project-image

The Warm Machine

Created by Aimee Cozza Illustration

When a robot built for construction work first sees an angular, sleek prototype military robot slink onto the base he’s working outside of, he immediately falls in love. Read about the love between two robots in The Warm Machine!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Bookmarks, stickers, and oracle cards are all in
4 days ago – Mon, Oct 14, 2024 at 01:20:54 PM

Things are coming together piece by piece! I got my final proofs in which means I can do my bulk order of the book copies... That also means that I can start sending surveys! Yaaaayyyyy!



I can't believe how well these bookmarks turned out too... Look how cool they are! They're not too heavy or sharp either. They're just right! You have NO idea how excited I've been to show these to you folks. I got a pic in from the manufacturer and was like AHHH but wanted to make sure I had a good substantial update before showing them off and then, boom, here they are, already in my hands.


If you missed out and didn't go for a bookmark tier, you can also add it on during your survey for $5. Quantity is limited on this fab guy.

Oracle cards are here too if you backed me and Lesbians in Space for physical tier books. And they look so good as well!

Some of you may have also gotten the smoke test survey in your email, so make sure to fill that out! I'll be sending surveys out to everyone very, very shortly. Can't wait to get all of this to you!

🎵It's been one week🎵... but lots of progress has been made!
14 days ago – Thu, Oct 03, 2024 at 02:15:03 PM

Hey folks!

I didn't post a thank you right after the project ended because I am just sure you all got hit with a deluge of Booktopia project ending updates and I wanted to make sure that you got to read how thankful I am to all of you. You're really making this indie author's dreams come true right here, and I can't wait to get this book into your hands.

With that being said, here's where we're at:
  • Order has been placed and paid for for the metal bookmarks of our laborbot Sterling
  • I received my edits back from my lovely editor, and proceeded into formatting hell to get everything looking pretty and as expected for the interior of the book
  • I have ordered (and received!) some proof copies of the paperback and hardcover editions of the book. I've made adjustments and am hopeful I won't have to make any more as I wait for my next round of printed proofs
  • I am in talks with a printer I would like to use for the backer copies of the books, but they have been very slow to respond so I have a backup in place if they don't resolve this soon
  • I have completed PDF and ePub copies of the book (Yippee!)
  • Order has been placed for the 3 collaboration tarot cards
  • Order has been placed for the backer built bot sticker


What will happen next:
  • Once I know how much standard items in each tier will weigh (i.e. I have one copy of paperback and hardcover close to the final book), I can accurately input shipping costs so I'm not asking too little or too much. I just got an email saying USPS costs are going up for the holiday shipping rate increase on 10/6, so I will be using those rates which hopefully won't impact us too much
  • After shipping rates are in, I will send surveys!
  • After a good chunk of surveys are filled out, I will place orders for the 4x6 prints including the promised Booty Bot print all physical reward tiers are getting
  • Once everything is in, I will lock orders, charge cards, and begin shipping. You will also automatically be sent your ebook through BackerKit's digital distribution system once your card has been successfully charged!

Failed Backers

I have a few failed charge backers right now who won't be receiving anything unless they fix their cards! Sometimes cards fail because the bank flags the charges (I know - during Pintopia I had something like 20 charges coming through and the bank threw a fit!) and you just need to hit OK on it again. Sometimes, cards expire or there's not enough funds on them, in which case you may need to change the card or send it through when funds are available. You have plenty of time to do this before I ship, so please make sure to fix when you can. Here's how to fix it:

  • If you have a BackerKit account: log into BackerKit, click on your icon in the upper right hand corner, then click "your pledges & surveys." Look for The Warm Machine. Click into it, update your info, then click update.
  • If you haven't made a BackerKit account yet: search your email for emails from BackerKit, find the one that says that your payment has failed and it should give you next steps to resolve it.
  • You can also wait until the survey portion for another opportunity to fix your card, so don't fret if you can't figure it out right now!

Missed the campaign?

The pre-order store is open now too. If you missed out and wanted a book plus all the crowdfunding goodies, you can order in the pre-order store. Shipping is approximate at this stage and not the final number. The only thing you won't be able to get is the collab tarot cards. Sorry, those are super limited quantity and you had to be there.

Again thank you so much for all of your help getting me this far! I can't wait to get everything packaged up for you shortly.

It's the final countdown! [Synth music]
23 days ago – Wed, Sep 25, 2024 at 07:27:15 AM

I definitely did not start the day singing Europe's classic, nosiree. Anyway, we did it! And it's the final hours of the campaign with everything unlocked. As of writing this, we have 30 hours remaining before starting all of the bells and whistles to getting the goodies to you.

You will be happy to know I've already ordered the bookmarkers (fingers crossed I got enough) since I figured those would probably take the longest to make. Got my ISBNs all sorted, and I started getting edits in from my lovely editor yesterday and going through those. Everything is falling into place muahaha!

Anyway, I also got some photos of the oracle card box from The Relic Saga (I designed the foil stamp to match the cards) and they look a m a z i n g so if you're backing multiple projects and getting the oracle cards, you may want a spiffy box to go with it. To get that, go to The Relic Saga's project and back a physical tier, then go to First Life Duet and back a physical tier, and you'll get an awesome oracle card box AND three more cards!


Thank you for helping me (and the other Booktopians) finish this campaign strong! I can't wait to have actual campaign item related updates for you. Soon, I promise!

The backer-built robot is here... We're so close to booty prints too!
25 days ago – Mon, Sep 23, 2024 at 07:44:53 AM

Hey all!

Last night, if you caught me on stream talking scifi and sketching your bot, I managed to get the backer-built robot all finished! Here they are, all colored and everything and my are they colorful. They're a content making film robot, built for getting all the right angles in all the tight spaces. Thank you backer Kayla for the amazing profession suggestion - it fits perfectly!



As my treat for you folks successfully building the bot, any physical tier will get a full color sticker of this lil chap. :)

Booty bot prints are just $9 away

Everybody getting a booty bot print on physical book tier levels is just $9 away. That's really not that far at all! Can we do it? New backers will easily push this over, so if you haven't pledged yet, or if you know a friend who is into sci-fi... I appreciate you passing the project along! If you're a current backer and want to help it along, it's really only going to take a couple of people to get it there! You can add an add-on (or two) for $1 or $5, or change from a paperback to a hardcover to add $10 to the project if you reeeeeally want to see everyone getting the booty bot.

Pros for upgrading your pledge:
  • A free 4x6 robot butt print

Cons for upgrading your pledge:
  •  

So there you have it, you should definitely upgrade that pledge. The campaign end is only THREE days away, can you believe it? Thank you so much for getting me this far. I couldn't have done it without you. Here's to hoping for a strong finish! 💪

Meet your robot... Let's give them colors!
28 days ago – Thu, Sep 19, 2024 at 03:01:03 PM

Hey all! You certainly had a great time adding EYES to the robot in the last poll.
  • Eyes: 14
  • Mouths: 2
  • Ears: 2
  • Fingers: 6



So here's our lil dude now. The last poll question asks for colors. I'd love it if you could vote for more than one color but alas... You'll have to select just one to add to the bot. Oh, also, since all robots in The Warm Machine start out as service bots of some sort, tell me in the comments what profession you think the robot would have. The comment with the most likes will be the bot's official profession (and I may make further design tweaks based on that comment too so feel free to send your very best comedy options).

But also...

Wondering if you've perused any of the other Booktopia offerings? I'd like to highlight one briefly. It's called Nuclear Strudel and is the first chapter set in a universe called Quantum Marmalade. It's a 60 page, full color graphic novel and it features... you guessed it... robots. Amongst other things. ;) If you like Attack on Titan, Samurai Jack, Futurama, Hellboy, or Farscape, this graphic novel just might be for you! Tiers start at just ten bux. Take a look!



Nuclear Strudel is partnered with my buddy N's campaign too, The Fractured Balance. It's her first time crowdfunding on her own and she has been overwhelmed by the support so far... So let's dump some more on her, what do you say? :) N's story is the second in the Metacosm Chronicles, but you don't need to have read the first book to read this one. It's about a character named Pheonix (intentionally misspelled) who goes from the dredges of society to becoming the embodiment of Justice itself. I had the pleasure of beta reading it and I can't wait to get my physical copy to read it again!



Don't forget that you can cash in on those sweet, sweet oracle cards by backing both at physical levels. And collect more cards by backing more books in Booktopia!

P.S.



And as a final note, Pintopia 2025 just opened up and I put in my application for it. I'm hoping to do this Asimov-inspired robot pin set. Pintopia isn't coming until January, but you can use this link to subscribe to get notified of launch (but don't worry, I'll ask you again later).