One good book can kickstart any child into a life of reading, and Gecko Press wants to create a world where every child loves to read. And the way they plan to do this? A curiously good book club!
Their vision is a digital and real life community, where people can come together to share their favourite books, plan activities and events, and pass on creative tips and tricks to encourage kids to love to read.
But it’s going to cost them at least $50,000 to get it off the ground. They’re investing some of the money, but they need outside help for the rest. In exchange for your pledges, they’re offering everything from an invite to the launch party, to a year’s supply of books delivered to your door! We chatted to Faustine about why you should be getting on board.
Why do you think this campaign is important?
I worry that reading is a disappearing art, in the midst of all the distractions we have in our lives. We think reading needs to be more visible and active, to compete. At Gecko Press we want to activate a bit, as a publisher, and to get loud about reading, and to help parents and aunts and grandfathers and librarians and booksellers and all the people who want to encourage children to love to read. We want to create a strong and active community that are all wanting to find the next book for a child, to keep the momentum of reading.
What motivated you to reach out to your crowd?
Gecko Press has always been a little out on a limb, and through the years Gecko Press has had a lot of support from many different people – and it really does make a difference. And if we are to build a bigger community, then the people who know and support us must be the best place to start.
We estimate it will cost at least $50,000 to get the club off the ground. We are investing $15,000 for the next phase, but setting up the digital side of the club is too expensive for us to do on our own. And $35,000 is a lot of money to be raising!
Most of this money will go to the digital side of the club, making chat and recommendations and good blog content, and asking experts to add material that helps us find the right book for the right child. We want to offer reading incentives such as tiny reading journals and badges that say: Im a curiously good reader.
It is all about the ecosystem for me. We want our booksellers to thrive, and to support libraries and schools, and we want children to rate reading high on their list of favourite things to do. That’s why we think it’s important to reach our crowd. We want people to help us make the Curiously Good Book Club great!
What do you have planned for the rest of your campaign – anything for us to look forward to?
We’ll have some contests with great rewards (check our social media pages…)! We’ll also add new and very unique pledges… so keep looking!
Anything you want to say to your crowd?
We are acting strongly and with commitment to encourage New Zealand children to become lifelong readers. We understand that for books to thrive we need a healthy ecosystem of readers, writers, teachers, illustrators, librarians and booksellers. We think this ecosystem must be wider than a single publisher or individual books. HOpefully the end result will be better than we can imagine!
“Sometimes all it takes is one good book, or the right book for the right child at the right time. It doesn’t matter what that book is or where you find it – but it does matter that children love to read.” Julia Marshall, Gecko Press Publisher
To pledge now and help a child embark on a lifetime of reading, check out the Gecko Press campaign right here.
