Blog
Guides to the math behind the tools — readability formulas, pricing your work, sizing a build, and planning a game world.
Why your D&D combat is running 40 minutes over (and the math to fix it)
The real-world time cost of a D&D or TTRPG encounter is driven by turn time and round count, not "how hard" the fight looks on paper. Here is the arithmetic behind both, with worked examples.
How much paint you actually need for an army (and why "eyeballing it" runs out mid-batch)
Scale and coverage type change paint consumption per model far more than most hobbyists assume. The drop-ratio math behind mixing exactly enough custom color for an entire unit in one batch.
Will your web novel backlog run dry? The buffer math serialized fiction writers skip
Publishing faster than you write feels fine for months, right up until the backlog hits zero all at once. The burn-rate arithmetic behind sustainable release schedules on Royal Road, Wattpad, and Patreon serials.
What AI writing detectors actually measure (and why they get it wrong)
Burstiness, "delve into" transitions, hedging, repeated 3-grams: the measurable patterns behind AI-writing scores, why no score can prove authorship, and how to use one honestly.
The invisible typos: catching colour/color mixes, e-mail vs email, and other consistency slips
Nothing in your document is misspelled, yet it reads as sloppy. How British/American mixes, hyphenation drift, capitalization variants, and clashing number formats creep in — and how to sweep them out.
One page, one minute? Why your screenplay's real runtime depends on what's on the page
The 1-page-per-minute rule breaks exactly when it matters: action pages run long, sitcom banter runs short. How genre and the action/dialogue split change screen time, and how to estimate honestly.
What Etsy actually takes from your sale (and how to price around it)
A full breakdown of Etsy's real fee stack — listing, transaction, payment processing, and ads — and why pricing off "price minus cost" leaves real profit on the table.
KDP royalty tiers explained: why some ebooks earn 70% and others only 35%
How Amazon KDP's price-band eligibility rule, per-megabyte delivery fee, and paperback print-cost floor determine what a self-published book actually earns.
Exclusive vs. non-exclusive ACX distribution: the real royalty math
Why the 50% exclusive royalty rate isn't automatically better than 30% non-exclusive once a narrator royalty-share split enters the picture, with a worked monthly and annual projection.
Why your print-on-demand shop isn't as profitable as it looks
Breaking down base/blank cost, platform fees, payment processing, and ad spend to show why thin per-unit POD margins need volume or ad efficiency to actually work.
The real cost of a handmade candle (it's not just wax)
Walking through wax, fragrance load, pour waste, wick, container, label, packaging, and labor costs with a worked unit-cost example and markup guidance.
Cold-process soap math: superfat, lye, and getting the ratio right
How SAP values, superfat percentage, and water ratio determine the exact lye amount a cold-process soap batch needs, with a worked example and an important lye-safety disclaimer.
Pricing stickers: why bulk orders should cost less per unit
Why a 100-sticker order should never cost 100x a single sticker — the real material and weeding-labor cost stack behind a fair unit price, and how to build a volume discount curve that actually makes sense.
Embroidery pricing: stitch count is the number that matters
Why a small, dense embroidery design can cost more than a large simple one, how the one-time digitizing fee amortizes across a run, and a worked unit-cost example.
How to price art commissions without guessing
Piece type, extra characters, background complexity, and usage license all change what a commission is worth — including the license factor most artists forget to charge for. A full worked example.
Is that craft fair booth actually worth it? Do the math first
A $75 booth fee is the smallest part of what a market day actually costs. How to turn booth fee, travel, rental, and COGS into the two numbers that decide whether to book the table: effective hourly wage and break-even units.
How much resin do you actually need? (mold math explained)
The dimension formula and water-fill method for measuring mold volume, why a waste allowance matters, and how to convert volume into weight and cost — worked examples for a rectangular and a cylinder mold.
Board and batten spacing: the math behind a symmetric accent wall
Why even spacing beats a fixed reveal on a board and batten wall, and the rounding formula — plus the "n+1 gaps" rule — that keeps every batten identical, corner to corner.
Why herringbone tile needs more material than you think
The real reason herringbone (18%) and chevron (20%) tile patterns waste more material than a straight lay (10%), and a worked tiles-boxes-cost example for the same floor in all three patterns.
Planning a deck: boards, gaps, and fasteners that actually add up
Why the 3/16-inch board gap matters, how joist spacing determines your fastener count, and screws vs. hidden clips — with a full worked example for a 20x12 deck.