Say hello to Dr. Dappen!
A few weeks ago, we introduced our readers to an exciting new Day’s Edge project: The Symbol: Wall Lizards of the Pityusic Archipelago, a photography / science book about the iconic reptiles that Nate has been studying for his Ph.D. Speaking of which, Nate successfully defended his dissertation on March 28! Say hello to Dr. Dappen!
The other big news is that we reached our Kickstarter goal yesterday, and that means one thing: We’re going to Spain!
First and foremost, a sincere THANK YOU to all of our backers! We couldn’t have done it without every one of you. By the end of yesterday, our 199 backers had pledged a total of $15,268 — an average pledge of over $76. We’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends, family, and lots of folks we’ve never even met before!
A beautiful orange lizard from Las Islas Negras.
Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing funding system: project creators only keep the money they’ve raised (and project backers are only charged) if the project meets its funding goal.
Now that we’ve reached our do-or-die goal, we can put all the money we’ve raised into our book, The Symbol: Wall Lizards of the Pityusic Archipelago. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make this project even better! We’ve still got 10 days left before our Kickstarter campaign is over. The initial $15,000 that we have raised will get us to Ibiza and Formentera for 1 month of photography, allow us to lay out the book, and help us print a small initial press run for sale on the islands.
So what’s next?
We’re photographers, and that means we love to see our pictures printed — that’s why we first envisioned this project as a book! But we also realize that the world of reading is changing, and not everyone wants to carry a book around with them. So we want to develop The Symbol into an iPad app available in Apple’s App Store. Along with the basic book, we will add slideshows and short videos into this “app-book,” creating a true multimedia experience.
Building the app will cost us about another $5000. With 10 days to go, we think we can make this happen! Here’s what we can do to make it worth your while:
1) When we reach $17,500: For new and existing backers at the $25 level or above (and existing backers who increase their pledge to $25 or more), we’ll give you a beautiful PDF edition of The Symbol to read on any computer or mobile device. We’ll also make the PDF edition of the book freely availabletoIbiza and Formentera’s primary schools.
2) When we reach $20,000: We will develop the iPad edition of The Symbol: Wall Lizards of the Pityusic Archipelago — an interactive e-book enhanced with additional images and video clips. We will also donate a hard copy of The Symbol to every primary school on Ibiza and Formentera.
The rugged, uninhabited island of Es Vedra
So what can you do?
If you’ve backed the project but have pledged less than $25, increase your pledge to $25 or more to get the PDF edition of The Symbol when we reach $17,500! If you haven’t backed the project yet, now’s your chance! And whether you’ve made a pledge or not, help us get the word out! I know every one of our backers, and everyone who reads this blog, has a few friends who would love to support this project. Use email and social media to share the link to our campaign. Tell your friends that you made a pledge, and that they should too!
Thanks again to our backers for their incredible generosity!
Once our expedition begins, we’ll be posting images and videos from the field regularly. Expect these e-updates to begin when we leave for Spain in mid-June. We’ll see you then!
- Neil Losin, Nate Dappen, and Valentin Perez-Mellado
[...] the Ibiza Wall Lizard. Their images will be used in a beautifully illustrated book entitled “The Symbol,” which is intended to raise awareness and ultimately lead to preservation of wall lizard habitat and [...]