Why you might want to think about this:

A lot of folks I know have largely stopped backing US-based Kickstarters over the last couple of years. Not because the projects aren’t cool, but because the shipping costs are prohibitive – and that’s before potential customs fees and tariffs kick in.

I personally looked at a Kickstarter for a cool graphic novel from the US earlier this year and had to to give it a miss because the book was $15 and the shipping was $50! This got me wondering why US shipping fees were so expensive, because I knew that I could ship a graphic novel to the US for less than $10, including packaging.

So, I did some research. What I discovered actually shocked me.

US makers, I apologise for even considering that you might be marking up your shipping costs. It turns out you’re just being charged A LOT by your postal services.

Here’s a direct comparison for you. In March 2025 it cost me about £13 (~$18) to ship a hardback copy of Darkened Hill & Dale to someone in Missouri, USA (Royal Mail, untracked, delivery in 6–7 working days). It would cost that person about £24 (~$32) to send that back to me in the UK (USPS, untracked, very variable delivery, maybe 11–20 days?).

So, US creators apparently have to pay twice what UK creators are to ship the same parcel, more slowly, across the same distance.

Yeah.

And that’s before we even get into customs, tariffs, or the recently-implemented GPSR regulations for shipping stuff into the EU and Northern Ireland.

So, that all sucks. Not only are those high shipping costs putting off potential backers and buyers, but now there’s also tariffs and other nonsense potentially coming out of nowhere to try and put you in debt – especially if you’ve already charged backers for postage costs.

And that’s what’s brought me to make this proposal.

My proposal:

Rather than you shipping individual items to folks overseas, or an expensive pallet of products to a fulfilment warehouse, what if we collaborate to print your books here in the UK, and I ship them out for you?

I’m not a printer myself, but I have a list of reliable printers I’ve worked with and can liaise with them. You’ll have the files set up for your own printer, so that shouldn’t need too much work, and we should be able to get booklets/books printed to a specification that matches your local one. Or perhaps we can work out a slightly different international edition – we could chat about the options.

Shipping should cost much less – Darkened Hill & Dale may have cost £13 to ship to the US, but it only costs £3 to ship within the UK – and you won’t have to worry about customs or tariffs. I’ll be set up for GPSR-compliant shipping in the very near future, so I can potentially take care of that EU shipping hurdle too.

If you haven’t launched you crowdfunding campaign yet and are worried about international shipping then definitely get in touch, because we could get that pinned down in advance of your campaign and potentially help boost your international support.

I do also have my own (fairly new) web store and could carry a limited stock of your TTRPG for general sale in the future.

I’m probably not going to be able to handle huge projects – I’m mainly thinking of projects that are distributing fewer than, say, 100 copies in the UK/overseas – but my capacity and availability varies, so you may as well get in touch anyway if this all sounds like it might be useful for you.

Costs:

I’m not currently approaching this with very commercial ambitions – I’m really not a dedicated distributor or full-time publisher, and I’m offering to do this because I want to help folks share their work (and to potentially spare some makers from being financially ruined by some really stupid political policies as well).

I can’t afford to work for free but I’m also not interested in rinsing other makers who’re working on shoestring budgets and passion projects.

Let’s talk about your plans or situation, and see what we can work out. I’m not going to charge you for a conversation!

I can’t promise that I’ll be able to work with you, but there’s only one way to find out.

Also, if you really can’t afford to pay a distributor and are worried about the shipping costs of your project and this all sounds intimidating then get in touch anyway. Maybe I can’t help with the practicalities, but maybe I can (because I do have some ideas for folks in your position).