If you’re a reader of the Phoblographer, you know that we need money for our Kickstarter. It’s come to my attention a number of times that $35,000 sounds pretty high for what a digital magazine needs to actually operate. For some folks, this sounds ridiculous for a digital magazine; but for others it actually sounds too low. In all honesty, it is too low; and we need more than $35,000 to really get this going.

I’m going to explain what the money is going towards for La Noir Image.

So on the La Noir Image Kickstarter, we’re asking for $35,000. So what’s this going towards? As I state in both the video and the text itself, it’s for the first year of the magazine in order to survive on that budget.

• A monthly charge of $499 approximately is given for the platform that we’re going to use to design, distribute, get approval for from Apple and Google, etc. Again, we’re not just putting out a PDF, there is going to be full interactivity of the stories. If you really want a more true preview, go download and purchase an issue of the BJP on your iOS or Android device. It’s going to be very similar. So $500 x 12 = $6,000
• I need to work with other people to actually get this done. I’m not a designer and I’m quite busy between the Phoblographer, workshops, business development, editorial work, etc. It’s not unusual for me to pull 60 to 80 hour weeks. So I’m budgeting aside $1,500 to pay people a fair amount each month with me still most likely doing much of the work. This will go towards the creation of the issue and when you consider that there are some of you getting six extra special issues, there will probably be more money going towards this. So $1,500 x 12 = $18,000; more or less because we also need to consider the six special issues for some subscription tiers.I’m also going to try to go after advertisers to help offset extra costs. But no one will want to advertise with a magazine with a very small following per se. It’s not like I can really charge much I believe.

  

  Additionally, I’m not just using anyone and everyone to complete these issues. The Phoblographer is a company that has been around for going on seven years now and this more premium platform will need some great folks working for it. Ian Pettigrew, who designed the prototype, has been designing magazines for years and has a heck of a resume. I’m also very chummy with many of the most famous writers on photography blogs, websites, magazines, etc. On a weekly basis, someone asks me for work.

  Plus consider that you’re not only getting interviews anymore, if you look at the content on La Noir Image, you’ll see more of a preview and you’ll get this once a month.

• The money per your donation also goes towards paying for the costs accordingly, shipping, etc.
• $5,000 for video shooting, editing, motion graphics, etc. fees.
• This all brings me to $29,000 so far. What you’ve got left over is $6,000. Then you need to consider Kickstarter’s fees if this gets funded, my Kickstarter Manager’s fees which go towards the management and who is solely responsible for getting all of the rewards out in a timely fashion.

Now here’s where it gets really, really complicated. NYC, NYS and the Federal Government are in the process of changing their views on how Kickstarter money is considered. It used to be considered venture capital and therefore wasn’t taxed. But because people are literally buying a product as part of it, it’s a bit iffy and therefore taxes will be considered.

Here’s the really, really, really crazy part of it: if you combine NYC, NYS and Federal taxes on an individual partner LLC it comes out to give or take 50%. Yes, 50%. But it works in a much different way for companies. Basically, whatever is left over and seen as profit is taxed at 50%.

So what could this mean?

If I don’t spend the money fully, then 50% of whatever is left is going to the IRS. I want to try to get the magazine out by September though I may be able to get it out by August. That gives me five months to create five issues and for some of you you’re getting two or three extra issues in between. Then a new tax year starts and the IRS takes half of whatever the remainder is of the magazine.

So this is it: complete transparency.

Now that you’re this far down, please consider a donation. But at this point, please consider at least a $30 donation and tell all your friends to donate.