The Better World Book Kickstarter (May 2019)

Hi, just my quick thoughts,

#1 for instance, I work at asml in the Netherlands. A reasonably big, super hightech company with 15000 employees. With some goals on sustainability. They do have ears to promoting ans supporting ideas, books or charities, local and international. Maybe just for advertising, or employee discount or, as a employer Christmas gift for all...
And probably more companies alike....

And I have a small cart in my front yard in summer where I sell my produce, bio, eco etc. Even my own handmade granole and sorts. I can and will promote the book, but is very low scale...

Local but international green or eco magazines or sites, eg. Velt.

#2
Mickeal mores latest.
That sugar movie... Or sounds like it....
Groene goud broadcasted by tegenlicht from the Netherlands
Greening the dessert

$122 to go to get to books in 200 libraries!  (I love watching you guys pass stretch goals!)

And the library book stretch goal has been reached!!!

:)

(now we need Erica's RMH plans!!!)

One week to go and 3/4s of the way to the audio book...that would be soooo great!

I think the audio book will go far in the goal to infect minds.

Greg is on top of it!  Stretch goal reached!




$75,015

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

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

Next up:




For more info on the plans:

https://permies.com/t/110333/Homestead-inch-Rocket-Mass-Heater



Click here to go to the kickstarter!

Judith Juud wrote:#1 for instance, I work at asml in the Netherlands. A reasonably big, super hightech company with 15000 employees. With some goals on sustainability. They do have ears to promoting ans supporting ideas, books or charities, local and international. Maybe just for advertising, or employee discount or, as a employer Christmas gift for all...
And probably more companies alike....

Wow. The thought of infecting 15000 brains... just from one company... that would be awesome! I guess the question is: how does one make this sort of thing happen?

Greg Martin wrote:Purely out of curiosity, how many characters does one get at the $500 level?

I can't say that this is a discussion we've had. I feel like 80 characters is a good limit... but if someone is thinking that they really really want a few more characters and they want to support at the $500 level... send me a PM with what you have in mind.

Wow. The thought of infecting 15000 brains... just from one company... that would be awesome! I guess the question is: how does one make this sort of thing happen?

I will ask internally what we can do. I guess we have a few options, first we can put a teaser or something at intranet market, if this is Oké?
Secondly I can reach out to the sustainability or charity department guys and check what is possible.
Give me the word, and I will call around. But, as everyone is going home for the weekend, it will be Monday first thing if this is not to late....

Judith Juud wrote:I guess we have a few options, first we can put a teaser or something at intranet market, if this is Oké?

I don't think I quite understand. What do you have in mind?

Judith Juud wrote:Secondly I can reach out to the sustainability or charity department guys and check what is possible. Give me the word, and I will call around.

Feel free to call around. If someone is seriously interested let me know and I'll give you my contact info.

We sent an update today to the kickstarter fishing to see if we can get some people to up their backer level to $100 so that we might get the audiobook.   If 300 people upgrade, that will do the trick.

And just now I sent out a dailyish asking for 250 dailyish peeps that have not yet supported the kickstarter to put in $100 so we can get the audiobook.  

If nothing else, I think the sheer amount of stuff currently available at the $100 is pretty huge.  Out of 1895 backers, about 200 are at $100 or more.  My hope is that a thousand people or more will raise their backer level to $100 or higher because there is so much excellent stuff at the $100 level.  Most importantly, the audiobook.  

So, if we pull this off, then the people at the $100 get all the stuff at the $1 and $5 levels plus:

- the audiobook version of the book
- 12 physical copies, or 36 ebooks, or mix and match
- one of the physical copies will be signed by both Shawn and I
- your most creative name appears in the book
- early access to the manuscript
- the book Clean with Cleaners You Can Eat by Raven Ranson
- the 3-DVD set (as streaming) of World Domination Gardening
- Michael Judd’s book Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist
- Erica Wisner’s spiffy new Rocket Mass Heater plans
- 4 gift codes for the giant solar food dehydrator plans
- free access to a bunch of events at wheaton labs
- the book Organic Pools DIY manual by David Pagan Butler

And then here is what we currently have lined up every $5000 past that:

- 7 of my microdocs
- the documentary Chemerical
- the rough draft version of four other books I am working on
- the book Dairy Farming - the Beautiful Way by Adam Klaus
- all of the video from Permaculture Voices 1
- the book Early Retirement Extreme by Jacob Lund Fisker
- tickets to an in person permaculture design course
- tickets to an appropriate technology course
- all of the video from the Eat Your Dirt summit
- spend 2 to 7 nights getting first hand experience with a rocket mass heater
- the book The Scoop on Poop by Dan Chiras
- the book Compost Everything by David the Good
- the book Together Resilient by Ma’ikwe Ludwig
- the documentary Desert or Paradise by Sepp Holzer
- the book Backyard Dairy Goats by Kate Downham
- the documentary Living the Change by Happen Films


We have about eight more possible things to add to this list - just waiting for folks to return emails and phone calls and stuff.

I just updated my pledge and it bumped over $76,000! Come on Audiobook!

Intranet here means a asml intranet only for asml employees were they have forums, workinfo or a digital market were people can offer their (mostly used) stuff, from toys and bikes to 2nd hands cars and even info on houses for sale, other peeps can bid or buy. There is probably a much better and clearer way to describe it, but thats me and my superieur knowledge of the English language...
This option is quicker, if you have a text ready with link and pic , I can probably post it on Monday. The other way is a longer process,  but will reach perhaps even more peeps, depending if it's approved and how it will be communicated....

Caleb Mayfield wrote:I just updated my pledge and it bumped over $76,000! Come on Audiobook!

$76,080!




Hot dog!  That was quick!

At this point, I am thinking (hoping?) that if we can get to $100k then all the stuff that a person could get for $100 will make lots and lots of people go wild for the $100 level.  So maybe we will suddenly race up to a much higher number.  But this is all just a lot of guessing (wishing?) on my part.  

Especially with the long list of other stretch goals.  

I suppose another way of saying this is:    a lot of people look at what they can get at $100 NOW.  And they say "meh. maybe.  i dunno."  And we talk about the stretch goals, and they don't care about those because they are not what is offered NOW - there is a chance that they won't get that stuff.   But once we have added the audiobook and the other stuff to the pile, then they will say "okay, I'm in"

That's my guess at this time.  What do you all think?

That's what I'm thinking/hoping too Paul.  Add to that that this is the final week and the final weekend so there's a finish line coming up and you either have to get in or else miss out on a truly amazing deal!!!  If someone's on the fence remember that Mother's Day and Father's Day is right around the corner....and heck, with all these items you can gift your beloved permie dear one(s) throughout the rest of the year smack dab to Christmas with all the neat stuff you'll get for $100....bargain, bargain, bargain!  The incentives are there for this to happen.

Paul Wheaton in today's dailyish wrote: Be the hero! And by “be the hero” I mean help! please help! Please oh please help us get to the audiobook! (this is the part where you picture Shawn and I as damsels in distress calling out for help. Shawn, I gotta say … you look kinda weird as a damsel … I’m sure I’m rockin it though ...)

definetly rockin' it :D

does this dress make me look fat?

Oh. I thought it was a new kind of airship.

-CK

1900 backers!!!

Nicole you forgot to post Shawn's picture....no worries, I got it for you!  

Shawn, don't listen to Paul, you look great....but something is different, you changed your hair color, didn't you!

Me feels a bit sad... 100 usd pledge = 175 usd pledge because of the 75 usd shipping cost...
Not to mention the possibility of added taxes...
And i really want to get that audiobook preferably spoken by Paul himself... Then again my wife might keel me... You are putting me in a dangerous situation...

So the question is; do you accept the possibility that i die and you have to live with the knowledge that you are responsible for it?

We take no responsibility for pledge-related deaths.

greg martin did a big bump to get us to





$77,088!

Pfaffke van Oilsjt wrote:Me feels a bit sad... 100 usd pledge = 175 usd pledge because of the 75 usd shipping cost...
Not to mention the possibility of added taxes...
And i really want to get that audiobook preferably spoken by Paul himself... Then again my wife might keel me... You are putting me in a dangerous situation...

So the question is; do you accept the possibility that i die and you have to live with the knowledge that you are responsible for it?

Shipping costs STINK! I can testify that anytime something leaves or comes to the USA, it costs at least $, unless it is in an envelope. You can check out the prices here.here. I chose a random European country (the Netherlands).

For the small, flat rate box, it's $36. I'm thinking 12 books might be too big for the small box. The medium-size one is $71.75!

And, since Shawn lives in Canada and Paul in USA, to get a book signed it has to be shipped from Shawn to Paul and then out to you. Since I don't understand Canadian postal codes, I can't figure out an estimate on price to ship, but I think prices are similar from US to Canada as Canada to US. I'm thinking they'd probably ship a bunch of people's books from Shawn to Paul at one time, which might cut down on the cost to being something like $10 per 12 books?

I used to think companies were just trying to steal my money on shipping costs, but they really are that high! It's crazy!

Yeah, it's nuts. I wrote a bit about it here:

https://permies.com/t/107089

I'm driving the books down to Paul's place. I get a bit of a trip and then we'll sign the books together.

We got a big dose of love from jack today

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/council-5-3-19

  I am really hoping it picks up again. I have been putting links wherever I can think of.  I have gotten positive feedback.  The last kickstarter picked up the last 2-3 days so hoping this will too.  

Hi Paul,
I’m a voice over narrator. I know of a way to get the book into the library system without printing or shipping. You can have it narrated and then distributed via a site that gets audio and ebooks into libraries for people to check out just like a normal book for free.

I’d be happy to talk about voicing the book for you.

I’m a Master Gardener as well and very very passionate about the subject matter.

Stephanie Montalvo

Hi Stephanie,

Thanks for your offer. I think we are not quite at the point where we are ready to sort out the details on audiobook stuff. It feels a bit premature since we're not even sure yet if we will make one.

Which site do you have in mind? It's possible that I already have it on my list of places to distribute the book once it is done.

Well guys, there are only six days left.

I can't help but wonder if we're going to make the audiobook stretch goal.  It would be pretty amazing if we could, but the challenge is how to reach more people.

People have done a great job of reaching out to permaculture lovers.  It seems to me that the people who need this book the most are the ones who don't hang out with permaculture.  They are the people who say "I wish there was some way I could make a difference.  Oh well, I guess recycling is the best there is."  I bet you know one or two people in your life like that.  Family - well there's always family.  Friends.  Person at work.  They want to do stuff to make the world a better place, they are just so beat down with all the negativity on the news that they have given up.  People who are all in favour of banning single-use plastic bags until it's time to take home their groceries.  

I bet you know someone like that and I bet they would benefit from The Better World Book.  

Maybe these last few days would be fun to focus on these people.  

Just tell one person in person.  Or tweet.  Or facebook.  Or whatever.  Even if you don't think they are into homesteading, let them know about this Kickstarter before it's too late - and they have to pay full price for the book.  

Here is some stuff to help you know what to say - https://permies.com/w/media
And why not reward yourself at the same time with a bit of a kickback. https://permies.com/t/kickback

$78,005!

Just 61 59 57 55 53 52 49 48 47 46 43 36 35 34 33 more supporters to go and there will be 2000 of us.  That will be a show of force!

$79,014!

We're on page two of most backed live projects!

Nicole Alderman wrote:We're on page two of most backed live projects!

It took me a while to get that report.

I see us on page 3 - but still, that is super cool!  

Ahead of us ....   that's a lot of games ...  

I counted it out to be #26 with 1952 backers.  #25 has 1955 backers.  Permies can out-backer that game to get into the top 25, can't we?

Greg Martin wrote:I counted it out to be #26 with 1952 backers.  #25 has 1955 backers.  Permies can out-backer that game to get into the top 25, can't we?

9 hours ago I pointed out that we were at $79,014.   Right now we are at $79,079.  So we gained $65 in the last 9 hours.   I think we may have stalled.  

Outside of the empire, I wanna give a deep thanks to:

 
     jack spirko

     david the good

     david huang

     dan ohmann


These are the people that have used their codes and brought in the most to this kickstarter.   Often times by multiple mentions in multiple directions.  

There are some big names that are notably absent.    Names where we had an agreement where I would promote their stuff and, in return, they would promote this kickstarter.  And so far, they have not made a peep and have ignored my many emails.  

The other odd thing:  this is a book about environmentalism.   Shawn has contacted over a hundred environmental organizations.  Nearly all of whom did not reply.   My guess is that the word "kickstarter" has a bit of stink on it that smells like "nigerian prince."

There were several entities where I gave their kickstarter a lot of love and they said they would reciprocate.   And I sent them three emails and they did then send an update on their kickstarter - but without mention of my kickstarter.  





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A lot of this is nothing more than my own optimism hitting the brutal wall of reality.  




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Embracing that human beings will continue to be human, and all that that implies ...    the real question is "what do we try next?"  We have five days left.  

I thought the messages I sent out a few days ago would give us a lot more progress.  I thought they were good messages!   And we did see a lovely bump!   But right now it looks like if we coast, we will just barely hit 80k - so no audiobook.

I have a few things left on my "to do" list, but they are the things that seem like a lot of work for very little return.



Some really inspiring news has been the dozens of people that have put a mention on a mailing list, or a local permaculture group.  I see dozens of people posting to facebook and there have been several mentions on some other social media.   That is effective and heartwarming!



In two days I will send a last note out to the monthly-ish.   I think that if we are closer to 90k  (maybe 87k) at that time, then people will be more likely to throw in for the audiobook, plus all of the additional candy at the $100 level.  So I feel like the mission this morning is to figure something out that will get us 7k to 8k further along in the next two days.     I think the answer to this question requires a good ten to twenty minutes of chin scratching by a hundred different people.  Brainstorming.

Where might we begin?   Maybe there are some ideas in this thread that are now worthy of a second look?

5 days left

Some thoughts about the last stretch.

I listened to the recent podcasts where it seemed like some people were unclear as to why the kickstarter was still asking for money after it was fully funded. To me that says that those people are actually unclear as to what the big mission is. What does that money enable you guys to do better/ further/ clearer/ broader etc. The WHY sounds like it is lost on a group of people. Perhaps doing a big reminder of the why of this kickstarter.

Going along with that, you initially laid out a pie chart detailing what all of the money was needed for. Maybe create an updated pie chart that shows what the stretch goal money is for. Even better - show a pie chart for the current amount of money - and then show an extravagant pie chart of what the craziest big stretch goal would look like. The Pie charts explain the how are you going to use this money

In a separate line of thinking you might take an opportunity over the next days to remind people the crazy deal they get with this kickstarter. At $100 you get things worth a ton for sure. At a $1 you get things worth a ton for that matter. Do a reminder that this deal only lasts for five more days and after that its $——  Also, I have never heard what the book will be retailing for. Maybe share that so people know that they wont be able to get it for anywhere near this price in six days.

By this time anybody visiting permies has seen the ads and such. Perhaps for the final week change the wording on the ads and make them sing - my thought is to have black friday in april. Get the ads along the line of save $500, or deal of 89% off. Five days only. Remind everybody to shop now. The winter holidays are coming - be the first to have all of your shopping done.

Thats what I have this morning

Where might we begin?   Maybe there are some ideas in this thread that are now worthy of a second look?

I say when you send out that email in two days include a short funny video that had you and Shawn in it