Sunday, August 17, 2014
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
The Garden Door
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Five Things that Surprised Me about Crowd-funding
The campaign is drawing to a close. Though I am sure to have many thoughts and reflections (and photographs!) to share when all is said and done, tonight I would like to share this brief list of anecdotes, before taking a much needed break (allowing the campaign to take care of itself for these last few days). It has been wondrous but my bones are tired and I need to ignore the internet for a while. In the mean time...
5 things that surprised me about crowd funding:
People that I thought were lurkers turned out to be donors and people that I thought would be donors tended to lurk.
Young people with less income and less job security were more likely to donate than older people with more income and more job security, apparently due to a difference in familiarity with the use of crowd-funding and social media. (Though there were a higher number of younger donors, older more established donors were more likely to offer higher amounts of money and specify they wanted no material object in return.)
Crowdfunding proves that the number of Facebook friends you have has a concrete, calculable monetary value.
It is more important that people like what you say, it is less important if they repeat it.
People want to feel pity for you, but they hate to feel awkward around people who seem hopeless. Finding ways to turn personal suffering into something life-affirming for others is probably the core to crowd-funding successfully. Every campaign I saw, including the creative projects, had a sob story at their core. It all boils down to a fascinating culture of profit from misery. Strange and sometimes sad and always beautiful.
Monday, July 28, 2014
International Day of Friendship Celebration
The campaign is more than halfway through, and I want to celebrate its ongoing success with another promotion! What better date than a holiday which celebrates the crucial ingredient in a successful crowd-funding campaign: friendship! (Awwwww.)
Every donation of $3 or more made on Wednesday will receive a photo post-card with a unique haiku (of no particular quality). Return donors who participate in this promotion may choose instead to receive a hand drawn portrait by me (of no particular quality). This bonus thank you gift will be sent via e-mail AND snail-mail.
July 30th is not just Friendship Day in the United States, Wednesday is International Friendship Day! So, to accommodate ALL time zones, my "friendship day" promotions will be in effect as long as it is the International Day of Friendship somewhere (roughly dusk on Tuesday through dawn on Thursday).
Friday, July 18, 2014
Happy Bag - a GoFundMe thank you gift for Jessica
Of all the commissioned tote bags I am making as thank you gifts for my crowd-funding campaign, one special request stood out. "Make something happy, whatever that means for you." The result is slightly different from the rest of the bags, and definitely a lot more personal. Ultimately I chose the word folly, to convey the joyfulness in foolishness alongside the foolishness of pursuing joy above all else. The bag is hand-dyed with all natural locally sourced ingredients purchased at the farmers market in my hometown. The bag was then embroidered by hand, which is a hobby / skill that I taught myself to keep productive during a period when I was bed ridden. Finally, the bag is decorated with brightly colored fabric paints. The bag is imperfect and strange, which I think suits its inspiration.
Monday, July 14, 2014
"Get to know your customers" Day Promotion
On Thursday, July 17th I will be celebrating "get to know your customers day" with another promotion. Every donor who shares a link to my campaign along with the reason they donated will be entered into a drawing for a $10 coffee shop gift card. Special effort will be made to send the winner a gift card for a cafe in their local area and the winner is welcome to make requests. Please follow and tag Lunatic and Swan Studios on the social networking site where you share the link so I can see and record your entry. Donors may use Facebook, Twitter, or Google+. Winner will be selected by a very informal method of putting names into a hat and then pulling one out. To donate so you can be eligible for this promotion, copy and paste this link into your browser: http://www.gofundme.com/INeedANewCamera
Friday, July 11, 2014
Thursday, July 10, 2014
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