The Better World Book Kickstarter (May 2019)

Shawn and I were prepping for an upcoming podcast and I started to write a note.  Which grew and grew ....  and grew.    So I guess I ended up writing a bit of a script.   Here is what I wrote:

I am not sure what you all are doing in your day-to-day lives to push permaculture forward, or to change the world to be a more permaculture world, but maybe supporting this kickstarter can be a bit of “buying a bit of forward velocity.”    

If half of the people listening to this podcast supported the kickstarter at the $100 level, this book would be the all time most funded book on kickstarter - sending a message to self pub authors all over the world that THIS is the best topic.   Not only will they explore this topic more, but they will write about this.    If we get that level of support, then we will have blasted through a huge pile of stretch goals, and for your $100 you would get a pile of our new books, plus a library full of other books and DVDs.  And, together, we will have infected millions of brains with permaculture ideas.  

In the last podcast, we listed off ten stretch goals that are coming (including the audiobook).   Here are a few more that are on the list for possible stretch goals if we get past those stretch goals:

  - waiving of the gapper fee at wheaton labs
  - Permaculture Voices 1 video
  - rough drafts of four books i have at least half done
  - five microdocs from previous kickstarters
  - sergei boutenko’s wild edibles book
  - mike oehler’s $50 and up underground house book
  - Josiah Wallingford’s Plant propogation course
  - Amanda Smith’s Eat Your Dirt Summit videos
  - Adam Klaus’s book “Dairy Farming - the Beautiful Way”
  - The Chemerical Movie
  - Emergency Home Power video from Steven Harris

And lots, lots more where we are still having conversations with people.  

So, if half the people listening right now supported the kickstarter at $100, each person would receive about $2000 worth of content and we would all, collectively, be showing that permaculture is the best topic for authors considering kickstarter.  Plus, who knows what other magnificent change it could trigger just because of the size of it all.  Big time media?  

Apparently there are about 20,000 non-profit environmental organizations.  I think it is possible that if half the people listening to this podcast put in $100, this kickstarter could do more for the environment …. possibly … than the effort of those 20,000 organizations combined.  

(heavy emphasis on the word “possible” provided that people read the book and implement a good portion of what is suggested)

This is our moment.  This is our chance.   Let’s go for it!

to go to the kickstarter




CLICK HERE!

Only $100 dollars from Raven's "Edible Cleaners" stretch goal!!!

It has now reached $55,005!!!



The second stretch goal is achieved!


[edited to add font magic stuff]

WooHoo!!!  We get Raven's book!!!

Now everyone can put in more money to try and be in the top 20!

BTW, how can you tell if you're in the top 20 or not and therefore have to put in more money?  There are 2 people in the about $200 categories followed by 36 in the $200 bucket.  Might help with bidding it up if folks need to add more to the pot to get past each other.  

David, I hope you don't mind that I edited your post a little bit.

paul wheaton wrote:David, I hope you don't mind that I edited your post a little bit.

Not at all.  I don't know if I have the magic powers to make the font that size.  At least I didn't see how.  ;)  

So we are now on our way to stretch goal number three:




So how this works is that we will set up a special email account when we know what day the party will be.   And then we will ask everybody that wants to come to the party to send us an email telling us that they want to come.   And then we will look up those people to see what they put in.   And then select the top 20 people from that list.  

When we did this last year, we had a lot of people adding a penny to their pledge, or adding $3.77 to their pledge ....    

David Huang wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:David, I hope you don't mind that I edited your post a little bit.

Not at all.  I don't know if I have the magic powers to make the font that size.  At least I didn't see how.  ;)  

I use the thing to do "giant" font which set the size to "24".   I just edit the number to be something like 44.  

Shawn and I will need to talk first thing tomorrow morning to sort out what will be the stretch goal at $75,000.    The voting is still going on over here:  https://permies.com/t/110459/World-Book-stretch-goal-apple

paul wheaton wrote:Shawn and I will need to talk first thing tomorrow morning to sort out what will be the stretch goal at $75,000.    The voting is still going on over here:  https://permies.com/t/110459/World-Book-stretch-goal-apple

So far it seems like Erica's plans ...

Greg Martin wrote:WooHoo!!!  We get Raven's book!!!

Raven is working hard to have the second edition (with doodles, fewer spelling mistakes, and all sorts of lovely goodies) ready in time for the rewards.

A big shout out to everyone who has helped with this and our lovely beta readers!

r ranson wrote:

Greg Martin wrote:WooHoo!!!  We get Raven's book!!!

Raven is working hard to have the second edition (with doodles, fewer spelling mistakes, and all sorts of lovely goodies) ready in time for the rewards.

A big shout out to everyone who has helped with this and our lovely beta readers!

I know I'm very much looking forward to reading this as well!  Thanks, Raven, for both writing it and making it available as a stretch goal.

Yay!!! We made it to stretch goal number two!  55,025

We are now at 1600 backers!

Shawn Klassen-Koop wrote:


We are now at 1600 backers!

My fingers are crossed (all of them) for more than 2000 before the dust settles!  You guys deserve at least that :)

Click here to learn more about Raven's book!


Click here to learn more about World Domination Gardening!

Click here to learn more about Michael's book!

If you are a librarian and want to put your name in the pot, click here!

Click here to learn more about Erica's plans!

Click here to learn more about Davin's plans!


Click here to learn more about David's book!



Click here to learn more about Chemerical!


Click here to learn more about Adam's book!

Click here to learn more about Permaculture Voices 1!

Click here to learn more about Jacob's book!


CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE KICKSTARTER!

Wow guys!  The update looks amazing!!!

More Stretch Goals!

$135,000 - 6 people will get tickets to our upcoming Permaculture Design Course

$140,000 - 6 people will get tickets to our upcoming Appropriate Technology Course

$145,000 - 32 video presentations from the Eat Your Dirt Summit (for backers at $100 and up)

$150,000 - 6 people will get to bring a friend to stay at wheaton labs for a week - complete with a rocket mass heater
   - in allerton abbey
   - the tipi
   - the red cabin
   - the love shack

$155,000 - Dan Chiras’ book “The Scoop on Poop”
   - eBook format
   - for backers at $100 and up

$160,000 - David The Good’s book “Compost Everything”
   - eBook format
   - for backers at $100 and up

I just added a couple more things to the previous post!

$57,006!

oh yeah!




$58,061!

$59,071!

Over $60,000.....3rd Stretch Goal has been Reached!!!  Triple Holy Guacamole!

Just yesterday, I read a review of your book on the Mother Earth News website. I wish I could contribute more for the stretch goals, but funds are tight here.

In the review they posted they mentioned electric use of under $85 a month. That is an nice goal, but you need to keep in mind that different states charge higher or lower rates for electricity. My rates here in New Hampshire are about 3 times than they were in Boston. Also keep in mind certain medical equipment that may use power. My husband is terminally ill, and uses an electric oxygen concentrator 24/7. Because of his breathing issues we also have to run air purifiers 24/7. No he was not a smoker, his parents were chain smokers, plus the nerve that regulates the diaphragm has been severed, so his lung is collapsed as well as his bronchial tube leading to the trachea has collapsed.  Add to that, my cPap machine and his nebulizer, and there is a lot of electric use that is just not optional. We use a clothes line in the warmer months, but let's face it, when there is 5 feet of snow on the ground hanging your laundry out is not ideal. Ideally,  I'd love to add solar if finances ever allow it. We are both disabled and don't make enough money to owe income tax, so the tax breaks don't work for us.

We did, this past summer, have the state funded energy audit. Our home (a single wide Mobile home) was actually quite weather tight. They simply blew in more insulation in the underbelly, added a new thermostat, changed some light bulbs, and replaced the weather seals around our doors.

I do hope that I can get the book when it comes out. I am sure that there will be many interesting ideas and projects that I could employ.

Best wishes with the publication,
Josephine

josephine,

a few paragraphs from the chapter Environmentalist vs. "Environmentalist"

I once saw a documentary where a wind farm was forbidden by the government because of local outcry. The woman who led the resistance said “We must all do our part for the environment!” The people who wanted the wind farm said pretty much the same thing. Leaving the real argument aside, I was very interested in a few clues that were given up about this woman’s personal life. My impression, based on very limited data, was that she probably considered herself to be an environmentalist. And yet, if there were some sort of super-accurate machine that could measure her eco-level based on her actions over the last year, I think she would score poorly. Very poorly.

I suspect that most people who would call themselves an environmentalist would score poorly. The problem isn’t that they are nefarious. Or stupid. It’s just that the eco information that they have been exposed to is probably some form of greenwashing misinformation ― and plenty of it. So, how do you, dear reader, find out if you really are an eco-warrior, or an unwitting eco-poser? Well, I’ve come up with a quick and simple test.

The complexity of a truly accurate test could fill a library and would change daily depending on new information and problems as they are discovered. The discussion and debate over the quality and validity of the test would fill a hundred more libraries. But since I am seeking something very simple, I came up with something that is massively permissive. It allows half of the current population of the United States to proudly sport the label “eco” or “environmentalist.”

It would seem that you would like to begin the process of filling a hundred libraries?

Or .... (a couple of paragraphs down ...)

I am calling this “The Wheaton Eco-Poser Test” instead of “The Eco-Poser Test” so that everybody who fails this test can make their own test, because, obviously, this test was defective. For example, maybe “The Poppins Eco-Poser Test” would heavily favor umbrella-based transportation schemes.

The book is freakishly dense for 200 pages.   An enormous amount of information had to be cut out.  And we did our best to make hundreds of footnotes to richer discussion.

$60,925!

I am looking forward to the trip!

Shawn Klassen-Koop wrote:


I am looking forward to the trip!

from above:

So how this works is that we will set up a special email account when we know what day the party will be.   And then we will ask everybody that wants to come to the party to send us an email telling us that they want to come.   And then we will look up those people to see what they put in.   And then select the top 20 people from that list.  

When we did this last year, we had a lot of people adding a penny to their pledge, or adding $3.77 to their pledge ....  

$61,040!

$62,076! and 700% funded!

And you've now passed 1700 supporters!

From the school of "try 100 things, 2 will work out and you never know in advance which 2" ...

The kickstarter slowed way down.  And we know it is our responsibility to work hard and infect brains.   So Shawn and I have a new strategy.   We could call it "shoot for the moon!"

The idea is that lots and lots of content creators are putting their stuff in as a stretch goal!  So let's work with that!  Encourage that!  Get mountains of stuff!  

And then remind backers "if half of you upgarded, you would get ALL of this stuff!"

It's a lot of hard work - but that's what we signed up for with a kickstarter!

There seemed to be a surge of support in the last day or two, did fleshing out the remaining stretch goals increase the Kickstarter love? I get email from David the Good now and then, and he had a big email about the project as well as extolling the volume of goodies he got from the rocket oven Kickstarter. So maybe those other contributors recently added got the word out which helped and a few backers?

What David the Good wrote is amazing!

I think part of it is the new strategy, and another part is telling people about the new strategy!

$63,113!

$64,103!

paul wheaton wrote:From the school of "try 100 things, 2 will work out and you never know in advance which 2" ...

The kickstarter slowed way down.  And we know it is our responsibility to work hard and infect brains.   So Shawn and I have a new strategy.   We could call it "shoot for the moon!"

The idea is that lots and lots of content creators are putting their stuff in as a stretch goal!  So let's work with that!  Encourage that!  Get mountains of stuff!  

And then remind backers "if half of you upgarded, you would get ALL of this stuff!"

It's a lot of hard work - but that's what we signed up for with a kickstarter!

It seems for each thing I try I think "maybe it will bring in a million dollars!  Or, maybe it will bring in nothing."

I thought that the mountain of stretch goals combined with "if half the people" would lead to ....   half the people upgrading and then it would be a million dollar kickstarter - the highest funded book in all of kickstarter history!

So things have slowed down again.  

I have a few more ideas to try ....

Has everyone posted to their local permaculture group forums?  I've posted to my forums in Maine and NH and when I did a biochar class one of my students told me they supported the kickstarter, so it can be effective.  I mean, why wouldn't it be...so many great rewards.  I'm scratching my head on more places to get the word out to.  Oher ideas?

Yeah, I have posted to all the ones I can think of. I know over 350 people have "seen" them but only 7 people have really responded to it.  I get a lot of "thumbs' up but not sure if they are really checking it out.  Of course I have gotten reprimanded for trying to sell something ... even when I said that really wasn't my goal. I just think this is something everyone could use.And that you get so much it is like getting tons of free stuff.   And I realized I have been using my spiffy link wrong, so I am not sure just how many actually did go and back the kickstarter.  I will keep trying hopefully more will at least check it out and see that it is a great deal.