Duo seeks donors to publish book

A rhino’s horn is made from hair. Pigeons are superstitious. Guess which one is true and which one is false. These are just two examples of facts or made-up “facts” about animals that a duo of Dubai-based authors hopes to turn into a 124-page book, to be produced through “crowd-funding”. Irish editor Conor Purcell and Filipino artist Roui Francisco said they are tapping small donors to help produce the children’s book, to be called The Tiny Book of Animal Facts. “We both like animals and thought it would be a good way to inform people about all the cool things that animals can do,” said Francisco. “We love fun facts. And we love print.” Purcell and Francisco both work for Motivate Publishing, producing Emirates’ Open Skies onboard magazine, among others. The book, however, is through Purcell’s company Wndr Media. As of Wednesday, the project has received $1,095 in pledges out of $4,000 (Dh14,720) the authors aim to collect via indiegogo.com. The amount will go towards printing and mailing 2,000 copies to donors in time for Christmas. The duo is hoping to raise $4,000 by October 14. “If we don’t make the $4,000, we won’t produce the book [through crowd-funding] and nobody pays,” said Purcell. “We’re ready with the designs at the moment and we’re ready to hit the ground running when we reach the target. For Dubai residents, a $10 contribution gets a mention in the credits and copy of the 124-page collection (thick matt cover). On the other hand, a $25 contribution gets a mention in the book and signed copy of the book for people anywhere in the world. Its creators aim to print 2,000 copies at the Emirates Printing Press in Dubai. “This will be the first crowd-funded book in the Middle East, so it would be great to show that this region has embraced it as other regions have,” said Francisco. The duo, who hopes to have it out by December, said they do not expect to profit from this venture as all the proceeds will go towards printing costs and postal expenses. “It is really a passion project!” said Francisco, adding they might look for other sponsors if crowd-funding fails. They both chose 25 facts -- and 25 things they just made up -- to make it fun for children and parents. Along with the facts there will be information about each animal and only at the end of the book will the reader be able to find out what is true and false. By the way, the first one (rhino’s horn made of hair) is true. The second is false. WHAT IS CROWD-FUNDING? Crowd-funding is an alternative method of raising finance for a business project or idea in which an entrepreneur attracts a ‘crowd’ of people – each of whom takes a small stake in a business idea by contributing towards an online funding target. There are three general categories: Equity-based crowd-funding is asking a crowd to donate to your business or project in exchange for equity. Donation-based crowd-funding is asking a crowd to donate to your project in exchange for tangible, non-monetary rewards such as an ecard or the finished product. Debt-based crowd-funding is asking a crowd to donate to your business project in exchange for financial return and/or interest at a future date.