Growing Up Humming - My Kickstarter Project

[Mike Spinak]

Today, I launched my Kickstarter project to fund publishing my book Growing Up Humming.

The photos and text for my book Growing Up Humming are already complete.

Growing Up Humming is a true-story picture book about two Anna's Hummingbird chicks growing up on the nest. I'm trying to get the funds to self-publish it, through a Kickstarter fundraiser. Please help me make it happen. You can pledge at the link below, and get rewards (copies of the book, signed photo prints, etc.).

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1000834452/growing-up-humming

Please share this with anyone you know who might be interested in seeing this book come get made.

Thank you!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Mike,

It's a long awaited treat and a chance to connect again when you come back and surpass us like this. How can we not be interested in such fine work. Now how do they make these nests. What's the so egg like structure that the fledglings are in.

When do their wings get around up?

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Today, I launched my Kickstarter project to fund publishing my book Growing Up Humming.

The photos and text for my book Growing Up Humming are already complete.

Growing Up Humming is a true-story picture book about two Anna's Hummingbird chicks growing up on the nest. I'm trying to get the funds to self-publish it, through a Kickstarter fundraiser. Please help me make it happen. You can pledge at the link below, and get rewards (copies of the book, signed photo prints, etc.).

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1000834452/growing-up-humming

Please share this with anyone you know who might be interested in seeing this book come get made.

Thank you!

This is now the second occasion for me to come across the term: " kickstarter". The first time was with the making of the hyperopera, "Crescent City". I couldn't understand the logic then of having to return all of the money if the goal was not met by the challenge date.

Who polices that. After all, it could be that someone only gets $14,000 of a $15,000 goal so there would be an incentive to send in the last $1,000 oneself.

Still, it seems a fabulous way to support novel ideas that otherwise would languish for lack of support. In this case, I real like the idea of documenting the family life and adventures of these fascinating creatures and I know how careful you are in honest representation and lack of interference so this is sure to be great. Besides, the taste you have generously shared with us assures us that this will pay off in countless kids especially being intrigued, educated and falling in love with these amazingly metabolically efficient lightweight fliers.

I support this and am glad to be a sponsor.

Just make sure we get endless pictures! That's all we live on, LOL!

Asher

 

[Don Cohen]

Good luck with this project, Mike. If this photo is any indication, the final product should be spectacular!

 

[Mike Spinak]

Mike,

It's a long awaited treat and a chance to connect again when you come back and surpass us like this. How can we not be interested in such fine work. Now how do they make these nests. What's the so egg like structure that the fledglings are in.

When do their wings get around up?

Asher

Thank you, Asher. It's good to connect with you, again, too.

The egg like structure is a seed pod from a very strange tree I've never been able to ID. I'm guessing it's some non-native ornamental tree.

The nest is the wispy thing on top of the seed pod. It's made out of spider webs, lichens, feathers, and leaves.

Their wings are developed enough to fly (and they do fly away all at once) at about 18-21 days (usually closer to 21 than 18, in my experience).

 

[Mike Spinak]

This is now the second occasion for me to come across the term: " kickstarter". The first time was with the making of the hyperopera, "Crescent City". I couldn't understand the logic then of having to return all of the money if the goal was not met by the challenge date.

Who polices that. After all, it could be that someone only gets $14,000 of a $15,000 goal so there would be an incentive to send in the last $1,000 oneself.

Still, it seems a fabulous way to support novel ideas that otherwise would languish for lack of support. In this case, I real like the idea of documenting the family life and adventures of these fascinating creatures and I know how careful you are in honest representation and lack of interference so this is sure to be great. Besides, the taste you have generously shared with us assures us that this will pay off in countless kids especially being intrigued, educated and falling in love with these amazingly metabolically efficient lightweight fliers.

I support this and am glad to be a sponsor.

Just make sure we get endless pictures! That's all we live on, LOL!

Asher

From what I've read, the "logic" behind not funding projects at all unless they get full funding is that it protects the people who pledge. I.e., if a project doesn't have the necessary funding for completion, the investors in the project don't waste their money with no result.

Kickstarter polices that policy. Simply, they don't turn the pledges over to Amazon Payments for processing the credit card orders, unless the project meets the full funding goal. I suppose it is possible for someone to donate the shortfall, themselves. In fact, I'm not sure it's even against the rules, nor frowned upon.

The Kickstarter model - crowd-sourced project funding - does seem like an interesting alternative to standard methods of raising funds (investors who are shareholders who own part of your project; federal grants; etc.). We'll see how it goes.

The photos and text of the book are finished, and the feedback I've received from the 30 people who've read it, both adults and kids, has been overwhelmingly very positive - positive toward the pictures, the story, and the information.

I'm hopeful.

I'm doing a major transition with my nature photography business, away from working with publishers to provide pictures that match their needs for authors they've hired, toward circumventing both the publishers and the authors, and doing the writing and publishing myself. This will be the first, but I already have the second finished, too. And the third, fourth, and fifth are more than halfway finished. I have 16 planned, so far.



Thank you, Don!

The rest of the pictures are of similar quality, I assure you.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Mike,

I tried to give some money but got lost in a labyrinth of passwords with Amazon. So maybe I've contributed and maybe not!

Asher

 

[Mike Spinak]

Hi, Asher,

Thank you for your efforts.

Kickstarter reports all of the project backers to me, so I can tell that contribution didn't go through.

If it would be easier, you can send a check to my Ma; and she can add the contribution to my Kcikstarter project.

If you would like to try this method, let me know, and I'll privately give you my Ma's contact information.

Thanks, again.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi, Asher,

Thank you for your efforts.

Success! This time it went through via amazon.com. good luck on the project. It's really worthy.

Asher

 

[Mike Spinak]

Success! This time it went through via amazon.com. good luck on the project. It's really worthy.

Asher

Thank you very much, Asher! You'll love the book!