The Better World Book Kickstarter (May 2019)

So, here's a thought, if all the current supporters were to send an appeal to their own alma mater's environmentalist student group... it might add a "personal touch".

to go to the kickstarter



click here!

I think Kenneth’s thought is a good one.

Here is some sample text to use if anybody needs help reaching out - the more personal you make it the better, but this should help:

Hello [group/person name] !

My name is [your name] and I am an alumni of [said institution]. I want to tell you about a special project I am currently involved in. This project is entirely about making the world a better, stronger, more resilient place. I am involved in order to ensure that people can learn to make better stronger more resilient decisions every day. The project is a book that challenges most people’s current understanding of environmentalism and pushes us all to do better. It is called the Better World Book.

I am writing to get your help in spreading the word about this book. The authors of this book is Paul Wheaton (www.Permies.com) and Shawn  KlassenKoop and their goal is to ‘infect’ minds with positive ways to be a true steward of our precious resources. The book is written and is being funded through a Kickstarter campaign. The goal was reached in just 3 hours! Now the goal is to reach more people. There are a ton of fabulous incentives for supporting the kickstarter.

Please share this email, or this link with those you know, organizations you are in, or anybody who will appreciate it. http://kck.st/2U3j5Bu

Thanks so much
[your name]

$69,004!

Have you put a link to the kickstarter on all of Paul's vids on Youtube?   I know I have gone back at time and watch older ones. This  could let those that watch them know about the kickstarter.

Just signed up for the Kickstarter at the $150 level, so I have extra copies to give to friends and wanted the Rockety dvd downloads... My question is how can I watch them on a new internet capable tv my 20 year old son bought? I don’t have a laptop...

Really enjoying the latest episodes of the podcast right now at work. I’m mostly a lurker on here occasionally, but read as much as I can on permaculture and hope to take a pdc one day. Got 7 year old twins and my boy loves chickens and camping and says he wants to live on a farm/in the country. Baby steps for now, but encouraging him all I can to learn new things, like critical thinking, and trying to be better stewards of what is under our care.

So, I’ll help when I can with kickstarters and friends projects and speaking to those willing to listen. Keep it up Paul, love all your ideas that you share! 😄

Hope it's ok??? I started putting links up on Paul's videos on Youtube.

I read on kickstarter that videos with captions are more likely to get their attention.  Don't know how captions work.  

I think some of Joe Rogan's huge podcast audience would be interested in what you have to say about saving the world. That's a lot of brains to infect...

I am not on twitter and have no idea how it works but if someone can tweet a link to the kick starter to Daryl Hannah, and Neil Young, I think they might be interested, They were both interested in allowing "save the earth " type booths at one of Neil's Denver concerts. I talked with Daryl about permaculture magazine there. ( I didn't  even know it was her until someone else recognized her.)
And the folks who follow them would be interested too, I think.

I wouldn't know what to say to Neil Young.  "love your music, have you seen this book? I bought a VW van because of your song"

He's pretty permaculture.  Maybe he know's who Paul is?
The Canadian link is pretty cool.  That might get his attention.

If you help give me words, I'll tweet him.

Libraries? Organic food markets? Farmers' markets? University program leaders? Non-Wheaton permaculture classes?

Maybe Bakersfield (or other seed catalogs) might let you host a blog on their site? Maybe book review bloggers might host a "when it's published" book giveaway if you sponsor their pledge in exchange for a write up? Hmm... yes... bloggers.... herbal remedies, organic cooking, gardening, electric cars, energy alturnatives, preppers, survivalists, peace corps, recycling crafters, burning man, wow... so many blog sites...

Brainstorming fodder...

We just uploaded the second edition of Clean With Cleaners You Can Eat.  It now includes beautiful illustrations by Tracy Wandling.

I'm happy we got this done in time for the Kickstarter and thrilled The Better World Book is doing so well.

Keep up the good work everyone.  I'm hoping we get to the stretch goal with the audiobook!

I would try to ask Greta Thunberg for a book review.

To reach more people I would add one, super attractive 1$ stretch goal rather than piling stuff for those who upgrade. But I fully understand financial importance of upgrades. Personally I find amount of rewards for higher levels overwhelming (I mean, watching and reading it all would take all my time that I could use to implement what this book is about lol) ;)

Just $371 from the next stretch goal...

Last year I ordered a brick of Permaculture Playing Cards as generic Christmas gifts.  Some people were like, "What the...?  A deck of cards, whatever dude!" and others were like, "Dude! That's so cool! Can I have another for my (random relationship)?"  So I was looking at the rewards for the support levels, and that delivery was expected by October and I thought, "Self, I could use these as my next round of Christmas gifts for those who didn't think the Permi cards were weird!".  So I chose the $150 level, but every time I try, Kickstarter rejects my card info.  I don't know what's going on.  Does Kickstarter not like debit cards?

$69,774 pledged

787% funded

1,826 backers

9 days to go


I just did a little math that says ....

9001 books.  That is a pretty cool number!  

Creighton Samuiels wrote:  Does Kickstarter not like debit cards?

I haven't used a credit card in years.  I use only debit cards.  I've supported dozens of kickstarters.  

Maybe something is changed?  I dunno - that part is way beyond my control.  

I do know that it feels painful that kickstarter won't list us on their environmental page.   Nor will they give us the blessing of "project we love" which they seem to give to a LOT of campaigns.   Maybe these are all signs that it is time to let go of kickstarter and look for a new platform.

Lyda Eagle wrote:Have you put a link to the kickstarter on all of Paul's vids on Youtube?   I know I have gone back at time and watch older ones. This  could let those that watch them know about the kickstarter.

Last year I went to my 20 most viewed youtube videos and added a comment and pinned it to the top to tell people about the kickstarter.   And then when the kickstarter was over, I went and removed those comments.   It took quite a bit of time and the payoff was 6 backers.   Not bad.   A bit of an edge case on being worth it - considering the amount of time it took.   But I did that last year at the beginning of the campaign.  Right now, there is just nine days left.  So if I did the same amount of work, I might get only one backer.  

Leif Ing wrote:... and wanted the Rockety dvd downloads... My question is how can I watch them on a new internet capable tv my 20 year old son bought? I don’t have a laptop...

Just to be clear ... what you get with the rocket level is the HD Streaming.   BUT!  Once you have that, you can upgrade to downloads or to physical DVDs.  

And, of course, my guess is that you are using a phone to type this message?  You can watch your videos whenever you like with your phone, and you won't need to upgrade.

Lyda Eagle wrote:Hope it's ok??? I started putting links up on Paul's videos on Youtube.

Definitely okay!

r ranson wrote:I read on kickstarter that videos with captions are more likely to get their attention.  Don't know how captions work.  

Like closed captioning?

Wayne Shannon wrote:I think some of Joe Rogan's huge podcast audience would be interested in what you have to say about saving the world. That's a lot of brains to infect...

I think getting me on joe rogan's stuff has been suggested a few dozen times.   I guess the first step is that somebody other than me would need to suggest it.  And then I would need to get to where joe is - i think he is in southern california?  I'm up to make the trip to infect the brain's of Joe's peeps with my stuff.  

I like this idea.   Maybe we need some brainstorming on how to connect the dots and make it happen?  

Miles Flansburg wrote:I am not on twitter and have no idea how it works but if someone can tweet a link to the kick starter to Daryl Hannah, and Neil Young, I think they might be interested, They were both interested in allowing "save the earth " type booths at one of Neil's Denver concerts. I talked with Daryl about permaculture magazine there. ( I didn't  even know it was her until someone else recognized her.)
And the folks who follow them would be interested too, I think.

I have a twitter account.   I created it about ....   eight years ago.   I thought I was beginning to understand how it worked only to learn that I was not using it correctly.   It always seemed like something where I need to sit down and read a small book about how to use it correctly before trying again.   I think jocelyn has the password and has posted some stuff out to my twitter account from time to time.  

Maybe today is the day that I sit down and try to understand twitter.  

Brian Raider wrote:Libraries? Organic food markets? Farmers' markets? University program leaders? Non-Wheaton permaculture classes?

I'm picking one ... organic food markets.  

What do you have in mind?

Maybe Bakersfield (or other seed catalogs) might let you host a blog on their site? Maybe book review bloggers might host a "when it's published" book giveaway if you sponsor their pledge in exchange for a write up? Hmm... yes... bloggers.... herbal remedies, organic cooking, gardening, electric cars, energy alturnatives, preppers, survivalists, peace corps, recycling crafters, burning man, wow... so many blog sites...

Maybe I could contact book review bloggers and ask them to review the transcript?  Are you familiar with some of these?

"electric cars":  I actually sent the book to a vlogger for review.  I get the impression that he didn't read it.  He wrote back about how the book was not what he would write, which would be to heat your home with electric heat while having a massive array of solar panels.  And he felt that there needed to be a lot of the political message he wishes to express directed at politicians and industry.  He wrote a really long email which basically sounded like the foundation of his own book.   I tried.

Maybe gardening?

Richard Gorny wrote:To reach more people I would add one, super attractive 1$ stretch goal rather than piling stuff for those who upgrade.

I feel like the $1 level is already HEAVY with goodies.  And the $5, $10 and $15 levels.  

And I feel like the kickstarter is really for the people at the $100 and up levels.   Maybe by the time we wrap up this kickstarter we will have 2000 backers.   If the average support is $100 per person, that would be $200,000.   I feel I need to put about half my effort into more backers and half of my effort into encouraging people to raise the backer level to $100 or higher.

If a person supports the kickstarter at $15, that's 1 book.    At $100, that's probably going to average out to 6 physical books and 18 eBooks - 24 books.   24 times more brains infected.  

Kenneth Elwell wrote:So, here's a thought, if all the current supporters were to send an appeal to their own alma mater's environmentalist student group... it might add a "personal touch".

How do you find the email address for such a group?

Kenneth Elwell wrote:I'm at work now... but a quick google search for "environmentalist club harvard university", brought me to this page student groups at Harvard which has a few contacts listed. I'm sure that most colleges/universities have similar groups...
Now that's a pool of a couple thousand contacts to seek out and send a well-written appeal (form letter) to...

Maybe, there's an angle to appeal to these groups by donating a book(s)/ebook(s) to them as a kickback for promoting the campaign to their membership? or a reward level just for student groups?

And THERE is the answer to the question I just posted!

Sepp and the production company for "Desert or Paradise" said we can dole out the movie digitally.   The only catch is that they never made a digital version - just the DVD version.  They said we could have it if we could pull the video off of the DVD.

I have the DVD.

I tried.  

Robbie tried.  

No dice.  

Any chance there is somebody in the missoula area that is savvy about this sort of thing that could give it a try?

Pledged a hard copy book :-D

paul wheaton wrote:Sepp and the production company for "Desert or Paradise" said we can dole out the movie digitally.   The only catch is that they never made a digital version - just the DVD version.  They said we could have it if we could pull the video off of the DVD.

I have the DVD.

I tried.  

Robbie tried.  

No dice.  

Any chance there is somebody in the missoula area that is savvy about this sort of thing that could give it a try?

Im not in the missoula area, but have been very successful rippings dvds in the pasts. Have done dozens of mainstream ones. If you want to ship it I can rip it. :)

Richard Gorny wrote:I would try to ask Greta Thunberg for a book review.

I tried to reach out to her a couple of times. No response. To be fair, I'm sure she gets ridiculous amounts of people trying to contact her and saying "look at me!" Maybe this is the kind of thing where it helps if it comes from someone else?

paul wheaton wrote:

r ranson wrote:I read on kickstarter that videos with captions are more likely to get their attention.  Don't know how captions work.  

Like closed captioning?

Yes.  

Honestly, Paul, it sounds like you've chosen the tactic you like best. It still seems to me to fail to address the need you're expressing, that being to infect minds with permaculture.

I contributed at the $15 level, which cost me something in excess of $40. I have no more to give, personally, as who knows what my total outlay would be at the next level. I would love to contribute more, but I can't, and no matter how much candy is pumped into the $100 level, you're not getting any more money out of me. I imagine that I am not the only one.

Frankly, I have no idea what stretch goals you could add to get people upgrading at the lower levels, to a hard-copy book, say, from a lower level, or to the $50 level from the $15, but I think it would be a good idea to take a second look at the strategy.

I hope, though, that it works for you regardless of what I think. Good luck.

-CK

Next up:






If you are a librarian and want to put your name in the pot:

https://permies.com/t/110166/Free-copies-Building-World-Backyard

Twitter and famous people.

Whenever I think about building a relationship with a famous person, I always think of Ellen Page.  Ellen took a PDC at lost valley.  Plus, she just seems like a sharp person.  

In my imagination, she grooves on my stuff.  

Also, in my imagination is where she doesn't groove on my stuff.  

When talking to people about the book, it is amazing how many people choose to not understand what the book is about.  They read the cover or a description and say "that's not possible" or "that's a waste of time." or whatever.  

So, I am contemplating learning how to use twitter and contact ellen page.  How many people try to get her attention each day?  

Can anybody give me an idea of the probability that she would even see my tweet?  

And then I guess I would need to monitor twitter to see if she responds.

I think for the list of celebrities ...

Joe Rogan - because it does seem like his show would be a good fit, and so many people have suggested that over the years.  

Arnold - apparently Arnold and Sepp are buddies.  Maybe an Austria thing?  Sepp has encouraged me to contact Arnold.  

Stephen Colbert - somebody made a big push to get me on his previous show and I tried to think about how that conversation would work.   So whenever somebody suggests going onto a show, i imagine The Colbert Report

Who else?

It looks like it has now hit $70,059!!!

Stretch goal #5 is reached!  Yay for "Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist".

The format isn't exactly right, but John Oliver is just bloody brilliant. I suggest contacting his show, Last Week Tonight, just to see if you get any bites.

He's been known to do unexpected and generous things, and he's pretty pragmatic, from his views.

-CK

Congrats on hitting the $70k mark!  When y’all hit the $75k stretch goal, maybe there can be an option to throw one or two of the copies we purchased on top of the library donation pile?

In response to some confusion in how to change pledge levels, I wrote this:

WATCH OUT!

Some people have increased their pledge, but somehow kickstarter left their “reward level” at the previous, smaller reward. About half the people raising their pledge select the higher reward level and half don’t.  

The solution is to go to kickstarter and hit “manage pledge.” Then hit “Change your pledge.”

Note, if you backed as a “guest” without a kickstarter account, it looks like it makes you create an account in order to change your pledge. And then you need to find your way back to the “manage pledge” stuff and hit “Change your pledge.”

Then it pops up with your current reward level selected and highlights the box saying “pledge amount.” I think that some people are just changing the “pledge amount.” But what you need to do is select the new reward level that you want (ex. GLORY). And then go from there.