New Stretch Goal: $14,000 by Wed. August 28
When we ventured into Kickstarter as a way of funding production of Cycling Sojourner: A Guide to the Best Multi-Day Tours in Washington, we didn’t know what to expect.
We knew enthusiasm for bike travel in general, and touring in Washington specifically, is growing by leaps and bounds (or should we say sprints and climbs?). We’ve heard that from individual travelers, directors at local Chambers of Commerce and downtown associations who want to welcome “wallets on wheels” to their Main Street, and legislators who support bills that improve riding conditions as a way of supporting local economic development.
Would that translate into people backing the book?
Turns out the answer is, “Absolutely! And then some.” We made our initial $10,000 goal Tuesday night with 8 days to go before the deadline. As is common on Kickstarter, we then set a new stretch goal of $14,000. The more we can bring in via Kickstarter the more special we can make the book. If we reach the stretch goal we’re going to throw an exclusive party for all our Kickstarter backers as the pre-function for the book launch celebration we’ll have sometime in April 2014, so backers will be the first to get their hands on the book.
Design of the notecards you can get for backing Cycling Sojourner on Kickstarter. Created by Sharon Dean of Creative Accomplice, Seattle, a Bicycle Alliance member who designed our new logo and other materials.
To encourage people to increase their pledges and to bring in more backers we also added a beautiful new reward: A set of 8 full-color notecards with envelopes perfect for a “Thanks for getting me rolling!” note to whoever taught you to ride a bicycle, invitations to a bike-themed party, or any other time you need to write an old-fashioned note by hand and make Miss Manners and Mom proud. You could send “Wish you were here!” notes to all your envious friends from the road as you ride the tours in the book.
The first day of our new stretch goal we brought in over $1,000 in new backers and pledges. If we did that every day to the end of the campaign we’d end up nearly doubling our initial goal. Not that anything can be predicted from a trend line on Kickstarter but it provided a wonderful impetus as we sprint to the finish line.
Your help spreading the word about the book represents support for cycling tourism and our bike education and advocacy programs around the state. We’ll be adding some extra e-content we share with backers as thanks for their investment in getting people to bike Washington and enjoy lots of beautiful scenery, small towns with great ice cream, and wonderful unexplored corners of the state.
Share the link: http://bit.ly/WAbiketourbook.
Back the book.
Get the cards.
Bike Washington.
