Kickstarter #ProjectWeLove, Towel Day, 234% funded!
Today is the day! Towel Day! And the day we all get together over Zoom to celebrate the launch of Invention Is a Mother and recognize the amazing things we have achieved together! 3PM EDT!
If you want in on that action, here's a link to the Eventbrite page. Admission is free: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launch-for-invention-is-a-mother-and-towel-day-party-byot-tickets-339528588147
I have a few more exciting announcements! Kickstarter has welcomed us into Projects We Love! To thank everyone for the amazing support, I will be performing an embarrassing stunt and uploading it for you all to see, since we are now well over 200% on both campaigns!! We are also extending the Early Bird Special ($10 off the hardcover edition of the book) for another week! And in a nod to Towel Day, we've decided to create a custom kitchen towel—available today only!—embroidered with the logo of Lean MFG, a fictional restaurant from IIaM.
Dorothea explains:
"Welcome! I’m Dorothea. Here at Lean MFG we say, ‘The G stands for gourmet!’ We specialize in vegetables,” she said.
“We begin our preparation by working through the issues that might negatively affect flavor. We counsel the vegetables about their fears of being flayed, dismembered, boiled alive, and eaten and have group sessions for those suffering PTSD from insect infestations. We reassure all our ingredients that they’re going to a better place, which, admittedly, is a matter of perspective.
"We don’t serve genetically modified vegetables.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “They think they’re a superior race. It only encourages them.”
Many of our plans for merch incorporate brands, products, and startups from the book. We'll be sharing a brief snippet about each when we reveal the designs! Stay tuned for more as our creative team works tirelessly to bring you cool ways to rep your future favorite book!
Are you ready to party?
The launch party for Invention Is a Mother is coming up this Wednesday, at 3PM EDT on Zoom!
May 25 is Towel Day, as if you needed reminding! Towel Day is a celebration of Douglas Adams, who wrote Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
In honor of Towel Day, we’ll be having a BYOT (Bring Your Own Towel) Contest. May the best towel win!
Be the hoopiest frood on the block with a super exclusive embroidered kitchen towel, the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have! It features the logo of a restaurant from the novel—many of our merch offerings are designed with ridiculous fictional brands that appear in the book. Available only on Towel Day! We'll post an update on Wednesday to reveal the design!
Hitchhikers, or Invention? HHGTTG, or IIaM? Douglas Adams, or Rob Brownell? We'll play a Jeopardy style game to guess where the quote came from!
Anyone who makes a donation to Team Gleason or preorders INVENTION IS A MOTHER on Kickstarter during the party will be publicly and loudly flogged with acknowledgement and gratitude!
You’ll also have the opportunity to win a digital advance reader copy of the book—read it before anyone else!
Join us for an afternoon of fun, towels, and frivolity! Be there or be Marvin!
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Stats and Stunts
When Rob sent out that message yesterday telling you I volunteered to film myself doing an embarrassing stunt if you guys helped us reach 200% on both fundraisers, I figured I wouldn't have to worry about it for a few weeks yet.
But guys!
As of right now, we're at 223% on the preorder campaign and 184% on the Team Gleason fundraiser! That embarrassing stunt is coming up much faster than I anticipated. Do you have any creative ideas for what I should do? Let us know!
Thank you for your amazing support!
Wow! I reached my funding goals in the first day! Here’s me and my sisters looking surprised in an outtake of our dramatic reenactment of hearing the good news.
I think we can all agree that it’s a fine line between looking surprised and looking horrified.
I’m truly touched by the outpouring of support for my book and Team Gleason. I can’t thank you enough for your kindness and generosity, not to mention the speed with which you responded. You are amazing!
Since we zoomed past my overly-cautious Kickstarter goal, I’m seriously curious to see how wide an audience my book can reach. If you haven't already, it's a great time to grab your own copy. We can print as many copies of Invention Is a Mother as you order!
Thank you especially for your generous support of my Team Gleason fundraiser! It goes without saying that people living with ALS will benefit from all donations to Team Gleason, regardless of my initial goal.
Alessandor (my editor and fundraising collaborator) says that if we can reach $5000 on Kickstarter and $6000 for Team Gleason, she'll film herself doing something embarrassing a la the Ice Bucket Challenge. I’m taking suggestions.
And just a reminder that if you donate at least $100 to Team Gleason and preorder a book, I’ll list your name in the book’s acknowledgments.
Thank you once again! It’s incredibly exciting for me to see this project bloom.
FULLY FUNDED!!!
Thank you so much for your support! The response has far exceeded our expectations! We did not expect to fly right past all the milestones in just one day, so we need time to come up with witty ways to repeatedly thank you for the next month as we keep working on getting the book in the hands of millions of adoring fans.
We’ll be hitting you with a longer update tomorrow, so stay tuned!
💛🍌💛
Alessandor, the editor
Eighty-Eight Percent Funded!
Hihi!
I’m Alessandor, Rob’s editor. I’ve been watching the numbers on both campaigns all day in nervous excitement! We hit the ground running and are off to an amazing start!
I must admit I got a bit weepy a few hours in because I was blown away that we had reached 30%. Thirty percent! And now we’re almost at 90%!
It’s absolutely incredible, and from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for supporting Rob and the book. I can’t tell you how proud I am or how much this means to me. And if I’m THIS excited, imagine how he must feel!
Here are our current stats:
Kickstarter is $2198/$2500
Team Gleason is at $2250/$3000
Let’s see if we can tip both campaigns over 100% before Rob wakes up in the morning! 😜
The link for Team Gleason again is https://teamgleason.rallybound.org/creative/RobBrownell
Remember, if you make a donation of at least $100 to Team Gleason AND purchase a copy of Invention Is a Mother, you will be listed in the acknowledgments of the published book!
Thanks again for your support!
INVENTION IS A MOTHER is now available for preorder on Kickstarter!
Thank you for joining my book launch/fundraiser! I’m excited to let you know that my novel, INVENTION IS A MOTHER, is now available for preorder on Kickstarter!
I am running a concurrent fundraising campaign for Team Gleason, a nonprofit focused on providing technology to people living with ALS. The fundraiser is separate from the Kickstarter project so that you can get a tax deduction for your direct donations and so that the tax man doesn’t come knocking at my door.
After you preorder your book on Kickstarter, please donate to my campaign at Team Gleason. You’ll find instructions and a link on my Kickstarter page, or you can follow the link below.
TAKE ME TO THE TEAM GLEASON CAMPAIGN NOW!
My editor will be throwing a Launch Party from 3-5 PM EDT on May 25 in conjunction with Towel Day, which celebrates the legacy of Douglas Adams. Remember to BYOT (bring your own towel)! You can RSVP on Eventbrite at the link below.
TAKE ME TO PARTY PLANET NOW!
Be sure to check out the ad-on offerings available for purchase along with the book on Kickstarter. New items will be added each week, so stay tuned!
During the first week, we’ll have:
INVENTION IS A MOTHER in paperback, hardcover, and ebook format!
Early Bird Special: Get $10 off the hardcover edition if you buy it within the first week of launch!
If you make a $100 donation to Team Gleason AND preorder the novel on Kickstarter, your name will be listed in the acknowledgements section of the book.
TUCKERIZATION! For $150, you could have a minor character named after you! Only two available until May 27, so hurry!
May 25 Launch Party Exclusive: Custom Embroidered Towel
A set of three reusable steel drinking straws engraved with ALS SUCKS AND SO CAN YOU! It’s the last straw you’ll ever need unless you leave it behind at a restaurant! Good thing there are three in a pack.
Both campaigns run until June 19. For the symbolically minded, May is ALS Awareness Month, May 25 is Towel Day, June 2 is Lou Gehrig Day recognized by MLB, and June 19 is Lou Gehrig’s birthday. This June also marks the fifth anniversary of my ALS diagnosis.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!