I’m in the late stages of producing the completed first draft of my next novel to be published by Each Voice Publishing, which I’m calling Secondhand Sight, but occasionally I take a break and come up for air….Okay, so the truth is that I occasionally stop screwing around and get some real work done, but that’s another story.
The point of this article is to talk about the crowd funding phenomenon, and a new invention called the Fonehook. The idea to write it originated when I checked my email and found a very polite query from a gentleman named Anthony, who read something I’d published. He asked me to review his new product he’s trying to market, a simple platform designed to safely hold your IPod, IPhone, Android, or other smart device.
The product is clever, inexpensive, and designed well enough to do the job. Prepare the double-sided tape, put two screws into the wall, attach the Fonehook and tighten the screws, and that baby isn’t going anywhere. The only drawbacks to the deal are that you have to buy in a minimum quantity of five Fonehooks for $20, and the screws apparently aren’t included. You’d probably want more than one of these wall hangers for phones anyway, but may not have a use for all five.
The ones you don’t use, you can give away to family and friends. A small package of wood screws can be obtained from a hardware store for a dollar or two. Problem solved.
This product reminded that my son’s smart phone has a cracked screen precisely for the reason he didn’t have a safe place for it when it wasn’t in his pocket. After spending several hundred dollars for his fancy phone and IPod, it’s certainly worth $20 to protect them.
My curiosity led to a test drive around the Fonehook website, a slick promotional tool for the product. There I noticed a button for his Kickstarter campaign and followed the link.
Hours earlier, I’d been at that very website, pondering my own campaign to raise funds intended to garner reviews and pay for marketing and advertising the novel. For the uninitiated, Kickstarter is one of several websites dedicated to “crowd funding” projects ranging from inventions such as Anthony Johnston’s Fonehook to publishing efforts, movies, art, games, music, theater, and other categories of interest.
The way it works is pretty simple. First, you calculate the amount you need to properly fund a project. Next, you formulate a campaign to raise that amount. People come to the website, evaluate your campaign, then decide whether or not to make a pledge of support. If the target amount is reached, the campaign is funded and executed. If the entrepreneur fails to generate enough pledges to meet his goal, nobody pays anything. The project never gets off the ground.
Other sites will provide partial funding, but the Kickstarter philosophy is that you calculate what you need for success. Trying to get by with partial funding is a recipe for disaster. Some campaigns have funded several hundred percent above the goal amount; others expire before reaching their target.
Anthony’s target is relatively modest. His campaign has 57 days remaining for him to raise another $13,705 (at time of this publication). The problem is that by my calculations, he needs about 685 more people to pledge at least $20 to realize his dream.
Even though I don’t own an IPod or IPhone, I’m seriously considering pledging $20 just to help Anthony get his business off the ground, to realize his dream. I may even buy a smart phone later this year, just so I’ll need a Fonehook.
Of course, Mr. Johnston will still need 684 more people to follow suit in order to purse his dream. Perhaps one or two readers of this article will feel the same way as me and follow my lead. With Kickstarter, the risk is practically non-existent. His potential market will decide whether or not his original fundraising target was reasonable or unrealistic.
I wish him every success. After all, I’m seriously considering following his example. The worst thing that could happen is that I would set an unattainable goal and fail to raise enough money, but I will still have a book in any event. The only question will be if I can raise enough money to properly market it. Since I would need less than half of the Fonehook goal, I’m strongly pulling for him to succeed. It will bolster my confidence to follow his lead.
Unless Mr. Johnston’s business model follows the Solyndra example of selling units that cost $6 each for $3, it’s a win/win situation for the aspiring businessman and his potential customer base. You can be sure that I’ll be following the Fonehook campaign closely, as I continue to contemplate my own Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the promotion of Secondhand Sight.
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