courage to crowdfund

It took a lot of courage for me to leave the comfort and security of corporate life 20 years ago when I embarked on my freelance writing career. But I really felt I had to go out on my own and make decisions that would drive my happiness and open the door for creative ideas to flow.

It took a lot of courage when I refocused my writing career from periodical work to books. I’d built my professional credits on the basis of writing for magazine, newspapers, and online markets. Changing my focus to books was taking my creative efforts into new territory. But I love a challenge.

And it’s taking a tremendous amount of courage for me to turn to the public and ask for financial support for Chocolatour. Some people call it begging and think of crowdfunding as demeaning.

I have an entirely different opinion of crowdfunding. I see it as the evolution of being a patron of the arts. People have supported creative productions and endeavours via personal donations for centuries. It is nothing new. Just a new platform, or way to facilitate these donations more efficiently and to a global audience, rather than handing out leaflets to members of the community or sending our mailings via the postal service.

As well, it is an opportunity for the artist or creator of the project to drive the parameters of the work by setting a budget and financial goal that will either facilitate the project as planned, or cause alterations to be made in accordance with the financial reality the artist is facing.

Crowdfunding is enabling me to reach out to the world, tell them about my project, and hope they will support it–through their monetary donations or via the act of sharing my information or link with others who may be interested and better able to support the project.

Working together, we can all make this book and other creative projects happen.

a little feng shui is bound to help the success of my campaign

How is crowdfunding any different than selling chocolate covered almonds door to door in support of a school project? Most of us have either sold the almonds or bought countless boxes of them in support of a school’s desire/need to buy new equipment or take a group of students on a trip.

How is it any different than an individual asking for pledges for the marathon they are running in support of a cause, or a volunteer sports team seeking donations to purchase new equipment or attend a tournament across the country? Or a candidate or political party asking for donations to advance their cause?

I think that we as a global society need to rethink the way we support the arts and artists. I’m grateful to Kickstarter for launching the largest crowdfunding platform in the world, and had I been American, I may have used it. But as Canadians are not eligible to launch a KS project, I am grateful for Indiegogo and the opportunity to share my campaign in support of the printing and production costs for Chocolatour at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/chocolatour-a-quest-for-the-world-s-best-chocolate/x/1102796.

I would be most grateful if you would take 10 minutes out to watch the video and slideshow. The campaign will close  on April 13th, so if you wish to be part of Team Chocolatour, please donate now. If you prefer to bypass the Indiegogo campaign and donate to Chocolatour directly, you can do so via my website for the book at https://chocolatour.net or by mailing a cheque directly to me. Thank you so much.

Your call. Would you like to talk about courage, and a point in your life when you had to reach deep within to find courage to embark on a new adventure or embrace a new situation? Or would you like to share your views on crowdfunding, and platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo?