Kickstarter

My only regret about the Coast to Coast walk across England that I did with my daughter, is the lack of documentation.  I blogged each day and took some photos, but not nearly enough to truly chronicle the physical challenges, personal victories and friendships made along the way.

We're going to do things differently this time.  Bear with me while I explain the plan.  Its a bit unorthodox.

Have you heard of Kickstarter?  It's a creative way to raise funds for all types of projects.  Everything from books to video games to music and art are brought to life through the financial support of people around the world.  Since its launch in 2009,4.7 million people have raised over $760 million dollars for all sorts of artistic projects.

How does it work?  People like us come up with an idea.  They describe it and establish a funding goal with a deadline.  People can decide to pledge any amount of money, from $1 to every cent they own, in return for rewards.  No money changes hands unless the funding goal is reached.  It's a risk, but worthy projects often exceed their funding goal.

Lauren and I have decided to launch a Kickstarter project for our Irish Coast to Coast Adventure.  Our goal is raise $6,000 in thirty days.  Ultimately, we will produce a hard cover book that chronicles our journey, full of color photos of the landscape, it's people and the cuisine.  The money we raise will be used to upgrade our camera equipment, publish and print the book and fund a small portion of the costs of travel.  The bulk of the funds will be used for production costs.

We're working to create rewards that will make people want to back this project.  Some of the ones we've already decided on include a postcard sent from a random location along the way, an 11x14 glossy photo of a either a castle or a seaside view made from a photo taken during our walk and a signed book.  We plan to offer something for every budget, from $10 to a couple hundred.

The bottom line is that we want to produce a beautiful compilation of photos to accompany the story of our 32-day journey across a foreign land.  We hope to build a successful Kickstarter project so we can share our adventure with you.

Our project will launch in December or January, I'm still working out the timing issues.  I just wanted to give our readers a heads-up regarding our future plans.

The excitement builds.