Christina Rosalie Sbarro: Funding a Book With Kickstarter

Today in our 1Q Interview we have Christina Rosalie Sbarro, photographer, blogger, and (hopefully) soon-to-be author. Christina is raising funds for her upcoming book A Field Guide to Now, a collection of essays and mixed media art designed to help you appreciate the present moment. She’s using Kickstarter as her tool to get started. 

Kickstarter is a newish site that helps you raise funds for your inspired project. Donors can purchase the product in advance, or make other contributions and receive a small gift in return — sort of like pledging for public radio. Today at Magpie Girl Christina is talking to us about the Kickstarter experience. And next week in the Flock, she’ll give us the inside scoop on being present to the small, repetitive tasks involved in raising young children; and she’ll tell us more about using her father’s collection of vintage postcards as the base for the mixed media artwork in A Field Guide to Now.

Q. Kickstarter is such a innovative way of funding art projects. What is it teaching you about community, interdependence, or collaborative efforts? What is the process revealing to you about yourself or your work?

A: Kickstarter is a pretty cool idea, isn’t it? It just got listed at #1 on Silicon Alley Insider’s Hot NYC Startups to Watch. A start-up for start-ups! How awesome is that? I think the thing that is making the Kickstarter platform so successful is that it offers a way for artists to get funding while giving backers something in return…. and I spent a lot of time creating some really special rewards for my backers, and because of these the entire project has taken on a collaborative quality that I find really exciting and inspiring.

That said, the all or nothing aspect of the funding has me perpetually on edge. It’s some serious pressure knowing that everything gained up to now can succeed or be lost based on how backers respond from here on out (and it’s a reason for your awesome readers to go make a pledge right now!)

When I launched it I had no idea how much I would care about it’s success; nor how many doors it would open or push me towards. It has made me take myself seriously as a writer and artist in ways I never imagined, and some really exciting possibilities have opened up because of putting it out there.

The flip side of course,  is that it has also dredged up every self doubt and fear that I’ve ever had about my craft. And I feel very, very small in comparison to some of the high-profile and big name artists who have projects up—who have so many  connections and means for publicizing their work and sharing their vision. And of course, I want more than anything, for this project to be successfully funded—because it would give me the opportunity to make a concrete, actual shift in my career towards working as a writer and artist. So it agonizing to watch that number creep up gradually, and I’m intensely aware and of how it’s success will be the result of the combined support of dozens upon dozens of friends and strangers who are want to one day hold this book in their hands.

To think about that gives me chills. And makes me giddy with gratitude.

Christina has half her funds raised and 15 days to get to $10,000. Maybe this book is just right for you? Or maybe you want to give her a few bucks to say “Thank You” for introducing us to Kickstarter? Watch her dreamy video and pledge here. (You aren’t charged unless the product is fully funded.)

Want to hear more from Christina Sbarro’s artistic process? Our 1Q interviews  turn into 3Q Interviews at our one line soulspa, Flock: soulcare with Magpie Girl. Come join us !

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