St. George, UT
Quoted from JoeDP:Hello Pinside,
My name is Joseph Rubinstein, I am one of the co-founders of PaperFlock inc, and am helping develop this book for Stern Pinball.
I would like to personally answer your questions and address your concerns.
Here are a list of things I think I can address in this thread, please feel free to message me if I left something out.
#1. Kickstarter as charity.
#2. Who we are (PaperFlock).
#3. Will the book come out if funded?
#4. What is the relationship between PaperFlock and Stern?
#5. Why Kickstarter?
#1. Kickstarter as charity.
I have been running crowdfunding campaigns, advising on projects, and even speaking on panels about crowdfunding for 5 years now.
Some people view crowdfunding as a sort of charity. There are two main things that cause people to view it this way. The first is when a crowdfunding campaign charges more for a reward than one would normally pay for the same item in a retail environment. This suggests that you are donating extra funds to help support the project. The other is that many crowdfunding projects try to solve a problem that would lead to social good or have benefactors outside of the crowdfunding community.
I personally don't see crowdfunding as a charity. I see it as another way to help create things that might otherwise not get created.
Our project does not charge more for our rewards than you might see in a retail environment, in fact we made sure our offerings were in line or below the price of similar items in a retail environment. Our project also does not imply we are creating a social good.
Crowdfunding is also not new, books have been crowdfunded for centuries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdfunding
#2. Who we are (PaperFlock).
PaperFlock Inc is Dameon Guess and Joseph Rubinstein.
We are both pinball fans, who play and own machines.
We are both business owners, and we both care a lot about this project.
We are here to create something we care about.
#3. Will the book come out if funded?
Yes. The book will definitely come out if funded.
As I stated above I have a long history with crowdfunding /crowdsourcing (https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/joedp) and my partner Dameon has a long history with printing. I have created and delivered on Kickstarter campaigns in the past. We are here, our reputation is on the line, Stern's reputation is on the line, I guarantee the book will come out if it gets funded.
#4. What is the relationship between PaperFlock and Stern?
In January of this year Dameon met with Jody from Stern at the CES convention. They briefly discussed the idea of a book. Dameon brought the idea to me and we spent 9 months working on proposals, contracts, and concepting out the book and the company to create it. About 6 weeks ago we all finally agreed on ideas and terms and signed a contract that gives PaperFlock the rights to use Stern content to create a book, and a crowdfunding campaign to fund the book.
#5. Why Kickstarter?
So why crowdfund this book? Crowdfunding is more than just raising funds, it is also community building and public awareness.
In our proposal we told Stern that "Building and managing a Kickstarter project involves a lot of one on one communication with fans." And that this communication "gives the customer base a chance to participate in the recording of this important history, and hopefully a sense of ownership in the project."
We have setup a forum on our website: http://www.paperflock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2
The purpose of this forum is to have a conversation with all of the Kickstarter backers about what they want in this book. This doesn't mean that we will be able to accommodate every single person's desire for content, but it does mean we are listening and interested in what people are looking for.
Crowdfunding this project means that we care about what the community wants, what the community has to offer. It creates a meaningful conversation between a company and it's customers.
So could Stern Pinball make a book of their own, with their own money and their own ideas? Of course they could.
But they could not make this book. A book full of the communities interests and thoughts. A book with the more than one point of view. A book we all can say we are proud to have participated in.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. Interested to hear yours.
Remember when Joe was all about communication on Pinside when he was cyber begging for money? Posted 86 times in this thread.
He then went "inactive" after he achieved his goal.
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