NEWS FROM THE FORGE: LOTS OF ANNOUNCEMENTS EDITION 2022
Hello Adventurers,
Buckle up bayyybeees because this is going to be a long one.
PERSONAL DIGRESSIONS
2022 has been...a year. We spent much of 20'&21' burning bright, and then burning out. This year we have taken more care to create some semblance of work/life balance. This can be a challenge when you're a small business owner or an artist or a content creator(?), and for all intents and purposes I've come to believe we are all 3. As well, we outgrew our space in probably *May 2020*, but have been making all the adjustments we can to work with what we've got, because have you SEEN real estate prices? 😨
In the second half of this year, we've seen a sharp decline in the economy, dong and otherwise. What's been neat about this, is watching everyone get very creative in response! We've seen some folks not only making some of the coolest things ever out of the most unwieldy medium, but also banding together in support of each other, creating community resources to help, and generally being awesome. THIS! is what keeps us going! We do such unique business, and it's incredible to have folks who are our not competitors in a capitalist hellscape, but our friends.
SO THE " QUARTERLY SCHEDULE"?
At the beginning of this year, we realized there was no way in heck we were going to be able to house all the molds we have without making a huge mess everyday. It's both exciting and terrifying to have so many things to choose from! In the spirit of refining processes and making things more efficient, we decided to try out a quarterly release schedule. This was going pretty well, but the best laid plans...
💛 We did release most of the things we planned to release when we planned to release them, but found a couple holes in our plan to release the Myconid V2 and the Plantie in Q3 (7/1-9/30). These are exceedingly difficult to demold, so their availability will be less.
💛 As far as our Q4 (10/1-12/31) offerings we are *HOPING* to have this list definitely available, but also a few other things that aren't on the list:
Colossal Squid
Kobold
Wizard
Chained One
Polypon
Bone Devil
Kraken Rogue
Kraken Wizard
Pseudodragon
Gnoll
Illithid
Lava Mephit
Merfolk
Murloc
Rogue
Slaad
Troll
XXL Ankheg
Code Name -Egg Plooper-
Witch King's Wand
We have essentially been keeping out everything that drips well because it's spooky drip season after all!!! The models *not* on this list *may* still be available, but the list above is the *officially* available list. The specific date range in which the models could be available is pretty much out the window, so if you want to know more specifically, please just be sure to:
1. Ask
2. Check announcements on our socials or front page here
3. Check the pre-shop
4. Join the mailing list
Basically, we've got a good amount of stuff out of mold storage, and we're pouring cool spooky stuff into it, which you'll see in our Halloween drops, and speaking of...
SCHEDULES, DAMN LIES AND MORE SCHEDULES
Where my ND people? If you've been around here for a while, you may have noted that schedules are made in optimistic moments, and while we have become fairly consistent (We either will, or will not drop on Thursdays at 8PM EST for the past 4 years) sometimes we're a bit too optimistic. We've got a LOT of plates to spin, hats to wear, etc etc...
For SURE October Drops:
-Thursday, 10/13 @ 8PM EST
-Thursday, 10/27 @ 8PM EST
POSSIBLE October Drop, which we will announce closer to that date *if* we decide to drop on that date:
-Thursday, 10/20 @ 8PM EST
ĖTSY EXODUS 2022
We got our start on the site in May 2017. It was a great, user friendly lil place for an artist looking to sell some of their handmade wares, in a place where customers already were. At that time the fees were reasonable, and it was super easy to set up for someone who wasn't very tech inclined. The first time they raised their fees was annoying for sure, but c'est la vie. Once we began selling more that 50 things a drop however, on a site that is SUPER not built for drop shopping (not that one exists, even now, per say), we started looking respectfully elsewhere. And it was the offsite ad push that was the final nail. Imagine worrying some algorithm will yeet your shop into oblivion via an ad that you never asked to be run, on sites that do not allow advertisement of your products as per their TOS (FB/IG), and are pretty stinky about it. AND we couldn't even opt out. So we swiftly exited, and landed here.
We've been selling here since May 2020, and with the exception of one small payment processor issue at the very beginning, we've truly enjoyed it. It's been easy to use, the fees are comparable, and sometimes even less for all things considered. Once we saw Ėtsy up to their old tricks this past week, we really wanted to help anyone we can to make their swift exit, middle fingers up...jkjk
Understandably, you're likely still dealing with the shock of having your source of income effed with, and thinking "Well, Kristen, I am overwhelmed and I don't have time for this BS. I don't have time to weigh each option carefully because I need money now", and I hear you.
Some folks have been working hard to help people move off if they're able. I am available by DM/Email/Discord to answer any questions I can about my move and experience. I've got app recommendations, general tips, and an ear for screaming. I don't want to see folks shut down because they're daunted by the move, so if I can help you, I want to!
RESOURCES
If you've got a resource for moving an indie fantasy toy shop from *that site* to another site, I'd love to share it! So far I've seen:
💛ShopDad has a custom Bones for anyone who wants to create info about moving for the OnlyGoblins wiki to host
💛The wonderful Alchemist Echidna has created a short intro guide
💛The lovely Manda of Darque Path has offered to help people via chat or to even build sites (understandably for a small fee) if you want to go that route
💛And I'd like to throw my own hat into the ring. We've been building our base, and have a mailing list of over 2600 people (THANK YOU ERC). We would love to send out your new location once you get there. Please email me by 10/24 with your shop name and new site, and we'll add a new section to our big Halloween email with updated shop locations!
For customers: Please be kind and patient with independent small creators during this time while they're trying to get their bearings. It's not easy to pick up your whole business and learn whole new systems of doing things. I guaran-dang-tee they're working their buns off and doing the best that they can. Because if you're in this business you don't settle for less.
LASTLY-
Thank you all for your continued support for the past 5 years, and we look forward to brining you our next blog on Black Friday announcements 🤗
Thank you,
The Goblin King