Kickstarter Roundup #1 + Memorial Day Weekend Special
Weekend Special
On Tuesday, May 26th, I’m going to introduce a new $5 reward: A “thank you for making my book possible” postcard (I haven’t designed it yet, but it’ll be cool, I promise). But for new supporters of the campaign on any reward level today (May 23), tomorrow (May 24) or Monday (May 25) get that postcard for free.
What a deal!
Progress Report
As of the morning of May 23, less than a week into my Kickstarter campaign, I have raised $3,339, which represents 22% of my 15K goal. The reason I found this particularly exciting is this statistic from the Kickstarter site:
Funding on Kickstarter is all-or-nothing in more ways than one. While 13% of projects finished having never received a single pledge 79% of projects that raised more than 20% of their goal were successfully funded.
Those odds for success are nothing to sneeze at.
I’ve had more than a little help from my friends. 83% of people who donated to my campaign are direct traffic or from Facebook (you also get personal stats on Kickstarter), which means they are people who know me personally — though in some cases virtually — as opposed to people who found me through other methods.
Friends have also helped me by sharing my posts on Facebook and posting about my campaign on their sites.
JT Morrow
A couple of months back, Edie Jarolim, a travel writer and editor, contacted me saying she was working on a Kickstarter project to publish her memoir, Getting Naked For Money. Her concept for the cover was Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” and she had found me online, since parodies of the Great Masters is sort of my thing.The idea is based on a job she had once, writing about a nudist camp for a women’s magazine. But she didn’t want a straight parody where I’d mimic the style of Botticelli. Instead she wanted a contemporary style, using an outline and flat color. Plus she wanted to incorporate a writer’s notebook and a camera, both to tag her as a journalist and to add a little modesty to Venus.We went through a few sketches, nailing down the expression, background elements and other details. If you’re interested in how the job developed, check out Edie’s blog on the subject HERE.
The Vacation Gals
I more or less knew what this post by my pal Beth Blair on her wonderful Vacation Gals blog was going to say because it was in the form of a Q & A, and I wrote the As. But I did not know what she would write in the intro, and I was blown away:
Today I’m excited to share with you my friend Edie Jarolim’s Kickstarter project. First, let me tell you that I have adored Edie for years. I read her work with admiration long before meeting her in person because when it came to travel writing she was the real deal and quite the entertaining writer. When I finally met her through a Tucson writing group it was like meeting a celebrity. She was everything I thought and more.
Dexter’s Ruff Life
No, the adorable Yorkie who has his own YouTube series called Dexter’s Ruff Life did not help me with my shortened version of my Kickstarter video, but his film director, Alana Björn, did. She edited the longer version down to its doggie essentials, and then shared it around.
Here it is:
Edie
Emily Hancock
Patricia Armstrong
