I actually approached Mike about it. My first go on Kickstarter only got to 47%. I had done some thorough research and I couldn't think of that many things I would do differently if I relaunched, so I wasn't very confident that a 2nd try would do much better. People encouraged me to relaunch with a lower goal, but it was too financially risky for me to do that. I wasn't sure I'd find a way to distribute the remaining decks and I'd have to pay for the whole print run plus shipping the rewards out too, and that adds up. One of my backers told me about Mike and suggested contacting him to see if he would be interested, so I submitted my deck through his website. It turns out he was one of my backers too and he wanted to see it printed. He's able to set a much lower goal than I was and like kdklown said, he'll be able to sell them on his website after this. I'm relieved that I won't have to deal with shipping out rewards because I knew that was going to be a lot of additional work.
It's almost fully funded now, less than a week in, so I'm really happy about that!

Thank you! He's been very nice and I've heard good things about him from other people too. Looks like the project is off to a good start!

Thanks again for the opportunity to do the interview, Scott! It's exciting to see my work on your site.

As for the card back, for now I've decided to just make the margins narrower without making any major design changes. Thanks for your help with that decision. Oh, and that's good to know about the sample decks. I probably won't need to do that, but it's always good to have that information just in case. Thanks!

That's a great point, Don.
I think the detailing should be OK for printing, but I have worried about that a little bit. I do have some fine line weights, but I've tried to keep them at what should be a reasonably printable weight. I've never had playing cards printed, but I do have experience with offset printing for things like packaging and brochure design, so I'm hoping most of that will apply here too.
Thanks for the input!

I've been getting some suggestions to narrow the borders on the card backs, and I don't have a problem with that at all. I know that a lot of people have a strong preference for narrow borders. There have also been suggestions to change the color a bit on the card backs and, in some corners, there's been criticism that the back is too busy. I've been playing around with it and I think I have something better. I wanted to see what some of you think. I can't please everyone, but I do want it to be the best it can be.

And for those of you who have made changes to your designs during your Kickstarter project, how did you approach it with your backers? I thought I would post an update with an image of the new design and explain why I changed it and why I think it's better. I would also change out the images in the main page, but it seems like making sure to call it out in an update is the best way to make sure everyone who has already backed the project is aware of it.

Here's what I'm thinking for the new back. I narrowed the borders, incorporated more of the blue I used in the cards and toned down the background elements, and I changed out the border elements completely and used some of the scrolls I also use in the ace cards. I think it ties in better with the rest of the deck and has fewer elements pulling for your attention now. What do you guys think? (please be gentle  )

Thank you, Magic_Orthodoxy - I'm glad you like that. My original card back was just ornate and didn't have the eye, but when I decided to move forward with trying to get it printed, it seemed like I needed something that tied in with all of the symbols a little better so I revisited the design. It ended up working out really well, and became the icon for the whole deck, really. Thanks for spreading the word about it too!

And thank you, Legacy - even if it's not to your taste (and art is so subjective anyway), I like that you appreciate the thought and design of it.

Thank you, Don!
I took my time with it to make sure I had as many bases covered as I possibly could before I launched, but I have to admit, I was getting pretty antsy to get it out there. I'm really excited now that it's underway. Now I just have to push and get the word out

Hi! I wanted to let you all know that I finally got my Kickstarter project put together and launched it yesterday.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mbrinker/gods-of-mythology-bicycle-playing-cards

It took me quite a while to get it ready, because I did a lot of research and wanted to make sure I was really prepared for what I was getting into! I also wanted to have all of the artwork completed so that if I'm successful in getting funding, I'll be able to submit the art for printing ASAP. I went ahead and had USPCC review it and approve it for Bicycle branding so that I wouldn't run into any trouble later.
I wanted to say that I really appreciate the wealth of information you provide on this forum, and the encouragement you've given me in getting this deck out there. It's not only my first deck design (although I have years and years of design experience in general), it's also my Kickstarter project. I hope you'll check it out, and if you like it, become a backer. Thanks again!

It's been a few weeks, and I've been busy making updates to my deck, copyrighting artwork, trying the submissions route, and researching Kickstarter. I sent a submission in to Ellusionist.com first. The customer service guy who answered my inquiry was very nice and said he liked the design but that he wasn't the decision maker and he said that they have only ever printed one outside submission. He suggested Kickstarter as a possibility if I didn't hear from anyone there within a month or so. It's been just over that, so I don't think they're interested in it right now. I'm also sending it to theory11 to let them have a look, and we'll see if I hear anything from them. I'm not really holding my breath but you never know...

I've been reading lots of the posts here about Kickstarter, so I'm getting an idea of what I would need to do if I go that route. I've also been reading about the decks that got funding without being able to deliver, so I am definitely going to make sure all my bases are thoroughly covered before I take that plunge because I want to make certain that wouldn't happen in my case. I've gotten a quote and info packet from USPCC and I plan to have them look at the artwork to make sure it's in good shape. I know they'd have to approve the Bicycle branding if I use that too.

Having said all that, I thought I'd post the updated artwork here to see if anyone has any comments or sees any major faux pas that I should address. There's a more detailed look at all of it on my Behance page (http://www.behance.net/gallery/Mythical-Gods-Card-Deck/6007789). I've added 2 jokers to the designs (Eris, the goddess of strife and discord and Loki, the god of mischief and chaos), redesigned the back to tie in more with the symbolic nature of the cards, tweaked the colors a little, and added a tuck box design.

Yep, you're both right about that. I'll definitely be updating those images.
Thanks!

Thanks, Don! That's great information. I'll look into all of them for design submissions. I do like the idea of being able to hand over the actual sales and order fulfillment to a company that knows what they're doing, rather than taking it on myself. The time I'd spend not packing orders would give me more time to spend designing and drawing new things, and that's worth a lot! It would be great if it also gave me the opportunity to design more decks too, because I enjoyed the challenge and I'm happy that people seem interested in the work. And if none of that comes to fruition, then I can take the plunge with Kickstarter.
I'll keep you all posted on any developments!