I've finally decided to get the Kickstarter to fund this project started in the next week or two. I am currently arranging to obtain event coupons of LaSalle County area events to tie into various payment tiers as incentives for contributors. Once these have been arranged, I will start the Kickstarter for 30 days to attempt to acquire the funds necessary to produce. I plan to make $4000 as the required minimum amount for success with this Kickstarter, though I hope to include stretch goals that will extend welll beyond that amount. I need funds to cover editing, and am considering commissioning an illustrator for some of the flora/fauna illustrations I will need for this book - of course everything else will be done by myself: writing, artistic cartography, some illustration, 3D illustration, cover design, page layout.
Wishful thinking, if I could get a more substantial amount from the Kickstarter ($10,000+) I am interested in purchasing an unmanned aerial vehicle with a camera, so I can fly over intended map locations to capture greater detail than what Googlemaps can provide (that will cost me around $5000 by itself, including a laptop and software dedicate to it's use.) Imagine the benefits of having a UAV in possession to advance the capabilities of my mapping!
While looking for top tier contributor benefit of a weekend for 2 at the Starved Rock Lodge (operated by Jumers), I found myself arranging for book orders for five different state run gift shops (and the book doesn't even exist yet!) So it already looks like I will have many successful delivery platforms to sell the book once it's created.
I'm shooting for a December 2013 release of the published book. I will post a thread in the News Forum once the Kickstarter begins, and I may post WIP maps of the various maps as they are being developed.
Maps I plan to include:
Regional map of sand deposits in shallow seas from the Ordovician Era, 480 million years ago.
Regional map of Illinois River valley and the Kankakee Torrent (cataclysmic event 13,000 years ago) causing a great lake of glacial melt water to burst and carve the canyons of area parks over a 3 day period.
Grand Village of Kaskaskia - native village of Illini Confederation established in 1687 (opposite river bank from Starved Rock).
3D illustration of Ft. St. Louis de le roche (fort built by LaSalle on Starved Rock in 1689).
Present day illustrated map of Buffalo Rock, Mathiessen and Starved Rock State Parks.
Map showing LaSalle County (inset of Illinois map) depicting the Illinois-Michigan Canal Heritage Corridor as it passes and ends in the county.
Wish me luck!
GP
Reply With Quote