Last year, when we launched our Kickstarter campaign to fund a larger production run of our new con journals, it was slow going. In fact, my mother even said to me "Honey, I don't think you're going to make it." Gee, thanks Mother. But sometimes it truly is darkest before the dawn.
We had scheduled some marketing efforts with Gen Con® that we were just going to use to drive traffic to the booth (sometimes we're slow like that.) It finally hit us. Use those marketing efforts to promote our Kickstarter. It worked! Our pledges began to increase and slowly but surely the Gen Con community became our largest group of supporters! What a wonderful feeling!
When backers picked up their journals at the show, we realized that while they loved and used them, we could make them better. We should make journals with places to keep track of their schedules, the demos they played, who they played with. We started asking Gen Con if we could make this a licensed journal, to make it especially for this awesome group of people who supported us. It took some time, but it all came together!
We originally planned to do something very similar to our first generation journals. And after going through a round of design and development, we realized we wanted to create something completely different.
GAMING IS COMING
That's when we started working with artist and designer Tracey Gurney, a fangirl and gamer. GAMER. And we also added new options in construction.
Now we are so proud and excited to introduce our officially licensed Gen Con® Gamer's Journals, pages and accessories! We have created custom journals to organize and capture every moment of the The Best Four Days in Gaming™.
We have two journals to choose from: Our English Bridle Leather journal and our hardback journal.
The English Bridle Leather Gamer's Journal is handmade in the US and embossed on the front cover with both the Gen Con logo and our logo. There is a tab closure and inside is a pocket and a Sharpie™ holder. Each journal comes with 24 new themed pages , four Ultra Pro sleeves, a business card page, and a zipper pouch. We are having these made to order, so you must PRE-ORDER BY JUNE 30 to get one. You can pick it up in our booth #2643 at the show! We also have a bundle with the bag and our Warrior Pack which is journal, bag and 4 x 6 mini journal.
The hardback Gen Con Gamer’s Journal also includes 24 themed pages, four Ultra Pro sleeves, 2 business card pages with pre-order only, a zipper pouch, and a strap to hold it all together. It's beautiful and will keep all of your Gen Con memories safe in the most kick ass binder around. Pre-order here for pick up in our booth and get that free extra business card page. We have the bag bundle (you save $5 on the bag) and our Hero Pack which is journal, bag and 4 x 6 mini journal.
What are those 24 themed pages all about? They are created with original photography and inspired by the games and stuff you do at Gen Con. There are exhibit hall and convention center maps, Plan of Attack pages to keep track of your schedule, game play pages for demos, creators pages for autographs and sketches, coplay pages and even pages for where you ate, what you played and who you partied with. The 12 two-sided pages are oversized and printed on 60 lb. uncoated acid free stock. We call this our Expansion Pack, because this year we are selling extra sets of the pages too.
You may have your backpack all ready to go, but you will definitely want to add this awesome cross-body long handled bag in the mix! Perfect for toting your journal, your phone, dice, cards, pencils, your mini-journal and anything else you want to grab quickly on the go.
The bag features the Gen Con® logo, Gaming is Coming and the Con*Quest Journals logo silk screened on the front, two inside pockets, dark blue stitching and an extra long handle.
The Gen Con 4 x 6 mini journal is a great companion to the Gamer’s Journal! The concealed spiral bound notebook contains 50 unlined Gen Con logo pages that are micro perforated. The pages can be neatly removed and placed in 4 x6 sleeves inside your journal. Or you can keep them in your notebook as it’s own small journal of the show!
If you made it all the way to the end of this post, that's very impressive! Thank you! I just want to say that our first Gen Con, when we exhibited as One Less Nemesis 3 years ago, was a magical show. It was our most successful event at the time. And then when the Gen Con community rallied around us last year, it was just amazing. Gen Con will forever hold a very special place in our hearts and we are so excited to share these beautiful things with you. We wanted to create journals that everyone at Gen Con can use, keep and cherish for years to come. Gaming is coming. Let's get ready!
<3 Shelley
