Now, this is odd. Back in January the book-crowdfunding site Unbound started a campaign for the second volume of memoirs by Martin Newell, whose first volume, “This Little Ziggy” had been earlier recommended several years ago in Word magazine, and was indeed an excellent read. Having enjoyed the first volume, I eagerly signed up to support volume 2, “Taken To The Cleaners”, which promised to cover the illustrious career of Word favourite The Cleaners From Venus.
If you’ve never tried Unbound, I should mention that one of the aspects of its funding process which I’ve always found frustrating is that not only do you pay upfront (unlike other crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter), but there’s no specified timescale for the funding bid. Sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter tell you clearly how much is to be raised, and to what deadline (e.g. £50,000 in 3 months), but the goal is not specified at Unbound. Furthermore, there are books I’ve supported on Unbound which have been crawling towards funding for well over a year, and I’ve NEVER seen any mention of a book “failing” to meet its funding target – it seems everyone’s happy to let even the slowest funder limp on » Continue Reading.
