
From Zero To Kickstarter In $5k - j0ncc
http://needwant.com/p/draft-from-zero-to-kickstarter-in-5k/
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megamark16
From the FAQs:

> " _Can you send the notebook back to me after you 've scanned it?_"

> _Currently our scanning process isn 't setup for this yet. Unfortunately our
> notebooks are cut on the spine as part of the scanning process, so we can’t
> send the physical copies back. We will send you the digital copies which you
> can keep forever though! Returning your physical notebook after scanning is
> something we're looking into adding in the future. _"

So, some folks would pay more to have you rebind their notebooks using spiral
binding or something, even the cheap plastic binding that school teachers use
to turn kids writings into little books.

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nknighthb
Even absent rebinding, I'm at a loss as to why the loose pages can't simply be
sent back in an envelope. The loss of the spine is unfortunate, but it doesn't
necessarily render the originals useless. (And I can imagine cases where it
might even be preferable.)

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jdash
My understanding from a different question I asked on KS is that it's because
their scanning partner is setup for scanning business documents and the
process builds in proper disposal of the papers afterword (which if you don't
want your papers back is a good thing, I wouldn't want my private thoughts
floating around for anyone there to read).

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jqueryin
I really like your discovery that "paying for a Facebook ad that links to
another page on Facebook was much cheaper than linking to something off site."

Very clever way to test your idea on the cheap.

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SteveLivesInSLO
LiveScribe: A pen that writes on paper and saves a digital copy of everything.
Also, records audio. You touch your pen to your writing and it will play back
the audio that was occurring at the moment you were writing that word.

You can use the digital copy of your writing in OneNote or EverNote and it can
read your handwriting allowing you to search.

~~~
mcmire
I was going to say... this already exists...

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jdash
My issue on this one, and I emailed them a question about it on KS, is the
privacy issues I see here. Before I'm going to trust sending a notebook full
of private thoughts or business related content to an unknown company I need a
pretty ironclad guarantee that the content is going to be handled
appropriately. I love the thought of being able to refer back to my content
digitally over time, but I don't dig the thought of some stranger getting
their hands on my personal thoughts and being able to blackmail me with it
down the road.

They said that their scanning partner is built with security/privacy in mind,
but I need details before I'd just stick a private notebook in an envelope and
mail it to some strangers, never to be seen again.

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pkfrank
I don't think this product is really tailored to a privacy-conscious consumer.

Even if they're safely disposing (recycling) the books, uploading them in an
encrypted manner, etc., you're still losing control of your "private
thoughts."

I see it as more fitting for sketches, random thoughts, (non-crazy-private)
journals, etc.

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swedev
Awesome idea, I hope you're able to bring it to other countries soon.

I like to keep notes and drafts on paper every now and then but not enough to
fill a full notebook a month. It would be great with an infrequent alternative
where I receive 2 books and one return envelope in the first batch. When I'm
done with the first one I return it and continue with the second book. And
when you receive my book you'll scan it and send me a new notebook and return
envelope and charge me for it. Basically the same as now but I can keep notes
in my own pace.

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pseudometa
This is great user experience thinking...

"We also made them the exact size of the iPad mini, as a lot of people will
probably be carrying these things together anyway."

~~~
jseliger
I asked if they can make notebooks the size of a normal Moleskine (3.5 x 5.5")
or, even better, A7 sized (about 2.7" x 4.2"). Unfortunately, they said that
they'll "probably eventually expand to more size options if this goes well,"
which implies that a smaller size isn't on the table at the moment.

Nonetheless I think it's a cool idea and "backed" the project.

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hlfshell
While they do the syncing for you, I'd have good success with Whitelines. You
can buy their notebooks off of Amazon, they have an Android and iOS app, and
sync to Dropbox, Gmail, and Evernote pretty nicely.

[http://whitelines.se/](http://whitelines.se/)

I still see the benefit in this, and wish them luck.

~~~
robbfitzsimmons
+1 for Whitelines (though I've had a bit of crash trouble with their iOS app
of late).

Frankly, I don't think I'd love to have notes leave my physical possession, if
are important enough to pay for scanning in the first place.

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j_s
An online course in preparation for future Kickstarters:

[https://www.udemy.com/reaching-your-kickstarter-
goals](https://www.udemy.com/reaching-your-kickstarter-goals) (free preview)

[https://www.udemy.com/surpassing-your-kickstarter-
goals](https://www.udemy.com/surpassing-your-kickstarter-goals) ($29 course)

I backed one of the instructor's early projects; right now he's doing a GPS
tracker. Take a look to verify his credibility:
[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/richardhaberkern/gps-
coo...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/richardhaberkern/gps-cookie-
leaving-crumbs-wherever-it-goes)

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DanBC
> "we do some OCR shit so it's searchable"

That's a great idea. I've seen the author's handwriting in the post and OCR
may be trickier than they think.

It seems like a neat idea, and I really like this insight into their
KickStarter campaign. It feels gently wasteful; I don't think most people are
going to do anything like 60 pages per month. I wonder what's going to happen
to all the blank pages? (Perhaps this is just my perception though.)

And notebooks sometimes contain historically important bits of information.
I'm not sure how the future people will feel about having a scan of the
notebook that someone used to design some important thing, versus having the
actual notebook.

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dmyler
The realization that a new notebook is on the way in a month would probably
prompt me to write more, just to use up the notebook. That would be a great
way to force me away from my little glowing screens for a little decompression
time.

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pa5tabear
I would instantly buy into this sort of thing for notetaking in university
classes.

Is there an option for three notebooks over three months, rather than one
notebook each month?

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silverlight
Just backed. I actually love this idea. I often jot things down on notebooks
when planning an app or just need to work through something. I don't _always_
need to refer back to it, but usually when I do it's a month or two down the
road and I can never find it in my stack of notebooks. This will be great for
that purpose, and I don't really need to keep the old notebooks anyway. Hope
you get funded!

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dsugarman
i feel like people, especially designers, would want their originals. could
you offer to send back the notebooks with the next package you send out?

~~~
daok
It's written in their page FAQ that they cannot because they take off the
spine of the notebook to scan.

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euphemize
I agree with previous comment. I understand they need to take off the spine
but I'd be ready to pay more even just for the unbound pages.

Great idea!

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sblawrie
Neat story. Do you run the notebooks through some sort of OCR, like you
mentioned in your Gchat conversation, or did you scrap that?

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thirdtruck
Thanks! I sent my own Kickstarter out for official review just last night
([http://planetoz.net/kickstarter](http://planetoz.net/kickstarter)) but I'm
going to give this a deep read as soon as I can.

Also, who provided that character art in the animated example?

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marshallhaas
That was an illustrator from Mino Monsters. We filmed in their office.

~~~
thirdtruck
Thanks!

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xsace
So if you want to succeed your crowdfunding campaign you have to basically
spend money first. I mean, this whole post is about how they happilly spend
$5k to get in a position where they can raise money..

So what's next? Crowdfunding the kickstarter campaign?

~~~
egypturnash
This is nothing new. I do comics and publish them through Kickstarter; my
working method is

1\. spend a year drawing a graphic novel 2\. do a Kickstarter campaign 3\.
profit?

I've spent money on hosting, and hundreds of hours of my time drawing. I've
also looked at a bunch of failed Kickstarter campaigns; one thing common to a
lot of them is that most of them show no proof of having done any work
beforehand beyond making the video.

You can only pull a Double Fine on Kickstarter if you have the reputation and
fanbase of a Tim Schafer. If you're just Some Gal, then yeah - do some work,
get your thing to the stage where everything is set up for you to tell your
remote factory how many copies of your thing you want made, THEN launch the
campaign.

~~~
surfaceTensi0n
It may not work for graphic novel length works, but have you looked into
patreon[0] at all? For comics (or any recurring works) it seems like it might
be a better business model than repeated KicksStarter campaigns.

[0] - [http://www.patreon.com/](http://www.patreon.com/)

~~~
egypturnash
Hah, I was just having this conversation on Twitter earlier this morning.
Patreon seems to be much more about putting out small, self-contained pieces
of content; one page of my GN is not something anyone in their right mind
would pay for. If I was doing gag-a-day it might be super awesome, though -
especially if I had no interest in ever collecting the strips!

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hfourm
Could also consider an environmental approach recycling the old notebooks sent
back in?

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marshallhaas
They are recycled :-)

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NKCSS
Fun to read :) I love these 'startup journey' pieces.

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delinka
Didn't Evernote and Moleskine team up to do exactly this? How does Draft
compare to the E&M offering? How does Draft expect to compete with E&M?

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neiled
Kind of, with the moleskine partnership it's still up to you to take the
photos yourself.

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egypturnash
I love the idea but nnnngh, some of the screenshots of the scanned results
from light pencil sketches? There's a lot of data being lost there.

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fmitchell0
great insight into the process.

