The book "Project Eye" came to crowdfunding

The fundraising for printing the circulation of samizdat began

At KDPV Belarusian rubles. In translation into Russian, the total amount is ~ 205 000 RUB

Yesterday morning at the Belarusian site “Beehive” I launched a campaign to raise funds for printing the circulation of the book, which over the past 13 months has been published chapters specifically for Geektimes readers.
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First of all, I did this because many GT readers over the past year have been asking about the possibility of buying a paper copy after finishing work on a work.

Why did I go to crowdfunding? The first is to fully retain the rights to the work. This makes it possible to fulfill point number 2: I believe that there must be an opportunity to read the Eye in an electronic form free of charge for everyone. And it does not matter where, on Geektimes, in the format of a book for readers or download from one of the libraries / distributions.

Unfortunately, the policy of the overwhelming majority of publishers implies either a complete transfer of the rights to the work and the universe to the publisher, or the transfer of rights for a specific period (1-5 years) or circulation. In fact, everyone in the fight against “piracy” adheres to one policy: there is no place for “free” literature in the network, because the authors allegedly suffer from this. In fact, the publishers themselves suffer, or rather their sales.

I hold a different point of view in this matter: the fact that someone wants to read the “Eye” is already excellent. If someone wants to get a paper copy, as is the case with this fundraiser, then he can support printing the print run with other users.

Proponents of electronic copies can donate any amount that will go to the editing and layout of the text, as well as the preparation of electronic versions of the book for free distribution. And they may not spend anything at all, I believe that forcing someone to pay for content is counter-productive. People themselves will vote with a ruble even after the fact of acquaintance with this very content, if in their opinion it deserves it.

About campaign

The main goal is the collection of 6,500 denominated Belarusian rubles (65,000,000 old-fashioned), in translation into Russian rubles about 205,000 RUB , in dollars - around $ 3,200 . With this money, an editor and proofreader will be hired to help me bring the text into the ideal state as much as possible. A layout for the printing house will also be prepared and, in fact, the printing itself will be printed.

While it is planned to publish a book in A5 format , offset paper of about 80 g / cm ² with a hard cover and the largest possible circulation.

For one day with nothing, the VC community subscribers to the dedicated book collected 41% of the required amount:

About rewards

In total, except the possibility to transfer any acceptable amount from 1 BYN (~ 31 RUB), the campaign is invited to make donations for 7 different amounts.

Sums with 2, 3 and 10 BYN are support for proofreading, edits (literary editor and proofreader will be hired and, of course, will not work for free) text and layout of the electronic version of the book. Unfortunately, there are no incentives other than my gratitude and a free electronic version for everyone who wants to, after finishing work on a book for them.



For 20 BYN (~ 650 RUB) the person who supported the project will receive a printed copy of the book, which will be sent to him by mail. For the sum of 25 BYN (800 RUB) the book will be signed with the wishes of the author.



The most "crazy" rewards go further. Anyone who wishes for 50 BYN (~ 1600 RUB) will receive a signed copy of the book by mail + the name of this person will be mentioned in a special thank-you list in the section “from the author”. In total, there were 50 such offers and, to my surprise, already 14 people preferred this option.



And finally - these are the 3 most expensive options. Since, I remind you, there are no souvenirs and no money for it, I wondered what I could offer such a special one. Statistics group in the VC suggested that more than half of the readers live in Moscow, St. Petersburg or Kiev. Therefore, the only thing I could offer was 150 BYN (~ 4700 RUB or $ 75) to come to one of the cities to the person who chooses this support option, sign with him the way he wants and give him the printed copy personally. where he, among other things, will be mentioned in the list of those who supported the project in the section “from the author”.

When I was preparing this reward, I thought that he was completely idiotic, because who would take some samizdat book for $ 75 just in order for the author to come from another country and give it personally? It turned out that there are already four such people: Two from Moscow, one from St. Petersburg and one from Kiev.



This campaign does not aim to earn. One way or another, all funds will be spent on printing the required number of copies + some stock and on improving the quality of the publication itself. Better paper, cover, binding. The latter is a separate pain, since the cost of the book can increase by several times depending on the type of binding.

Why does the fundraising take place on a nameless Belarusian site, and not on any “planet” or “bumstarter”?

The first is that I am a citizen and tax resident of the Republic of Belarus, and all Russian sites require either citizenship or a representative. It is no secret that all representatives take a considerable commission, plus these are the lengthy deadlines for paperwork and incomprehensible taxes.

Everything was much simpler with the Hive - the project was launched in one day, their commission is acceptable: 11.5% + 0.5% of the bank's operating commission. Plus, I understand how I do not break the law and pay taxes.

Total

At the time of publication of the publication in the collection of funds was attended by almost 90 people who collected 40% of the amount. According to my estimates, in order to collect the necessary amount, it will be necessary to raise funds for about 300 people. “Beehive”, unfortunately, works only on the principle of “all or nothing”, therefore, in case of failure, not one printed copy for readers will see the light, since I simply have no means for this.

I will answer all your questions in the comments. In any case, no matter how the campaign ends, as long as the rights belong to me, the edited version of the text will always be available online for free.