Photo by paris “cyan” cian, a SKEW Issue 02 contributor. — Photo by paris “cyan” cian, a *SKEW* Issue 02 contributor.

We’ve got a lot to be thankful for lately here at Level Ground. The support we’ve received for SKEW 02 has been phenomenal. We had an incredible launch celebration this past weekend thanks to the SKEW curators and artists who participated in events, and of course the members of our community who attended. We’re loving all the posts and tags that have been coming in on social media of people showing off their copies of SKEW, and thanks to everyone who pre-ordered and spread the word about the magazine, we met our initial sales goal!

Have you bought your copy of SKEW yet?

Given that this issue of SKEW is the first time Level Ground has explored a cooperative ownership model, many people have asked for more details of how that works. We love an opportunity for transparency, so we want to share those details with you here.

First, the publishing costs for Issue 02 of SKEW were $10,000. That includes printing, packaging, and paying stipends to the curators, designer and all contributing artists.

Here’s the full breakdown:

Expenses: $10,000
Curators and Designer Stipends: $3,000 total
Contributing Artist Stipends: $2,500 ($50/person)
Printing: $3,250
Shipping and Packaging: $1,000
Miscellaneous (such as the Digital Hub website): $250

Level Ground donated our staff time to the magazine, and covered $4,000 of the total expenses. We raised $6,000 in pre-sales thanks to our amazingly supportive community which covered the rest and helped us come out even before the launch on November 19.

There’s even more good news because we’ve now sold 33 additional magazines beyond our goal, for a current total of $825 in profit. Of that amount, half gets divided between the four curators and the designer who receive an additional $82.50 each. The remaining half gets divided between the 50 contributing artists, who get an additional $8.25 each. Again, 100% of proceeds go directly to the 55 Black artists who are co-owners of SKEW Issue 02, and those profits will keep rising with every additional copy of SKEW ordered so if you haven’t yet, buy your copy today! They make a great coffee table book, stocking stuffer, or holiday gift.

We are so grateful to the curators, designer, and artists for the love, work, and dedication you poured into SKEW 02, and to everyone who has purchased a copy of this one-of-a-kind work of art.

Thank you for supporting Black Dreams, Futures, and Mutual Support.

Much love,
The Level Ground team

Purchase your copy of SKEW 02 today!