Help me turn Super Cool Science S#!t into a real book!
I have been writing Super Cool Science S#!t as a series of articles on Hive and “that other place that came before it” for about three and a half years, and have talked a lot about how I aspire to eventually turn it into a series of books.
I've written 26 of these articles thus far, and when I complete two dozen more, will be compiling them all into the first volume of those books. Super Cool Science S#!t will take the form of a “bathroom reader” in the style of books like the Uncle John's Bathroom Reader books I grew up reading in the 90's, something that a reader can casually pick up and read a piece of in a few minutes, coming back to it again and again to learn a little more each time.
Dear Reader, I humbly invite you to participate in an endeavor to crowdfund the publishing of a physical book leveraging the power of the Hive blockchain!
How much would it cost you to participate in this crowdfund?
Nothing more than a vote on this proposal! As you may likely already know, The Decentralized Hive Fund (DHF) is “an on chain decentralized autonomous system that allows users to submit proposals for funding and vote on which proposals should be funded”. It's so far mostly been used as a way of providing funds for projects that work toward the development and marketing of Hive. While publishing a book doesn't exactly help develop the platform, I genuinely believe I can provide value for HIVE in general, and those who support this proposal, in return for what I'm asking here.
I'm asking for a year of funding at 250 HBD per day from the DHF, and that may sound like a lot, but let me explain how that money will be used as well as what HIVE, and supporters, will receive in return.
HBD are intended to be pegged at $1 USD, and while at the time of writing it's currently higher, it's also fallen below its intended peg before, and could always do so again. A 250 HBD proposal would ensure the funding would continue to be enough to see this projects goals achieved.
What would the funds be used for?
First and foremost, these funds would allow me to turn writing this book into a full time job in its own right, providing me with the money I unfortunately require to pay my bills and feed/clothe my children. As I have 24 more to write before I have enough to compile a book, I will commit to completing at least 1 article per week, with the goal of producing at least 3 every two weeks. This will give me plenty of time left in the proposal window to get it all edited, polished and published.
Of course, I wouldn't just be paying myself, though...
The fund would provide the necessary money to hire an editor to help me flesh out the books final form, as well as a graphic designer to create at least a cover, and possibly even custom art to pepper throughout the pages of written content. I would definitely prefer to stay within the Hive community when looking to fill these positions, and would pay them in HBD directly out of the DHF funds I receive if this proposal is blessed with the communities approval.
Once everything is written, edited, designed and compiled, it will finally need to be printed. I fully intend to go the self-publishing route with the help of a third party. After looking into my options I'm leaning heavily toward gatekeeperpress.com for this, though I understand Amazon is apparently the “big dog” in this industry just like any other. While they may be able to provide me the “biggest” bang for my buck, I feel a smaller but more customer-centric publishing service like Gatekeeper Press will give me the best experience overall.
As a side note, the cost of also publishing this as an e-book is so minimal and the profit margin so wide that it would be silly not to also include this on the roadmap.
I will only convert at most 80% of these funds to fiat in order to cover my own salary, the cost of publishing, and taxes on those fiat cash outs, while the rest will be devoted to paying fellow Hive users with the skills to help me make this book a reality. I hope that wouldn't be too much pressure on the market, though with HBD above its peg, wouldn't selling it help? I won't pretend to be incredibly astute when it comes to how the markets all work, but I would hope less than a couple thousand per week wouldn't influence it too much. By all means weigh in with a comment about any part of this.
DHF funds would be paid out to and managed by @thatsweeneyguy.
How can this benefit Hive?
There are a few ways I feel like this proposal could provide long-term value for Hive, both through direct advertising as well as what crowdfunding the effort in this manner could do to show what our platform is capable of.
As I've always written these articles on the blockchain, I've always earned rewards for doing so. All 26 of them didn't earn a ton of money, but a few of them have earned well over $500 worth of STEEM back when it was sitting around $7. This project would change that.
If this proposal is approved, all rewards for future Super Cool Science S#!t articles will be donated back into the DHF. I will also commit to writing a “progress post” at least once per month keeping the public up to date on how the final product is coming along. The rewards for these posts will as well be donated back into the DHF.
Both physical and digital copies of this book would advertise the Hive blockchain via a badge on the cover, as well as a page dedicated to explaining how the book was made possible because of supporters like yourself. This is just one avenue of getting our name out there into the world to both readers and aspiring writers.
Finally, I believe this endeavor could serve as a proof of concept for not only writers, but anyone whose biggest hurtle to turning their ideas into realities is funding. Funding to be able to dedicate the time to produce something that could educate or even entertain those who come in contact with it. That alone could be invaluable to our humble platform long-term in proving just one of the many ways it can provide value to society.
What could supporters get out of this?
As with any crowdfund of this nature, I feel obligated to offer “perks” for those who make it all possible. Since the only amount of support one can really give to this fund is measured by their HivePower, it only seems reasonable to track “levels” or “tiers” of supporters and perks like one would see on a platform like Kickstarter or Indiegogo.
I definitely want to be able to ship out anywhere from 200-300 copies of the book for free to those who support this proposal with their vote. A given number of the top supporters (those with the highest HivePower contributed via their vote) would be guaranteed a free copy, while everyone else would be entered into a raffle whether their vote was big or small. Beyond free copies of the book, I'm not entirely sure what other perks this project could provide, but I'm wide open to suggestions from the public as to other incentives I could offer.
What do you think? Too Much?
What are your thoughts on turning a series of Hive posts into a book? What do you think about attempting to crowdfund such an effort in exchange for long-term advertisement of the platform? Do you have experience with graphic design or editing a book and might be interested in a part time gig? Don't hesitate to reach out and let me know what you think about any part of this proposal either by commenting below!
It would be a dream come true to secure the funding to pursue my dream of becoming a published author. If this proposal is approved, I could potentially use the long-term passive earnings from this first volume to continue a career as a self published author, creating a second volume and beyond, as well as books covering other topics that interest myself and millions of others.
This amount for a vanity project is way too much. You're asking us to pay you $43.75 per hour to write a book that you will keep all of the profits from?
The Decentralized Hive Fund is for the development and improvement of Hive. I wish you the best with your book. I just don't see how your book will improve Hive. I also don't see how us funding your book will improve your skills as an author. Risk-free writing sounds like a recipe for mediocrity.
Honestly, you're absolutely right, and hearing it in a rational way makes be second guess it. I knew it was a big ask, and tried to explain the benefits, but reading it all from someone else's perspective does sound different.
You're right about risk free writing creating mediocrity, too, and maybe it's best I wait until I've got it completely written, and simply credit myself for making it all possible.
I had moments where I thought this could be a bit too much, and this being the first feedback only confirms it. I've taken down the proposal and will continue writing the series the same way I always have.
I really hope I wasn't too discouraging. And I do hope that your book will be a success. I like your articles and think they would be perfect for a book. With the popularity of STEM these days, I'd imagine there's a good sized market for it.
If extra funding is needed for the final push to publication, I wonder if a more traditional crowd-funding model would be more appropriate. Maybe it could be structured like a pre-sale.
I was looking for a Hive crowd-funder, but Buymeberries is the closest I could find on hiveprojects.io.