here is a quick peek behind the scenes of the production of a run of books using offset printing—in this case, the five books that make up Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying by Christopher Pickett and the Stillfleet Studio (a medieval zombie apocalypse TTRPG).
Above, you can see the physical proofs of the Danse Macabre books. These are actually digital samples, not offset prints. Offset printing looks great and makes individual books cheaper, at scale, but it’s an expensive process: you can’t do it more than once per product, basically.
To figure out how to tweak your margins/bleed, CMYK colors, matte or glossy lamination (cover finishes), and any extras such as foils or spot UV layers, you go back and forth with the printer using quicker, cheaper digital prints.
Digital prints are cool, but they never look exactly the same as the offset versions. The main issue we’ve found is that black ink comes out splotchy in a digital print, whereas it looks rich and smooth in the offset run. Below is an example of this from the physical proof of the Reliquary, which won’t have splotchy patches on the final version: |  | Another tricky issue is foil. The softback version of the Danse Macabre Rulebook has silver foil, and the hardback has bronze foil (see below). Turns out, it’s really hard to take accurate pictures of shiny things! You can’t rely on pictures or video to proof foil.
Also, foil is hot-stamped onto books. (I’m picturing a James Bond-villain machine for dripping out boiling-hot metal…) It can be tough for printers to nail the placement of foil over very fine lines and text. Hence, we have to look at the proofs in-person, up-close, and send detailed notes. (This also helps us double check the text for typos.)
You can compare these nigh-final covers to our crowdfunding images, which were made earlier on in the process, before we knew what foil would look best over which layers of art. |  | The takeaway for me—after having led the development of three games that were offset-printed—is the offset printing can be a good fit for indie TTRPG creators, but you have to make it worth your while.
In addition ordering a certain minimum number of copies, you really have to pay careful attention to physical samples and take more time when you need it for proofing, making extra room in your schedule to check finicky extras such as foil.
If you enjoyed this quick look at the evolution of a few books by a small team of indie artists (all humans, no bots), let us know! We’re happy to share more. | | |
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| | Geek Flea Kearny, NJ – April 18th |
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Saturday, April 18, in Kearny, New Jersey, Geek Flea returns! Browse over 50 tables of toys and collectibles, books, knick-knacks, video games, crafts, art, snacks, and more! Get ready for spring with the coolest geeks in North Jersey. Entry is FREE for all, 10 am to 3 pm. ——— We organize Geek Flea for one main reason: to hang out and have a good time with our local North Jersey geek scene. We’re glad to be back once again, so thank you for your patronage! |
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GameFace Con Baltimore, MD – May 23rd & 24 |
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Baltimore’s Annual Tabletop Game Convention at Peabody Heights Brewery 12 pm – 8 pm both days.
Meet creators, shop, and play tabletop RPGs and board games |
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ModCon 2026 Northampton, MA – May 30th |
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Game submissions are open now, and badges are on sale for the first-ever ModCon.
It’s happening May 30th at the beautiful Smith College Conference Center in Northampton, MA. ModCon is a one-day convention dedicated to the modern-era genre of TTRPGs.
That includes games like…321 RPG • Call of Cthulhu • World of Darkness • Cyberpunk • Shadowrun • Marvel Super Heroes • Mutants & Masterminds • Delta Green • Savage Worlds • Burn 2d6 • Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland • WHPA and more!
It’s going to be a great day of gaming, dedicated to all kinds of settings in the 20th and 21st centuries, in worlds both like our own and very, very different. Sign up below, and we’ll see you there! |
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ArcaneCon Northampton, MA – October 16th & 17th |
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ArcaneCon is returning October 16th & 17th, 2026. Join us in a celebration of indie, old school, and old school-inspired RPGs, miniature games, board games, and more! ArcaneCon is Western Massachusetts’s premiere tabletop hobby convention! Game submissions will go live on March 1st! See more information at Tabletop Events. |
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Your editor this week has been Wythe Marschall of Stillfleet Studio.
Keep on emailing us at hello@analogunion.com to let us know what you’d like to see more of/less of and to share ideas. If you enjoy the Analog Union newsletter, please tell your friends to sign up at AnalogUnion.com. Until next time! —WM |
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