13 Legends: Interview with Jon Eastman & Stuart Thomas

You recently hit a milestone of $10K using the crowd sourcing platform KickStarter. Why did you decide to go that route? Can you talk a little bit about how crowd sourcing works and why you think you’ve been so successful with it?

JON: Our campaign ends on March 3rd, and — checking it just now, we’ve raised nearly $14,000! People seem to really like the free preview of the book, which is so gratifying after working on this thing so long.

But honestly, we’re total newbies to crowd sourcing. We chose to go this route because both Stuart and I liked the idea of Kickstarter and wanted to simultaneously share the project with the world before it was published, and also raise some funds to help pay for the thing!

If we’ve been successful, it’s certainly because of our good looks… I suppose the only other thing it could be, is that we’ve twisted arms, posted on forums and blogs, done interviews, basically anything and everything we can think of to shamelessly promote the series! I think another key reason the campaign has done so well is because we’re giving everyone who pledges a limited edition hardback of the book that we’re having printed exclusively for our Kickstarter supporters.

Anyone who’s thinking they can post a creative project – even a really good project – on Kickstarter, and wait by the door for the dumptruck full of money to show up… they’re in for a real shock. It’s hard work! And like anything else, there’s no guarantee.

That said, I think it’s a wonderful way to demonstrate a proof of concept and see if the material speaks to people. After the comments we’ve had from those who’ve read the free preview of the book, I am completely convinced of the viability of our series in the marketplace.