Shatner Book Kickstarter
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William Shatner has joined the ranks of those using Kickstarter to fund a project.
The actor hopes to fund the production of a new book to be called Catch Me Up.
In Catch Me Up, Shatner “introduces a fresh, modern approach to teaching seniors how to leverage their lifelong skill sets to create viable businesses and become entrepreneurs.”
“I’ve been unemployed over four hundred times in my life,” said Shatner. “More importantly I have had to reinvent myself four hundred times to get re-hired by TV shows, movie producers, and even by Priceline.com when I was over sixty years old.”
Shatner has had to deal with changing technology over the course of his eighty-three years and he found it difficult as he got older. “My smart phone made me feel stupid,” he admitted. “My grandkids had to show me how to use Facebook. I refused to even have an email account! And you know what I found out? Without this know-how, I was becoming irrelevant. And a guy like me can’t afford to be irrelevant. So I did something about it.”
Why Kickstarter instead of going through a traditional publisher? “I’m encouraging people in the book to use tools like Kickstarter to start their own business,” said Shatner, “so I thought why not sell this book the same way? Essentially, I’m using the book’s techniques to create and sell the book itself.”
The Catch Me Up Kickstarter campaign has a goal of $50,000. Perks range from a name mention on the Catch Me Up website ($1) through a table for six at a William Shatner Charity Gala ($10,000). The Catch Me Up campaign runs through January 20, and can be found here.
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I’m not an octogenarian, but I might pick this up. Shatner’s continued success and self-re-invention astounds me. I think I’m going to get a head-start on my autumn years with this one, once released.
Bill, most seniors don’t have your astonishing level of energy. I hope you have some more typical seniors also involved in the project, or your advice may be pie in the sky for most people.
This must be the “Hire Yourself” project (renamed?) that this site featured some time ago. Looks interesting.