Getting ready for the Better World Book kickstarter - April 2019

Another way of thinking about it ...

Suppose you come to a kickstarter and it looks good and you are thinking of supporting.   So you check out the rewards.  And you see that at the $1 level you get a brand new car.  

Are you more likely to support the kickstarter or less likely?

Me:  I'm thinking - these guys are going to get my email address.  I suspect that there is no car, they are just going to grab my email address and run like hell.

Therefore, I am now leaning more toward 4 than 12.

I would feel suspicious of the car.

The plans to make my own bicycle on the other hand...

I like 3 or 4.  4 is unlucky in some countries.  It's lucky in others.

paul wheaton wrote:

Mike Jay wrote:My hunch is if 1 gift code gets you 100 people, 4 gift codes would get you 150 people and 12 gift codes would get you 160.

I think I would like to hear from 20 people each giving a report like this.  

If these numbers were true, I would do 12.  But I think that with 12 there is a decent chance that the number would be less than if it were 4.

My, thoughts...

I feel like at the $1 level is the "I kinda like this, sure kid, here's a buck" and the single rewards are personal anyway. They only need one.

Then at the $5 level are the "Hey, more cool stuff. I've gotta tell Jan and Marcia about this!" because they have a bunch of folks to share with.
Maybe 3 codes for the CANDY stuff, and 3 codes for Everything in THANKS?...

At $10, they really just want the Ebook for themselves (for the least $), and at $15 they like to turn pages...
So, "book(s)",  plus 3 codes for the CANDY stuff, and 3 codes for Everything in THANKS.

12 gift codes is like buying a case of something, which means you really like it, like $25 like it..., and you have a plan, damnit!
For $25 you'd get: 2 physical copy or 4 ebooks, plus 12 codes for the CANDY stuff, and 12 codes for Everything in THANKS.

And then, the 12 codes thing carries on through all the rest of the "book" reward levels...

I'd be wary of the car too. The Caldera is probably stuffed with brand new 1987 Yugos, watch out, he is up to something!!

I agree with Paul in that it should be no more than four at the lower levels.  Even at four half the people will only redeem one, and likely only 10% would redeem all four.  Diminishing returns.

On the other hand people can always back at higher levels with more stuff if they want more things to redeem.

That said, stretch goals add incentives for people to upgrade their pledge, or join the campaign. If, for some miraculous reason, Paul exceeds his funding goal then add stretch goal offering more rewards. This could also get people more redeeming things.

I do think giving too much stuff in the higher tiers, don't know how would change it but seems like giving away the farm, unless that's the point.

Any who,  back to the shadows.

I'll be backing it Paul!

Richard Kutscher wrote:I do think giving too much stuff in the higher tiers, don't know how would change it but seems like giving away the farm, unless that's the point.  

Please help me to understand this one better.

paul wheaton wrote:

Richard Kutscher wrote:I do think giving too much stuff in the higher tiers, don't know how would change it but seems like giving away the farm, unless that's the point.  

Please help me to understand this one better.

I'd like to rescind that comment now. Took another look and they do seem appropriate.  Was focused on the number of hours instead of the actual content.  

We are planning to offer kickbacks to people who promote the kickstarter. This is open to anyone who wants in. If you let us know that you are interested, we'll set up some spiffy links and send them to you once the kickstarter is live. If someone supports after clicking those links, then we'll send you a cut.

Below is what we are thinking of offering. The idea is to double incentivize extra support - more money from more backers and more money per backer.

In the past people have asked for a link and then only had 1 supporter - they were giving themselves a discount. So... If you bring in 2 or more supporters:

5% kickback if you bring in $100 to $500
10% kickback if you bring in $500 to $1000
15% kickback if you bring in $1000 to $5000
20% kickback if you bring in $5000 to $10,000
25% kickback if you bring in $10,000 to $50,000
30% kickback if you bring in $50,000 or more


Let me know what you think!

I'd be willing to try the kickback plan once the kickstarter is up and running.  I've got a fairly large FaceBook following I can try marketing it to.  For the most part they are an art crowd so I don't know if I'll be successful in generating any more backers or not, but it seems worth a try.

Sounds good David. I'll put you on the list!

Here is draft 3 of the kickstarter video! It feels like we're getting really close! I would really like to hear what you all think of it!

I like it.  Well done, cute paper cut-out stuff, hits upon the philosophy of the book.

I'm heavily influenced by whatever I am currently reading or listening to, and I am currently reading Early Retirement Extreme. My main critique comes from the introduction of the book, which talks about making a "how-to" for "how-to" manuals- learning to be a navigator vs just following a set of instructions.

I am iffy about saying that the Better World Book is a bunch lists of things to do, but having lists probably appeals to many people (which is what Jacob says in ERE). So, perhaps there's no need to change the description as containing lists. The lists in the Better World Book could help people to become their own navigators.

Overall, I think the trailer is good. I just don't like saying lists, because the book I'm reading right now kind of makes me think "lists" is too simple of a way to describe what the Better World Book contains.

I really like the overall style and look of the vid.  It is fun!  I think maybe a bit longish for people who are not already fans, maybe.  

It just ends in mid air: "is there enough interest to print it?"<cut>  Is that just due to the rough edit?  It leaves me cold.  Maybe I just want the comfort of familiarity, where the end is the ask.  You could get that effect by adding 1 more sentence, along the lines of "...interest to print it.  If you want more people to know about solutions that work, please support our kickstarter."   Or whatever.    Or a similar sentiment in a graphic.

But more likely you had a good reason for the end to be as it is?  

Over all I think the video is just fine and could run as it is without someone seeing it and thinks it's substandard or anything.  If I were going to nitpick there were a couple minor points that stuck out to me.  First was when it was talking about people buying the book by the dozen to give away.  In the graphic the female figure is given what at first appears to be just one book as Paul is speaking in the voice over about a dozen.  We see a moment later that it was in fact a pile of books as they are given out to other paper figures.  However, I think it might be a stronger presentation of the idea of purchasing many books if instead of the neatly stacked paper books that look like just one you laid down a slightly fanned out stack of paper books so it's clear from the onset that the person is buying multiple copies.  Seeing the initial figure with multiple copies would further reinforce the idea of getting them that way.  What we see visually appears to be each person with just on copy.

Next, I have to agree with Kerry's observation that the ending feels off.  I'm waiting for another line or something which just isn't there.  I guess I feel like it's missing the "call to action" line.  "Is there enough interest to print it?" is a good leading question.  It just needs the conclusion clearly telling people how to express their interest.  I know, it's obviously implied that one should support the kickstarter to do this, but I feel like explicitly saying this with a line like, "If you want to see this book printed please support this kickstarter and we can make it happen."

That's my nitpicking input for this.  Generally speaking I think it's great.  It has good graphics and good pacing.  It presents a light hearted feel while dealing with a serious topic.  I esp. liked the touch of having the paper arrow pointing directly to the money symbol while talking about solutions leading to a more luxuriant life.

two video ideas (and I would like to hear what others think):

VI007: At 3:06 .... there are office supplies piling up on the desk to show the work that needs to be done.   I think it would be funny if a sledge hammer appears on top of the pile!  What do you all think?

VI008:  How about at the end if there is a message kinda like the vid from last year "printing is expensive!   give us monies!"  ??

the table of contents



Part 0: Introduction
Chapter 1: A Different Approach to Solving the World's Problems

Part 1: The Problems
Chapter 2: Environmentalist vs. "Environmentalist"
    The Wheaton Eco Poser Test
Chapter 3: The Wicked Lies About Lightbulbs
    Free Light Bulbs! Love and Kisses from China!
    Legally Pump Stimulants into Your Employees All Day with Blue Light!
    The Cartel That Rigged the Light Bulb Game
    It Says “Eco” on the Label - They Forgot to Mention “Carcinogenic”
    Big Energy Savings! (Except in Cold Climates)
    The Ultimate Example of Greenwashing
Chapter 4: Carbon Footprint
Chapter 5: Petroleum Footprint
Chapter 6: Toxic Footprint

Part 2: General Strategies
Chapter 7: The Wheaton Eco Scale
Chapter 8: Moving Way Beyond Recycling
    Attack of the Pizza Box
    Recycling 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0
Chapter 9: Vote with Your Wallet
Chapter 10: Radically Deviant Financial Strategies
    The Story of Gert: A Millionaire Life Without a Million Dollars
    Owning a Home Without Grovelling to a Bank
    Early Retirement Extreme
    Give a Gift to Your Future Self with Passive Income Streams
    The BEER Plan
    A Clever Recipe for More Luxuriant Living at Half the Cost
Chapter 11: Organic vs Local
Chapter 12: Vegan vs Omnivore vs Junk Food
    VORP - Expanding Our Vocabulary to Value Garden Food over Diet Cola
    When a Vegan Diet Has a Lower Carbon Footprint.  And When It Doesn’t.
    GAT:  Government-Mandated Acceptable Levels of Toxicity

Part 3: Within the Walls of Your Home
Chapter 13: REALLY Reducing Home Energy Usage
    63% of Home Energy Use in a Cold Climate Is Heat
           How I Cut 87% off My Electric Heat Bill and Stayed Toasty Warm
           The New Wood Heat: Smokeless and One Tenth the Wood
    19% of Home Energy Use is Hot Water
           Boom Squish
           Making Your Hot Water Tank More Efficient
           Saving Hot Water Without Suffering Another Cold Shower
    5% of Home Energy Use is LightingLighting
    3% of Home Energy Use is Laundry
    The Little Things
    The Physical Energy Footprint per Adult
Chapter 14: More People Living Under One Roof Without Stabbing Each Other
    "Obey or Else"
    The Knives Are in the Kitchen
    Dirty Cup CSI
Chapter 15: Toxic Gick vs. 20 Years of Your Life
    A Better Cleaning Strategy Than Replacing Dirt with Poison
    Cast Iron Can Be Non Stick; Teflon Is Always Poison
    Going Pooless
    Bug Killer You Can Eat!

Part 4: More Than Half of Each Footprint Can Be Resolved in a Backyard
Chapter 16: The Huge Link Between Food and Global Footprints (Vegans Too!)
Chapter 17: Double the Food with One Tenth of the Effort
    Transplanting? That's Unnecessary Work!
    Prepping the Soil to Not Need Prepping
    Planting Once and Harvesting for Years
    Mulching 2.0: Being Naked Is No Longer Required!
    3D Gardening - Big Berms Bring Big Benefits
    How Trees Nurture Gardens, Cool Your Home, Heat Your Home, and Save the World
    Replacing Fertilizer with Polyculture
    Monocrops Need Pest Control; Nature Doesn't
    Let's Do the Math
Chapter 18: The Dark Side of Native Plant Enthusiasm
    Native to When?
    Past Invasives Are Now "Native." When Will Current Invasives Become "Native?"
    The Shifting Definitions of "Noxious Weeds"
    Lipstick on a Pig: Native Plant Organizations and Herbicide Companies
    Myth: Native Plants Are Better Suited to Your Area
    Native Plant Enthusiasts Eat Only Native Crops, Right?
    One Person Managing 20,000 Acres vs. One People Managing 10 Acres
    The Pow Wow Grounds in Elmo, Montana
Chapter 19: 20 Things to Do with the Twigs That Fall in Your Yard
Chapter 20: Not Composting
Chapter 21: Better Than Solar Panels: A Solar Food Dehydrator
    My Quick Tips for Making a "Down Draft" Solar Food Dehydrator
    A Natural Recipe for Solar Dehydrator "Black"
    A Few Things You Can Do with a Solar Dehydrator
Chapter 22: Breaking the Toxic Water Cycle with Greywater Recycling
    A Lifehack Greywater System
    Building a Simple Greywater System
    Cold Climate Greywater Systems
    Become a Certified Environmentalist
Chapter 23: Harvesting Electricity in Your Backyard
Chapter 24: The Conventional Lawn vs a Mowable Meadow
    Battle for the Sun Deathmatch! Rig the Game for Grass!
    Tough Training Leads to Strong Grasses with Deep, Resilient Roots!
    Deep, Rich, Magnificent Soil vs. Thin, Pathetic Dirt
    Free Fertilizers Stomp the Poopies out of the Commercial Offerings
    Long Term Soil vs. Short Term Fertilizer
    Bringing in the REAL Professionals (Hint: They Don't Wear Clothes)

Part 5: Counter the Footprint of 20 People on a Homestead
Chapter 25:How Vegans Benefit from Caring for Cattle, Chickens, Hogs, Etc.
    Contemplations in Pampering an Animal
    How to Get Five Times More Garden Growth by Gardening with Animals
    Building Your Soul with a Plethora of Life Instead of Zappity Zap Zap
    If It Smells Bad, You're Doing It Wrong: Never Mucking out a Shelter Again
    The Very Best Predator Control Is Not a Fence
Chapter 26: Replacing Petroleum with People
Chapter 27: Wrestling with Poop Beasts and Peeing in the Garden
    Creating a Magnificent Jungle with Your Urine
    An Exploration of Pooping Contraptions
           Making Poop Jerky and Saving It for Later
           Feeding Poop Beasts, Killing Them, and Building Stuff out of their Bones
Chapter 28: The Solutions to Colony Collapse Disorder are Embarrassingly Simple
Chapter 29: Destroy Your Orchard to Make a Food Forest
Chapter 30: A Building Design That Solves Almost Everything
    Setting Our Design Criteria Extremely High
                We Can Do Better Than Straw Bale Designs
                We Can Do Better Than Cob Designs          
                The Dirty Secret of "Sustainable" Building
                The Joy and Heartbreak of Earthships
                Prevent Wildfires by Building a Home
    From Junk to Genius with One Simple Design Change
    A Freaky Cheap Home That Doesn't Look Freaky Cheap
    Using the Heat from Summer to Heat Your Home During the Winter
    The Strict Definition of "Wofati"
    A Modification for a Year-Round Freezer
Chapter 31: Natural Swimming Pools
    Keeping the Water Clean
    Avoiding the Ice Bath
    How Do I Build One? Gimmie! Gimmie Now!

Part 6: Conclusion
Chapter 32: Hey! You Know What Would Be Cool?

Appendix A - World Domination
Appendix B - Tabular summary of solutions
Acknowledgements
About the Authors

I like this table of contents much better than the previous one I saw, esp. when considering your target audience for this book.  To me, this version avoids using too much jargon the average person won't know.  Instead you are giving just enough information to draw those who might be interested in to learn more, including the terms we more frequently use.  For example, "the new wood heat: smokeless and one tenth the wood" is going to be a far greater draw to the uninitiated than saying "Rocket Mass Heaters".  Excellent job!

I did notice this though under the Chapter 18 section, "One Person Managing 20,000 Acres vs. One People Managing 10 Acres".  Is it supposed to say One Person Managing 10 Acres?  I realize you could be talking about a tribe or group in which case People may be correct, but I suspect this was just a slip up.

bouncing off of David's reply. I think changing Going Pooless to Going Without Shampoo might make more sense to the average person and peak their curiosity. Though, pooless does peak curiosity, too, just because it is peculiar and odd enough of a phrase. I do remember when this word wasn't in my vocabulary, and my first impression was this is about how to not poop; that's weird, I'm going to check this out. Also, maybe changing "boom squish" to "how to not get killed with a water heater" might be useful. Though, boom squish is pretty descriptive, as well.

VI007: It would be funny to see a sledgehammer at the end, but I do worry about the cost of doing such a scene. I think it matches Paul's personality, well, because a sledgehammer makes a pretty good impression of "badass", if done well. If done wrong, there are plenty of YouTube videos of people hurting themselves. So, I might be careful about this.

VI008: I think this would be a good idea, because that is kind of the whole plan of the Kickstarter- "This work has been done; all we need is money to print it"

David Huang wrote:I did notice this though under the Chapter 18 section, "One Person Managing 20,000 Acres vs. One People Managing 10 Acres".  Is it supposed to say One Person Managing 10 Acres?  I realize you could be talking about a tribe or group in which case People may be correct, but I suspect this was just a slip up.

Oops! Thank you! Fixed on the master copy!

Former life as secretary and proofreader kicking in.  Under chapter 18, in the section "myth"-does "native plants" need to be capitalized to match the rest?

Tina Hillel wrote:Former life as secretary and proofreader kicking in.  Under chapter 18, in the section "myth"-does "native plants" need to be capitalized to match the rest?

I have investigated and I think you found a bug in the permies software. Yes, you are right, it should be capitalized but the software is doing funny things to it for some reason. Thanks Tina!

paul wheaton wrote:VI007: At 3:06 .... there are office supplies piling up on the desk to show the work that needs to be done.   I think it would be funny if a sledge hammer appears on top of the pile!  What do you all think?

VI008:  How about at the end if there is a message kinda like the vid from last year "printing is expensive!   give us monies!"  ??

VI007 - Really like this one, followed by swiping it off camera and putting together what you need monies for...

VI008 - Still sounds hollow, I like Dave Burton's thought, but already covered after sledge hammer.  Maybe a rhyming thing like this (cheesy/doesn't fit?) "Risk is low as work is done.  Back us now and reap what's done."

Don't mean to suggest adding anything, but don't see this included and remember you talking about it.  Maybe it's covered in Chapter 13 or 23. info on power sources...  Grid, local, solar, generators (not just big noisy ones but also things like Lister engine), wind, micro hydro, no power at all.  And energy storage (batteries, ponds, etc).  This is a large polluter.

Oooh! I do like the rhyme you came up with, Richard!

Richard Kutscher wrote:Don't mean to suggest adding anything, but don't see this included and remember you talking about it.  Maybe it's covered in Chapter 13 or 23. info on power sources...  Grid, local, solar, generators (not just big noisy ones but also things like Lister engine), wind, micro hydro, no power at all.  And energy storage (batteries, ponds, etc).  This is a large polluter.

We talk about power sources in Chapter 23.

paul wheaton wrote:two video ideas (and I would like to hear what others think):

VI007: At 3:06 .... there are office supplies piling up on the desk to show the work that needs to be done.   I think it would be funny if a sledge hammer appears on top of the pile!  What do you all think?

VI008:  How about at the end if there is a message kinda like the vid from last year "printing is expensive!   give us monies!"  ??

We've decided to not do VI007... for reasons.

We are changing the text on the screen at the end. Thanks for the feedback on the video!

I have something to consider (maybe). I checked the rewards..
Pledging from non US countries woud probably add about 20$ for the postage? I guess i will not be the only one from those countries that will think of group buying...

And if there are 10 people in group buy with me + they are thinking of adding a book to others it suddenly gets over 12 copies.... Maybe a pledge for 24 copies?

This is my POV, and it might not be only mine...
Also, i dont think that having an accout on kickstarter is very widespread arround me - i imagine that many would rather like have me to order something online for them as to get themselves kickstarter + paypal account.

Still, i am in for those promotional links...

Cheers,
Klemen

I agree with Kerry and David that the last line of the video needs help. I’m glad you’re going to change it, and look forward to seeing it!

Maybe something more positive and confident?

“We hope you’ll join us in building a better world, and begin by backing our Kickstarter, to build these books, and spread the word!”

(P.S. The bad guys are going to be SO angry when this works.)

I am getting so excited for this!!! I have no doubt it will be funded.  I think you are asking for a VERY reasonable amount. And you always have great incentives for everyone at every level.  Thanks for all of the hard work everyone has put into this!!!

Something just occurred to me while re-reading the incentives list.  Each incentive level builds on the previous level which is awesome and normal.  

The thought is that when I read "and everything in precious contribution level" will that statement be misunderstood as the number of books in level X in addition to the number of books in X1 plus the number of books in X2...

I am not sure if that was the intention or a possible catch to stating "everything in previous levels..."

Make sense?

On the Kickstarter rewards, would it be possible to get a combination of physical books and eBooks, not just one or the other?

Jason Guidone wrote:Something just occurred to me while re-reading the incentives list.  Each incentive level builds on the previous level which is awesome and normal.  

The thought is that when I read "and everything in precious contribution level" will that statement be misunderstood as the number of books in level X in addition to the number of books in X1 plus the number of books in X2...

I am not sure if that was the intention or a possible catch to stating "everything in previous levels..."

Make sense?

I think we never say "everything in previous levels" - we carefully state something like "+ everything in THANKS" and stuff like that.   Is there a spot where we botched this?

Dave Burton wrote:On the Kickstarter rewards, would it be possible to get a combination of physical books and eBooks, not just one or the other?

I am planning on having a mention about how every level that offers physical books will get a question in the kickstarter survey that says something like "You may have up to 12 physical books.  For each physical book you pass on, we will send you three ebook gift codes.  how many physical books do you want?"

paul wheaton wrote:

Jason Guidone wrote:Something just occurred to me while re-reading the incentives list.  Each incentive level builds on the previous level which is awesome and normal.  

The thought is that when I read "and everything in precious contribution level" will that statement be misunderstood as the number of books in level X in addition to the number of books in X1 plus the number of books in X2...

I am not sure if that was the intention or a possible catch to stating "everything in previous levels..."

Make sense?

I think we never say "everything in previous levels" - we carefully state something like "+ everything in THANKS" and stuff like that.   Is there a spot where we botched this?

Apologies...I meant to remove my original post...I looked again and saw that you were quite careful with the level language...to me it all looks solid language-wise.

I was just thinking about the table of contents and thought I'd share...

I think that for every chapter or section title in the book, we have probably gone through an average of a dozen different ideas (sometimes up to 40 or 50!) before settling on the ones posted above. Some of them were truly horrible. But because we were willing to write down horrible ideas, we came up with some that I think are pretty awesome!

We need a cover image to go on the kickstarter page. These are the three options we've looked at so far.

Like this post if you like this one the most!

Like this post if you like this image the most!

Like this post if you like this one the most!

Keep in mind that 95% of the people viewing these will be looking at them as thumbnails:



Which one is most likely to get you to click on it, visit the page and support?

I like the food forest one (#1) the best, but I voted for the apple one (#3) because I'm thinking that one catches the eye better and might appeal to a broader audience.