Reining in my dreams... an update.

[p-m-cryan.livejournal.com]

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to offend anyone in this community, and is not directed at anyone reading this. I'm just a bit bewildered, wistful, and sad, and would not mind some advice.

Sally Outlaw, the co-founder of Peerbackers.com, had warned me that my reach might be exceeding my grasp, when I set a goal of $20,000.00 for my fundraiser to create jobs and fund a payroll at my bookstore.

In the past 47 days, I have raised only $340.00. I've sent information to my local newspapers, pop culture reporters, TV and radio stations. I've blogged it here on LJ. I've linked it on Facebook. I admit I haven't Twittered, which may be the missing link.

I have cut my goal to $5000.00. At this point, I have twelve days left.

I am *EXTREMELY* grateful to those who have donated, and relinked. Don't get me wrong. If your eyes are passing over this, please know that I appreciate your efforts to help.

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From a sociological point of view, it's interesting to see that when it's an emergency, like magick4terri or Diane Duane's recent identity theft wiping out her bank account, people will rally around, AS WELL THEY SHOULD.

I wish I knew, however, why doing something for the public good, like creating jobs, has gotten such a lukewarm response.

I wish I had an in with Neil Gaiman or Wil Wheaton or John Scalzi or The Blogess.

Thanks for listening to my whine, and for any input you can provide.

Comments

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

I think, perhaps, "making payroll" is not as eye-catching as "helping a big name author / artist in need".

I also think, perhaps, that people perceive a difference, even unconsciously, between one-time events like medical expenses and ongoing expenses like payroll, and may feel, even without realizing it, that if you need to raise money to make payroll, even as as startup, there's something wrong with your business plan.

In my case, you caught me between paydays (I get paid once a month, and in December I get paid early, which makes January very, VERY long) and with my husband on disability for four months after knee surgery, so I was feeling a bit tight around the money edges.

Best of luck to you!

[jenny_evergreen]

"I also think, perhaps, that people perceive a difference, even unconsciously, between one-time events like medical expenses and ongoing expenses like payroll, and may feel, even without realizing it, that if you need to raise money to make payroll, even as as startup, there's something wrong with your business plan."

In my case, it was a conscious thought. While I am all about helping people (I support socialized medicine, welfare, etc), I don't believe that a for-profit business should get financial assistance.

You might want to consider re-envisioning (and reincorporating) your business as a non-profit; that might get more support. Perhaps any profits could go to literacy causes or something like that? Or even, in keeping with your approach to this point and taking a page from Goodwill, be in the business of giving jobs to people? (Although, honestly, I'm much more likely to support a charity like that closer to home...and I already support Goodwill.)

[p-m-cryan.livejournal.com]

Understood, and I respect your POV on this.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

In my case, it was a conscious thought. While I am all about helping people (I support socialized medicine, welfare, etc), I don't believe that a for-profit business should get financial assistance.

That's an interesting point. I see it as more "seeking venture / start-up capital" than as "requesting financial assistance", but I can certainly understand perceiving it differently.

I've contributed to this project for the same reason I bought a permanent account at Dreamwidth when they went on sale: DW was looking for seed money to work with and invest, and I thought it would be a good investment.

[jenny_evergreen]

If it was presented as seeking start-up capital (rather than as "hiring employees and making payroll", which just tells me it's a struggling business), I'd be looking to see if I thought the business was viable. Independent bookstores are failing right and left, and I don't really see anything that suggests to me there's something special about this one that is going to allow it to succeed long term. If there was something new or revolutionary here, I'd be a lot more interested in supporting it.

I support DW because I think it can be a successful niche business on the internet, but, in both cases where I have purchased seed accounts, LJ and DW, it was for my direct benefit as well; I've long since earned back my money on my LJ account and will on my DW account (which is my LJ back-up) as well, I expect. I'm an avid, long-term journal-keeper who loves this format. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have bought the accounts; I don't have the money to invest solely on principle as a rule.

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Your stance is valid, but there are also plenty of folks who will go out of their way to support a local indie business just because they want to have those available, and are willing to pay extra for those benefits. The trick is finding them. Our local food co-op does a lot of hustling to connect with people who care vividly about living local.

Huh, I wonder if a co-op model would work for a bookstore?

[jenny_evergreen]

Yes, but this indie business isn't local to me. I'd be more likely to support it if it was, certainly.

[p-m-cryan.livejournal.com]

:::nods::: That makes a great deal of sense... the perception that I'm going to be asking folks to help me make payroll every week, rather than expressing it as a one-time need for start-up capital.

That wasn't my intent, and it's exactly why I needed another set of eyes on this. Thank you!

[bryant]

This was also why I didn't donate; it wasn't clear to me how this would transition you into long-term financial success.

There's probably also a few people who aren't interested in using a new platform. Kickstarter and IndieGoGo are familiar; Peerbackers is not.

[p-m-cryan.livejournal.com]

There's probably also a few people who aren't interested in using a new platform. Kickstarter and IndieGoGo are familiar; Peerbackers is not.

Ah ha! Another very important piece of the puzzle that I did not have. I'd actually heard of Kickstarter *after* I'd heard of Peerbackers. I'd been aware of IndieGoGo through my ties to comics creators, but I found Peerbackers through a colleague in the publishing industry.

Thank you. This really does all help.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i think you're kind of right, it's about recognition. people know terri's work or diane duane's, they've already gotten value from them, so supporting them is payback. job creation is more nebulous, & nobody knows if your idea will work or not; you don't have a record they are familiar with.

[p-m-cryan.livejournal.com]

In that context, yes, giving back to those whose work you've loved is indeed laudable.

Thank you for chiming in on this. It's definitely been a learning experience.

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

You might be able to leverage that by posting about the authors you've hosted at your bookstore events. Or even just work with folks here in the crowdfunding community, many of whom are writers, to raise your own name recognition.

Combine that with the other stuff you've learned, and consider trying another fundraiser later. A lot of us here have tried multiple projects; not necessarily the first thing tried will be the successful one.

Re: Hmm...

[p-m-cryan.livejournal.com]

All good suggestions, and as the findraiser winds down, I feel I have learned a lot. And it has not been a total bust... what has come in has been about one week's payroll for one full-timer or two part-timers. It's a bit of breathing room in a budget that has accomplished 30% growth of sales between Nov. 2010 and Jan. 2012 by bringing in a lot of new and unusual books from local authors and small presses.

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I've watched a variety of crowdfunding projects over the years, and have noted some trends...

1) Sally is probably right about the size of the original goal. The bigger a project is, the harder it is to fund. I've seen a very few projects in the $10,000 and up range get completely funded. Most of the successful ones range from a few hundred to $2000 or so.

2) Dropping the goal may help, but is less likely to work than setting a low ceiling to start. For this reason, really big projects sometimes crowdfund in sections (renovation, stock up, hiring, etc.).

3) Crowdfunding is still a fairly new business model. That means a lot of people who would gladly support it don't even know it exists yet. Even the people doing it haven't figured out all the techniques and applications yet. Some things that might work 5 years from now won't work now just because it is now, even as some things work now that wouldn't have worked even a year or two ago.

4) Ongoing projects have an advantage over one-shot projects, because they build up an audience pool. This is another reason why starting small with fundraising is effective. You have more time to network and make connections with people.

5) I don't know about other folks, but the employment angle was a big attraction for me. It gave me the idea to flag projects with "job creator" if they include hiring someone. I think that in this economy, that has potential to be very magnetic. But very few projects do that, so people aren't used to thinking of it like, "Hey, we can use crowdfunding to make jobs instead of relying on that trickle-down nonsense that doesn't work." I suspect that it will take several rounds of writing about the topic, and seeing some projects succeed and others fail, before this aspect of crowdfunding really catches on.

Meanwhile, I'll continue using the "job creator" flag and boosting the signal for relevant projects. If you'd like to write more about your thoughts and experiences on using crowdfunding to create jobs, that would help too.

Re: Hmm...

[p-m-cryan.livejournal.com]

Re #2... In hindsight, it DEFINITELY probably would have worked better for me to have crowdfunded in sections... one for hiring, one for new shelving, one for purchasing. I agree with all the above posters who say that my nebulous phrasing made things seem like this was a downhill business rather than something that was already working and growing. I should have been more clear that we had grown sales by 30% between the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2012... in a downturned economy.

Re #3... I did have backing in the form of repeated email blasts and Facebook posts from our local IBA, but I think you hit the nail on the head that many folks understand a black-tie benefit gala better than they do an online crowdfunding venture.

Re #'s 4 & 5.... if/when we do this again, I have been told that I should post this on the bookstore's website as an ongoing project. I feel... mildly squicky about that, but that could relate more to the difficulty I have in personally asking for help for ANYTHING.

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It has still been a success un one way... although the initial goal for "all the things" will not be met, I will still be able to put at least one person on payroll, because Peerbackers lets one keep the funds raised regardless of goal being met, whereas Kickstarter does not. It's a week's pay versus the six months' lead time I'd hoped for while I continue to grow this business, but it's one less unemployment statistic.

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>I should have been more clear that we had grown sales by 30% between the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2012... in a downturned economy.<<

Wow! That is impressive.

>>I have been told that I should post this on the bookstore's website as an ongoing project. I feel... mildly squicky about that, but that could relate more to the difficulty I have in personally asking for help for ANYTHING.<<

If you haven't already read it, I highly recommend The Three Micahs post on "Un-Slimy Marketing (http://mcahogarth.blogspot.com/2010/09/un-slimy-marketing.html)."

>>It has still been a success un one way... although the initial goal for "all the things" will not be met, I will still be able to put at least one person on payroll, because Peerbackers lets one keep the funds raised regardless of goal being met, whereas Kickstarter does not. <<

That is definitely a good thing. Plus of course you learned a lot, and we got this nifty discussion out of it. At this stage of a developing business model, that's valuable.