The Real Cost of Seoul Searching Rerelease

I’ve been saying over and over that getting Seoul Searching republished is going to cost a LOT. And I have come to the internet to ask for your help in making it happen by buying me Ko-fi that not only helps me, but also offers you some inside looks at to things not seen to the public. And you’ve been kind enough to trust me at my word and have bought me ko-fi’s that have me at 14% of my goal which I’m eternally grateful for.

But, I believe people are curious as to where their money is going. And I want to show you, break it down for you, the real and expected costs for everything that is going into this. So, you can see what it is your Ko‑fi donations are going towards.

Real Costs (These are the ones I know actual costs to, not the rough estimates)

Editing: 1190.70 (Was able to get a discount because of a referral.)

Cover Design: 600 (Again at a massive discount because my cover artist wanted to work on the new cover of the book that started her book cover design career)

Inner Art: 449.49 (This is only for the ones I have currently completed. This artist, I will say severely undercharges for the amazing work she does. I have offered to pay more but she says no.)

Box Printing: 1588 (This is only for the people who preorder, so it isn’t a large order. If I decide to use them for more than this (like PR boxes) it can be between 1900-2300.)

Box Art and Design: 600 (This artist I love! And she kindly offered to design everything for free but I couldn’t in all good consciousness allow that knowing how much time and effort it takes into creating what she has. I accepted a deep discount instead.)

Estimated Costs (These are costs I’m taking educated guesses on because I haven’t reached these parts of the process yet.)

Inner art: 250 (I still have 2 of the 6 inner artworks left to pay for.)

Hardcover printing: 5000 (This will be the most expensive part of this entire thing. And I expect this will be the cost from my extensive research)

Preorder goodies: 1500 (I don’t want to spoil all the surprises. But the preorders will come with a lot of special extras.)

So as you can see, I don’t expect ko-fi to cover all the expenses. I do hope to cover most of the costs myself but Ko-fi has already helped cover some of the costs already. Most of the artwork was paid for using Ko-fi as well as some of the payment to the editor. I cannot thank you enough for helping me bring this to life once again. I’m truly so grateful for each and everyone of you. And if you do feel like donating here is the link to my Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/koreanfromcontext