Edit: Here's the official post-mortem!
I'm still in the midst of running the Queer Halloween Stories Bundle 2022, but I've shot off several emails late last night and this morning and I'm at the point where I already know I could have done things better. If the bundle is a success this year I plan to make it an annual thing alongside the larger Queer Games Bundle (here's the 2022 version) on itch.io run in Pride Month, but in case it isn't, I'll drop some tips here for other people who are interested in this sort of stuff.
For those who might stumble onto this post and are new to what I do: I'm a freelance social media manager/marketer, so I make funny posts and tell people to buy stuff. I don't like capitalism but unfortunately people gotta eat and pay rent, so I do my best to put food on the table. That said, I don't have any formal training or degrees on the subject: I picked up this position after graphic design didn't work out for me, knowing how high in demand it is. I'm inspired by cool folks like Victoria Tran, who is currently with InnerSloth (Among Us), and Arimia of Crystal Game Works (A Pinch of Magic, Crimson Waves on the Emerald Sea, etc.). I've also got to give shout outs to npckc (a pet shop after dark, A YEAR OF SPRINGS, etc.), whose book I've taken a major page out of while organizing the Queer Halloween Stories Bundle.
Let's jump into a few pointers under the Read More. (Last Updated on September 29, 2022)
We've got 5 easy points as of now.
1) Prepare Month(s) in Advance
Several months even, especially the more people who are involved in your bundle. If you're doing a co-op bundle with maybe 2-3 of your other close buds, you can probably coordinate this well in a group chat or server, but when you start juggling even 5+ developers/studios who you may not be as close to (always a good time to make friends though!), you're going to need to be more organized. Sure you might be able to wrangle everyone together on a Discord server, but I know quite a fair amount of us don't like having too many servers on our lists.
If your bundle is also themed around a holiday or something, you want to make sure you launch on time. For example, I started planning the Queer Halloween Stories Bundle 2022 around the last week of August 2022, after a Kickstarter campaign that unfortunately didn't succeed. I started contacting folks and emailing my prospective promo artists on the last day and got the ball rolling early September 2022.
2) Forms, Forms, And More Forms (And Spreadsheets, Oh My!)
Yes, make those forms and do them yourself too. It may seem a little impersonal but you and your other participants will thank you later when the info is all gathered up in a spreadsheet when it comes time to rock 'n roll.
When you make a form for your participants, you'll want a few of these fields (add or delete as per your needs):
- Name
- Pronouns
- Studio Name (or Developer Name)
- Email (for contact purposes)
- Discord Name (for contact purposes, optional)
- Game Page
- Opt for split? Y/N
- Press Kit (Probably make this mandatory, more on this later)
If you're reaching out to press, streamers, etc. for coverage of your bundle, you'll want a similar form.
- Name
- Pronouns
- Email (for contact purposes)
- Website/Channel (list multiple URLs if applicable)
- Audience Interests (this will help you gauge whether this person's audience is a good match for your bundle/games)
I put the URLs in bold here because someone filled out my form with"@[InsertName] on all socials" which definitely lowered their chances of getting a key. Fellas, don't make someone do more work when it's an easy fix. At least do a single URL that connects all your other websites, like a linktree or carrd.
3) ... And Emails!
I hope you like writing emails. Instant Messaging is convenient but don't put all your eggs into that basket, especially since some people may need to lower their online presence for their mental health (or any other number of reasons). Pins in Discord may not be immediately obvious, but email inboxes are a tad bit more organized in this regard.
Hint: If you're writing a generic email and don't need to tailor things to one person, use the Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) option in your address field. Hopefully everyone's using their professional game development emails, but in case they aren't, don't risk doxxing people.
4) Prepare Press Kits (As Soon As Yesterday)
I was a little extra with the Queer Halloween Stories Bundle and went through the trouble of making a press kit for the entire bundle and helping other developers who didn't have one for their games whip up a quick one. Tip: Don't be me. It was exhausting. Next year, I'll have to make sure everyone does up their own.
For those who don't know what a press kit is, it's essentially a cheat-sheet for press people to look at and possibly copy over so their readers have a basic idea of what your thing is. This will likely include information like your release date, retail price, platforms, synopsis, screenshots, etc. You can probably even copy over the majority of the info you've already prepared on your game's page.
For those who dread making a press kit (or don't know how to start making one), here's a couple of resources for you.
- carrd presskit template by npckc (This is the presskit I'm using)
- presskit() 2.0 by Rami Ismail
- Notion PressKit 2.0 by KrisWB
- FeePresskit by Feemagie
- The IndieGameDatabase can also generate a press kit for you, with the added bonus of adding your game to Twitch's stream categories
It may be time consuming initially, but if you're serious about having someone cover your games, this is something that'll save you time in the long run.
5) Send Your Emails Early
Yes, it's important enough that we need two points for it. Communicating within your group is vital and not everyone will be online all the time, so be sure to account for unforeseen emergencies. You'll also want to get your press kits over to your press people ASAP so they can prepare their articles or adjust their stream schedule. Two weeks in advance is a good rule of thumb for people to make time for you. If you're keeping things hush-hush, be sure to let them know if there's a release embargo as well.

I've spent over an hour and a half writing this so far and I've got to get back to my emails now, so please forgive any typos or rushed portions 🙃 I'll do my best to write more after the bundle is said and done.
P.S. Did you appreciate my word vomit? The best thing you can do to support me from October 1 - November 1, 2022 is (surprise!) to buy yourself a copy of the Queer Halloween Stories Bundle when it goes live! Hello yes I'm a marketer.