Ten years ago, Karen and I ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for Grandmother Fish. We asked for $12k, we were counting on hitting $20k, and we reached $36k, with over a thousand backers. The money from the pledges allowed me to pay people, get the book printed, and ship it. Running the Kickstarter also put us in touch with the fans who supported us, and we appreciated how excited people were about the book. Kickstarter campaigns are risky, and lots of people stepped up to help us out. For me it was especially meaningful to see support from scientists, teachers, and a couple of my heroes, such as Daniel Dennett and Steven Pinker. Triceratops easily beat T. rex in a popularity contest, so it’s “Cousin Triceratops” that appears in the story, not “Cousin Tyrannosaurus.”

Later, we did Kickstarter campaigns for the card games Clades & Clades Prehistoric as well as Crow Scientist. Karen and I might do another Kickstarter campaign soon enough, so stay tuned. 

Here’s the Kickstarter page from 10 years ago.