I am super excited to have you consider supporting the first edition of the Inspired annual – a printed collection of the top 10 stories from Inspired’s online fortnightly feature story collection (you check out the full story list at www.inspired.org.au.)
I launched Inspired online in November 2014 to share stories that uplift, engage and inspire. As a long-time journo I had become fed up with media’s focus on negative, Tweet-sized and celebrity-obsessed news. I knew there were all these amazing everyday people doing incredible things but I wasn’t finding it in mainstream media. I wanted to fill my head with the good stuff. And I wanted to remind others of all we have to be inspired by too.
The magazine will feature stories like the Perth housewife who launched a children’ s home, school and a whole heap more in Cambodia after meeting a mother who’d sold her baby for $20 for money to feed the rest of the family. It will include the tale of Skateistan – a charity in Afghanistan that is changing kids’ lives by enticing them from the streets and teaching them skateboarding alongside formal education.
There will be more personal stories too – like the woman who acted as surrogate mum to carry a baby for her sister and their resultant journey of love, loss and new life (grab your tissue box). Or the Mid West woman’s heart-wrenching tale of her life with an autistic son, or the Aussie lass who’s risking her life to save rhinos from gun-wielding poachers in Africa.
You can’t help but feel fired up about our beautiful world and its amazing people after learning these people’s stories.
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Making a difference
For me personally, interviewing and writing about Inspired subjects gives me hope. Maybe I too could be like the people I write about. Maybe I too could make a real difference?
How? I sincerely hope that, after reading Inspired articles, readers may feel inspired to step up, to fight for something they believe in, to take action to gift the world with their magic. If everyone’s taking that extra step, just imagine the possibilities for humanity, for nature, for our planet.
What next?
I’ve got a wonderfully talented graphic designer on board. The stories are written, the photos are taken, we just need the money to pay a printer.
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Print costs: $5425 for 500 copies
Postage: $2.10 per magazine = $1050
Total $6,475
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This crowdfunding campaign works like a pre-order. You can pledge money towards the project based on the rewards you can receive. Basically $15 buys you a copy of the mag (and a few other benefits). You can also choose advertising options so your ad appears in the magazine (see below). Check out all the options on the right.
You can also choose to donate any other amount, aside from those in the reward categories.
We aim to raise enough money to pay to print the book. If we don’t receive this amount, the project won’t go ahead. If it doesn’t go ahead, no money will be deducted from your account.
Fingers crossed. We’re excited.
Reach a niche market direct by advertising in Inspired’s best of print edition. You’ll be aligning your brand with one that seeks to do good.
How this could benefit you:
Niche target market
As an advertiser you’ll reach a niche market direct. Unlike advertising in general media, you’ll be cutting through the general audience to directly reach educated people, mostly women, aged around 35 to 60. These people care about the world, its people and the natural environment. They are into personal development and growth. And many of them are striving to do their bit to improve our amazing world.
Long life span
Being a quality print magazine (at least 64 pages, perfect bound, heavy mat paper stock), Inspired’s lifespan is much longer than newspapers or radio – people will keepInspired on their coffee tables for months and pass it around among friends.
Low cost
While our print run is small (500), our costs are tiny compared with other media. You can get a full page ad in Inspired for $400. Half page costs $200 and a quarter page $100. All graphic design is free.
Feel good factor
You get the warm and fuzzy high (which rubs off on your business) of helping a start-up which seeks to do good in the world. That, and we’ll love you forever!
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Samille Mitchell
I’ve been a journalist for 20 years. I’ve written five non-fiction books and countless articles on a huge range of topics, though human interest and environment writing are my passions. I’ve been lucky enough to travel internationally and extensively within WA on assignments for publications such as The West Australian, Scoop Traveller andSunday Times. I’ve covered a myriad environmental topics for the Department of Parks and Wildlife’s magazine LANDSCOPE (and was the magazine’s coordinating editor for seven years). I’ve authored the books Exploring WA’s natural wonders: national, marine and regional parks; Rediscover Perth Outdoors, a guide to natural recreation areas in and around Perth; Discovering the caves of Western Australia and Kalbarri for the department. And I’ve edited dozens of other books for the department.
I’ve also written the Gascoyne Murchison Outback Pathways Guidebook for the Mid West Development Commission and penned hundreds of articles for publications includingOut There, Outback, Australian Geographic, The Geraldton Guardian and more. And I’m as excited about it today as ever—there’s still so much out there to learn, write about, photograph, and explore.
You can check out samples of my work here: www.samillemitchell.com.au
Graphic designer Rhianna King
After a long career in the media, including years as communications manager for the Department of Parks and Wildlife and editor of LANDSCOPE magazine, Rhianna is moving her talents to graphic design. As a designer, Rhianna relishes the opportunity to use design elements to enhance the story telling process. She revels in bringing together the words, pictures, fonts and styles in a way that provides a visual feast for readers. Check out her work on Inspired so far here. We love it.
Graphic design – September – October
Print – November
Distribution – early December (in time to stuff Christmas stockings).
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