Here at Beyond Cataclysm we are all about supporting creators worldwide – especially those in the global south. We stock books and games directly from creators and indie distributors, importing them from Brazilian, US, Canada, Japan, Lithuania and many others. But there are some inherent, annoying challenges in that approach.
Looking after Creators and our Earth together
The problem is that printing heavy things out of paper in one country and then posting them halfway across the world is bad for the environment. It’s also expensive. We are passionate about paying creators as much as we can, but the costs for importing make this difficult.
Here’s an example:
- A zine costs $4 to print in the US
- We buy it for $7.
- We post it to the UK, which, even bulk, often costs $4 per item.
- All the currency exchanges cost another $2.
- We end up with a product that costs $4 to print costing us £10.50.
- We then have to sell it for £17.50 in order to make it profitable.
So, on a product we are selling for $22, the creator only makes $3 (or even less, if going through a distributor). Not to forget all the air miles and carbon costs. And the issue is even worse for creators in the Global South. Latin America is a nightmare for postage!
What’s the solution?
We are now offering a small scale UK based print runs for international creators. We also provide Crowd-funding and Kickstarter fulfillment, and have worked with international creators throughout 2022/2023.
Got a cool book or game? We can print a small run, say 20, 50, 100, in the UK, on recycled paper, and pay you more money than you’d get for selling them to us from your home country. All rights remain with you, our involvement is limited to a logo somewhere inside and a pre-arranged print run size. If you choose to print again with us, great, but you are tied to nothing.
A work in progress
We are currently working with a number of writers, designers and creatives on this idea. If you’d like to be part of a conversation, why not drop us a message, and let’s see if we can work together. Ultimately, we’d like to get your cool ideas into more people’s hands, and pay you better as part of the process, all whilst impacting our planet’s dwindling resources less!
Thanks!
Chris & Dave