TL;DR
I did some stuff and now I’m doing some more stuff. Can I turn stuff into cash?
Buckle up. This is a long one.
I’m Better Now
If you have been following along, you will have taken note of the fear and nervousness that I expressed at the start of this adventure. I’m proud to report that I’m better now. Now that I’ve learned some of the ropes, and now that I’ve made some mistakes and survived, it’s all much less daunting. It’s still difficult and time-consuming, but less daunting to face the difficulties and spend the time.
2025
Starting to Begin and Beginning to Start
2025 for The Seahorse & The Hummingbird was largely about laying foundations. I had to cook up an identity and design it. I had to figure out the infrastructure and then build it. There’s still lots to do (and I reckon there always will be), but the more systems I understand and build, the more automated or automatic things become.
Pyrotechnics
In March, I signed my first design that is not my own, Pyrotechnics by Michael Byron Sprague. My initial plan was to launch it on The Fourth of July of that same year. That was… naive.
The development and manufacturing of Pyrotechnics was stressful but also a lot of fun to learn.
The Going Into Business Sale
In June, I wanted to conduct a stress test for the e-commerce system, and I wanted to have a little fun doing it. I solicited the use of some print-and-play games from various board game designers. I sold the print-and-play games and donated 100% of the proceeds to good causes. Success all around.
One Big Mistake
I had an idea and it was not a good one. Somewhere along the way, I learned that I could buy board games at wholesale prices from Faire.com. In a fit of anxiety and imposter syndrome, I ordered a bunch of board games to fill up my e-commerce platform and look more “legitimate”.
Well, I dumped a bunch of money into the inventory and, while a handful of games have sold, most of it is sitting in storage, unmoving. At my scale, I can’t compete with… well… anybody, and I should never have muddied the mission by trying to become a board game publisher and an online retailer that sells a smattering of random games.
The Redesign
Initially, the website for The Seahorse & The Hummingbird was a quick-and-dirty WordPress site with a prefab theme. I did the best I could with it, but it looked rather rough and uninspired. Good enough, though, for an unproven concept.
Once I felt it was appropriate to devote time to it, I went in and built a bespoke WordPress theme for The Seahorse & The Hummingbird. That was a lot of learning and… I’m not gonna lie; the backend code is rather messy. There are better, cleaner, faster ways to do things, but I got it done.
The website itself is going to be a forever-project. I’ll tighten and clean the site and the codebase bit-by-bit as time goes by.
2026
The coming year will be the proving grounds for The Seahorse & The Hummingbird, I guess. As of the moment of this writing, a bulk order of Pyrotechnics is on a UPS truck in California, making its journey to Florida. After it’s all said and done, the development and manufacturing of a game is relatively easy, if time-consuming. The difficult part will be moving product. I gotta sell this stuff and turn a profit.
The Catalog
The plan for 2026 is to build the catalog and broaden the offerings from The Seahorse & The Hummingbird.
The Book of Wandering
The Book of Wandering is already a product and for sale through various channels.
Pyrotechnics
Pyrotechnics has been designed, developed and manufactured. The arrival of my first bulk order is imminent; within one week of this writing if nothing veers off course.
Threed
Threed is the Cardboard Edison Award finalist formerly known as Triptych, designed by Brooks Barber. Currently, the art is in the works and development will be underway soon. It consists of a 72 card deck, and is a trick-taking game with a sliding puzzle mechanism.
Rune Rite
Rune Rite is a game of my own design. The art for it has been purchased and created and the design has been polished to within 95% of complete. I’m turning over the development to an outside partner, and I’m packing the rules to head over to an editor. Rune Rite is a flip-and-write game with a unique build-your-own-polyomino mechanism.
Contralateral
Contralateral, née Enemy Lines by Bill Huffman, is at the back of the line right now. The game is solid, but it needs everything; art, development, rules editing, the full treatment. I’d love to squeeze this in for 2026, but that seems unlikely. Probably an early-to-mid 2027 release. Contralateral is a two-player, head-to-head, asymmetrical abstract in which players take on the role of an emerging thought.
Other?
Yeah, I have a few other irons in the fire. I’ll have options for 2027 and beyond; products of my own design and those of other talented designers.
The Partnership
Though no announcements have been made, a pact contract has been signed. I’m going to accept and offer a little help and support in 2026.
The Sales Channels
As the bulk order of Pyrotechnics inches its way to me, so nears the harsh reality of selling them. It’s going to be a matter of trial and error as I figure out which channels work for me and yield acceptable profit margins. I’ll be happy to break even or even lose 30% on Pyrotechnics, as long as it serves as the tuition for The School of Figuring Out What Works.
Landing Pages
I’ll need to work continuously on product pages and landing pages that convert. I haven’t yet put real time or brains into ideal landing pages.
SEO
When it comes to Search Engine Optimization, I have merely brushed the surface. Nevertheless, I’m seeing results as time goes by. I’ve sold a few products through organic search. As I tighten up the website, I’ll slowly improve the SEO, but I’m not going to stress on it or try to do it all at once. It cooks slowly. I need to be patient.
Social Media
I’ve committed to a more robust social media schedule in 2026. I don’t entirely love this idea, but I feel that I must. While I hate adding to the noise, while I hate becoming a part of the attention-arresting algorithm, while I hate soulless engagement farming… I don’t have to take part in the worst parts of those concepts, but I have to do something. If I’m committed to making this company work, then I have to do what it takes.
Right now, I’ve started a more aggressive posting schedule on BlueSky, Instagram and Facebook. I’m thinking of joining Threads. From what I’ve been led to believe, the real juice is over at TikTok (and short-form video across all platforms) but there is absolutely no way I have the capacity to generate videos on any kind of regular schedule.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to figure out how to improve my social media presence while also remaining true to my values. I mean, I like social media when they’re used for legitimate communication and connection. I need to think on it for a while and figure out ways to provide value, not just noise.
Amazon
I tried to get The Book of Wandering on Amazon, but they wouldn’t accept it as a product because it is a book and it doesn’t have an ISBN. I tried to get Pyrotechnics on Amazon, but they wouldn’t accept it as a product because it’s a board game but hasn’t undergone safety testing.
The Amazon Seller interface is Byzantine and confounding. I’m not good at it yet. Maybe… maybe… 2026 is the year that I figure it out enough to sell products there.
eBay, Board Game Geek and Geek Market
As with Amazon, I worry about getting lost in the ocean of garbage that is eBay. But, I’ll give it a shot.
The Board Game Geek Geek Market is more likely to yield results, I think. That’s the audience, right? Once I have the bulk order of Pyrotechnics in-hand, I can generate a press release and improve my overall presence on Board Game Geek.
Meta Ads
I don’t know if Meta ads are for me or my kind. I’m extremely skeptical that a $15 product can withstand the CAC of Meta ads, but I’m going to try. And by “try” I mean really give it my best shot. I’m not going to sink a ton of money into figuring it out, but I’ll put in the effort in terms of learning and work. I will spend the time to learn all I can about Meta ads, then generate the most effective creative that I am capable of, then test wide, but shallow.
Perhaps I’m heading into a self-fulfilling prophecy because I expect failure here, but I’m trying to keep my mind as open as possible.
Wholesale
There is barely enough margin in Pyrotechnics to sell wholesale. If I can sell 30% of my bulk Pyrotechnics order Direct-to-Consumer and 70% of it wholesale, it’ll all be okay. 50/50 would be better, of course.
I have a product page for wholesale orders of Pyrotechnics, and I’ve already sold three six-packs without even trying, so that’s encouraging. Once I have the actual merchandise of Pyrotechnics in front of me, I’m going to start soliciting Friendly Local Game Stores to see if I can get these games into stores and onto shelves.
Consignment
This is a concept I’ll have to look into a little more. I do have one channel right now, via Goosepoop Games, through whom I sell on consignment. But that’s a person I know and trust. I don’t know how much faith I have in shipping out stacks of games for free, hoping I’ll see payment somewhere in the future.
Distributors
Right now, I’m handling distribution and fulfillment myself, but if I grow the way I hope, that can’t last forever. I’m starting to dabble in communication with distributors to determine if using a distributor is even remotely feasible at this point or at any point in the near future. I’d have to make all of the above channels fire on all cylinders to make a third-party distributor viable in 2026.
Convention Booths?
Not yet. With a full-time job and a full-time family, I don’t have the time available to trot the globe. The Seahorse & The Hummingbird will have a small imprint at various conventions, though. See the vague “Partnership” heading above, and the less vague “Consignment” heading.
Me? I’m The Man in the Chair. I do what I can from the within the confines of my home, from behind this keyboard. But I have a couple of connections that can act as boots on the ground, and I hope to recruit more. This is a lesser concern for me right now.
Kickstarter?
Nope. No Kickstarter, no Gamefound, no Backer Kit, no crowdfunding. At least, not in its widely-understood format. I have neither the interest nor the capacity to play the Kickstarter slot machine. I’m going to do it all the old-fashioned way, and build a slow-moving but reliable company.
I might leverage the concept of crowdfunding, but on my own terms. I’m thought-experimenting with the concept of a pre-sale for Rune Rite on this site which would serve as a crowdfunding platform that 1) would not be all-or-nothing, and 2) wouldn’t deliver 12% of that funding to Kickstarter.
That Was a Lot
That was a lengthy and verbose post, there, and I left out plenty. I could go on and on because it’s all a lot. I’ll have to make a whole other post outlining Adventures in Board Game Arena.
Another 2026 goal is to post more frequently into this journal. More and shorter posts. Not for SEO or sales, but because I enjoy sharing the journey. If you’re one of the few who read to all the way down here, thanks for being good company on this voyage.
When it comes to sales, if you have thoughts or warnings or ideas about what I have or have not shared above, I would absolutely love to hear from you. I have so much to learn about it all, I’m open to all kinds of advice.