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The Three Patch Podcast Book

The Three Patch Podcast Book

The Three Patch Podcast Book

The Three Patch Podcast Book

The Three Patch Podcast Book

A fully illustrated book on fandom culture, social issues, creative works, and analysis.

A fully illustrated book on fandom culture, social issues, creative works, and analysis.

A fully illustrated book on fandom culture, social issues, creative works, and analysis.

A fully illustrated book on fandom culture, social issues, creative works, and analysis.

Three Patch Productions
Three Patch Productions
Three Patch Productions
Three Patch Productions
1 Campaign |
Los Angeles, United States
$4,332 USD 58 backers
72% of $6,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
22 days left

Our Story

In the fall of 2012, a group of fandom friends met to plan a new podcast focusing on the BBC’s Sherlock series. The goal was to produce monthly episodes that celebrated fans of this modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, in which fanworks and fandom culture would be discussed alongside the show itself. Ironically, our initial goal for the podcast was to make a limited run series. We had so much to say that we made 226 episodes over 11 years, for a runtime of over 485 hours (and we’re still going, albeit a little more slowly).

Black and white photograph of Shannon (Pennswoods) with Mark Gatiss.

A Book Celebrating BBC Sherlock Fan Culture

The obsessive, creative, frenetic outpouring of love unique to fandom feels, on some level, is ephemeral. Shows are renewed and canceled, actors come and go in the spotlight, storytelling breakthroughs grow stale in the blink of an eye. But for all its changes, fandom energy often remains strong even after the end of the media that inspired it. Such is it for BBC Sherlock fandom, which burned hot and bright with a raw energy during the run of the show, and continues with incredible creative output several years after the airing of the last episode. (Not to mention the fandom of the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories, which is still going strong after more than 130 years!)

In the decade that TPP put out monthly multi-segment, multi-hour episodes, we documented the fandom moments du jour—from joy to crack to frustration and back again. In roundtables that capture the zeitgeist of 2010s fandom, conversations about where and how we get creative, and even deep dives into challenging topics, we catalogued the rise, heyday, and cooling of the Sherlock fan community and had a lot of fun in the process. We see in those discussions something worth celebrating and recollecting, something worth encapsulating—something more than the sum of its parts. 

And so, after ten years of podcasting and ten (or more!) years of close friendship within these fandom spaces, we’re looking back on what we’ve accomplished—all we’ve tackled, deconstructed, roasted, and loved—and want to take you along for the ride. This book will celebrate the strength of fandom, the power that shared obsessive labor-of-love energy has to take our lives in new and exciting directions, and the soul-healing feeling of sharing a room with your people—all accompanied by the striking art of Fox Estacado.

About the Book

The Art & Stories of Three Patch Podcast (working title) is a full-color illustrated and designed 8.5 x 11 inch (27.94 cm x  21.59 cm) book for BBC Sherlock fans and people who love fandom culture. 

The book will feature approximately 150 pages of favorite fandom and podcast moments, beautifully re-interpreted in book format. These podcast highlights and memories are accompanied by hundreds of original digital illustrations (not AI) from Fox Estacado, who has been making original and distinctive art for Three Patch Podcast since 2013. Each reference to the podcast is also accompanied by a QR code to the full episode, so you can revisit the content in its entirety. 

See the art of Three Patch Podcast in a whole new way. Since 2013, Fox Estacado has created an estimated 1,000 pieces of art for the podcast, many of which were animated gifs, some with hundreds of hand-drawn frames. For the book, Fox Estacado has designed the book layout to integrate modern graphic design and illustrations to present podcast content in a wholly new and exciting visual experience for the reader. The book will contain never-before-seen images, as well as “Behind the Episode Art” commentary from the artist. 

 

Our mission with this project is to raise funds to finance an initial print run of 100 limited edition copies of this book, and enable us to make copies available at 221b Con 2025. 221b Con is a Sherlock Holmes convention that has been meeting annually in Atlanta, GA, since 2013 and will be having what may be its last convention April 11-13, 2025. 

We believe in creating the highest possible quality product, while keeping the book relatively affordable. The book will feature: 

  • Full-color interior pages with premium quality paper
  • Images printed in vibrant true-to-design color
  • Landscape print trim of 11 inches wide and x 8.5 inches tall (27.94 cm x  21.59 cm) 
  • Hardcover with glossy wraparound lamination

The book will include: 

 

Behind the Curtain: In which we take you behind the scenes of making Three Patch Podcast. How we make episodes, our timeline, what skills we needed to learn to do this, staff roles, costs, our best hits—and our worst mistakes! 

Extreme Crafters and Culinarians: Fandom is f***cking amazing. In this section, we highlight the ways in which many fans express their creativity in fandom. We’ve got recipes—both food and boozy varieties!—and all of the ways in which fans managed to make stuff in hotel rooms.

Sex Positivity Through Fandom: Our episodes regularly tackled taboo subjects and represented them as authentically and honestly as we could. In this section of the book, we explore how Three Patch Podcast has been a sex positive organization from the start, and revisit some of our celebrations of how fandom embraced the broad spectrum of human sexuality.

WE CAN EXPLAIN!! In which we explain some of our, uh, more wild concepts. A lot of what we created as a podcast came as a result of laughing a lot, fueled by the sheer delight of being together and enjoying our shared passion. In this section, we explain the stories behind our biggest shenanigans.

Cons! We look back on the panels, suite decorations, and shenanigans we had at 221b Con, Gridlock, DashCon, Sherlock Seattle, Sherlocked LA, PodCon, and more.

Queer Voices: Fandom provides a unique space for LGBTQ+ people to share their fanworks and experiences, resulting in a broader awareness and acceptance of queer identities. In the context of an old established fandom primarily driven by straight white cis men, queerness in BBC Sherlock fandom has been empowering and subversive.

And more!

How Your Support Helps

Your support is invaluable in achieving our vision: a physical book that celebrates BBC Sherlock fandom culture. By backing our project, you will help ensure this stunningly produced book gets printed and distributed, as well as receiving your very own copy of fandom history.

Three Patch Podcast has always been a labor of love. None of the podcasters have ever been paid for their contributions to the podcast, which spans over 10 years, 485 hours of episode content, and more than 1,000 original illustrations. This work includes not only producing the podcast, but also managing the website, updating social media channels, and organizing suites and activities at cons . 

Funding over the years for TPP has come from our own pockets and from the contributions of dedicated fans who donate to the podcast through our website, in person at cons, or as members of our Patreon (thank you, all you beautiful unicorns!). We have never sought or received funding from advertisers or sponsors, enabling us to stay authentic and produce the content we want to produce, free from censorship. We have set aside space in this book to thank our donors and Indiegogo supporters. 

Producing this book is also a labor of love. The entirety of the book production (writing, copy editing, graphic design, illustration, typesetting, etc.) will be done by podcast contributors volunteering their time and skills. Funds from this Indiegogo campaign will only be used for a portion of upfront costs associated with a short-run digital printing and logistics:  

  • Short-run digital printing 100 qty, 150-page book = $4,000
  • Taxes (9.5% for Los Angeles, California) = $380
  • Cost of proofs = $45-$65 per copy
  • Estimated shipping fees from publisher = $500
  • Indiegogo platform fees (5%) plus transfer fees (varies) plus payment processing fees (varies) = Approximately 10% of total funds raised. If we meet our 100% funded goal, this will amount to $600
  • ISBN registration = $125

Estimated cost of first print-run of 100 copies: $6,000

Any further revenue made from this project will go towards podcasting expenses, including: 

  • Libsyn: $240 per year
  • Website hosting, domain name, domain protection fees: $263.88 per year
  • Zoom account: $146.40 per year

Risks and Challenges

While this is our first Indiegogo campaign, this is not our first fundraising campaign. Over the years, we have raised funds for the podcast and our convention activities by holding online and in-person fundraisers with items such as Fox Estacado’s limited edition t-shirts, collectibles, donated fanart from Reapersun, crafts made by TPP members, and more. We have always delivered on our campaign promises and fulfilled all mailed items. With this Indiegogo campaign, we are committed to maintaining open and honest communication with you throughout the entire process. You will be regularly informed about the status of your items, and their expected delivery date. 

We have thoroughly calculated and planned our expenses. While this is the first book for the podcast, this is not the first time podcast members have produced books. Among us, we have professional graphic designers, typesetters, publishers, copyeditors, and communications managers, all with many years of experience. 

We know from these experiences that, while we have done our best to plan for everything, unexpected challenges may arise. Nonetheless, we are confident in our collective abilities to deliver on all rewards and add-ons. 

There is a risk that this book will not be completed and printed by our planned timeline. Currently, we plan to have the book at 221b Con in April 2025 for in-person pick-ups and complete shipping by June 2025. However, there is a risk that we cannot make this timeline and we may decide to extend the timeline in order to ensure our final product is the highest possible quality.

There is also a risk that the book will be under 150 pages long, which may occur if we decide to sacrifice some content in favor of meeting our planned timeline. 

There is a small risk that your item could get lost in the mail. Historically, this has only happened in 3% of all mail handled by United States Postal Service (USPS), and in fact, has never occurred in any TPP fundraisers. If after sufficient time has elapsed and the items still fail to show up, we will chose one of two options, whichever makes the most sense financially for the campaign: we may cancel the order and provide you with a full refund, including shipping costs, or we may choose to replace and reship the item. 

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can't contribute, that doesn't mean you can't help!

  • Share this campaign! 
  • Ask folks to get the word out and make some noise about the TPP Book! 
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Choose your Perk

Tier 5: Your Name In Book!
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Tier 5: Your Name In Book!

$75 USD
Estimated Shipping
June 2025
20 claimed
Ships worldwide.
Tier 1: Name on TPP website

Tier 1: Name on TPP website

$10 USD $15 USD (33% off)
Estimated Shipping
March 2025
0 claimed
Tier 2: TPP e-Book

Tier 2: TPP e-Book

$25 USD $35 USD (28% off)
Estimated Shipping
June 2025
6 claimed
Tier 3: Podcast Shout-Out!

Tier 3: Podcast Shout-Out!

$50 USD $85 USD (41% off)
Estimated Shipping
June 2025
0 claimed
Tier 4: Hardcover Book

Tier 4: Hardcover Book

$65 USD $75 USD (13% off)
Estimated Shipping
June 2025
4 claimed
Ships worldwide.
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