The Good, the Bad, and the Outtakes
If you’re not signed-up to the newsletter, then you may not know that the Patreon campaign recently passed the one-month mark. If I was running a Kickstarter, this is the point where I would be frantically trying to hit my goal in order to make sure the project was a success. Luckily, when I did run a kickstarter for The Book of T.O.F.U., I hit my goal before the deadline, so my last few days were not terribly stressful.
Unfortunately, the current crowdfunding campaign isn’t going nearly as well as the book did, and I’m not entirely sure why. At first, I blamed it on a certain Mr. Trump for dominating the news, which he obviously still does, but I’m not 100% sure if that’s still the only thing working against the campaign a month in.
My Own Worst Enemy?
If I’m being completely honest, I’m also personally not as into pushing this campaign as I was the Kickstarter. Once I launched the pitch for The Book of T.O.F.U., I spent each and every day and night planning, promoting, and refreshing the Kickstarter page to see where things stood. This time around, I’ve been torn between trying to get the word out and also spending time away from the computer.
In terms of escaping my laptop, I was lucky enough to take part in a conference at the start of February in Chiang Mai, Thailand that was filled with great people doing amazing things in their communities around the Mekong Region. That conference, and the conversations I had with people there, reminded me that I’m passionate about other things outside of the magazine, and it has me a little conflicted at the moment.
To add to that, I’m now heading back to Thailand early next week to re-connect with a number of those people to see the work being done directly in their communities, and I’m more than excited about it!
It’s that excitement that I know I should also be feeling when it comes to the magazine, and yet I can’t quite find it right now. The truth is, I do believe that independent and intersectional media is incredibly important to any one movement, and the world in general, and I think T.O.F.U. has a spot in that category somewhere. I’ve felt that way for years, and I suspect I will continue to do so for many more years ahead. Right now though, I’m not 100% sure how to convince you of that in a way that is different than what I’ve been doing all this time.
Basically, if I can’t find the excitement as the Editor of the publication, how can I expect you to be interested enough to pledge your own money?
So, instead of trying to sell you a line about why you should subscribe to the magazine, the best thing I can offer today is an attempt to lighten the mood a little while also (hopefully) enticing you to watch the Patreon pitch video itself.
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