Bodhicatva – A conscious kids book: to pre order a copy of this beautiful book

If we can meet the target in the next THIRTY Days we will all have a copy of the book before Christmas! International shipping is also Totally fine as I have had a few people ask. 

By supporting this campaign you have the opportunity to pre order a copy of this beautiful book. Aimed at 0 – 4 year olds it is a simple yet touching story of a Cat who smiles. It teaches the readers about deep inner peace and love, the kind of joy which goes beyond the external situation and shines on through no matter what we are faced with.

Originally I began illustrating this book for print just to create a copy for my 15 month old daughter. I asked on Facebook if anyone was interested in also having a copy and within 24 hours have over 50 people expressing their interest.
When I came to adding up the printing costs and other costs involved it became clear to me that this was beyond a pocket money creative hobby investment and I would need the support of my community to make it happen. So here I am reaching out and offering you ALL the opportunity to own a small slice of deep inner joy through Bodhicatva’s story.

“Who is Bodhicatva?” I hear you cry. Well… In Buddhist traditions a Bodhisattva is a being who through deep compassion has reached enlightenment for the benefit of all human beings. It is also said that it is a being who when reaching enlightenment chose not to ascend but to stay in this realm for the sole purpose of teaching the path. So Bodhicatva is a Bodhisattva… in the form of a cat.
Simple.
Beyond this though he is a beautiful, compassionate and deeply happy creature who through Being The Change he wants to see in the world is teaching others to do the same. This book is the first step in that journey for him.

Here are some sneak peek shots of my initial sketches:

Where did he come from?
Eight years ago, whilst living in Bristol UK I drew a picture of a very contented red cat. In fact the first image of him was actually a cat head balloon, smiling as the wind blew him this way and that.
These are the original pictures of him, I no longer have the actual illustrations unfortunately. 
 

I will upload some images of what he has grown into in the next few weeks.

As an illustrator, graphic designer and writer I pretty much have most of the bases covered as far as creating the book however there are always more fees than one expects. Here is a perfect breakdown of all the costs I have been able to vision for the possibility of printing 500 paperback copies and 50 hardcover copies of Bodhicatva. Many of these books will be bought by supporters like yourself as part of the fundraising.

Premium colour print – 500 copies – 8×10″ inch postage = $2042,47
Premium colour print – 50 copies – 8×10 HARDBACK = $530.43
ISBN – (for a set of 10 ISBN numbers to cover paper back, hard cover and eBook publishing)  $295
Proof Book – $100 (this is the price of two proofing in case changes need to bone made)
File upload costs – $100 (This would cover multiple file upload fee’s to factor in the strong possibility of needing to tweak it)
Hiring a designer to compile to print standards – $300 (To avoid there needing to be too many “tweaks” I intend to hire a designer with experience of this platform to format it correctly)

Total = $3,367.90 AUD

There will also be Pozible fees to pay so I have added extra to cover those.
Ideally we will over-meet our goal and I will be able to pay a babysitter to be with Kaia so we can get this vision out sooner.

I am a Performance Poet by trade. My writing has been published in books and magazines internationally as well as performing it live across 4 continents. To hear my work please visit www.fleassymalay.com
I also am a Graphic Designer working specifically with the conscious and creative community. To view my work please see www.bodhidesigns.com.au
My illustrations have been published in poetry books internationally as well as having been the cover artist for a full year of magazine cover art on the UK publication Inspired Times.

Main challenges I see are the formatting issues to meet the printing standard, my answer to this is to find someone who knows how to do it… and pay them to do it. Keep it simple and support other artists in the community.