I will not names in this post for two reasons. Its primarily due to the fact that I initiated an Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) on this particular project and secondarily, because I only mention products, brands and services I would actually use. This was back in the days when Robot in the Woods had a real mission: To publish robot art and fiction in a book form. I had hired 5 science fiction authors to write their interpretations of a robot in the woods (and why it is there in the first place). I sought to be a publisher, not a writer. I still have some faith in my build-a-book project, but incorporatization is required to legally sort out any royalties owed to the crowd of participant.

Anyway, while I was in this silly mode of hiring people off a trusted and popular freelance aggregation site, I decided to comission a market study. The actual name, as recorded in the employer message boards, was: “An Independent Assessment of the Y-YYYY Industry.” I wanted a 20-30 page pamphlet-like, science-y economic analysis as written by an expert.

So, Mexico-Man convinces me to take this project in another direction, rather than keeping the results to myself while making money on the project. This required significantly more work, time and money for marketing. I can comment on his marketing strategy without revealing details from the stupid NDA I signed. He basically told me he was going to collect lots of random emails and send out a bulk e-mail. Spam makes me queasy and paying for spam makes me queasier. This feels like a spam operation. Even if it does make me money; it seems illicit and wrong. However, it is money to support my Geography PhD school dreams, but the money is greasy with SPAM juice.

Here’s the thing. The product itself is not that bad. The artwork looks professional. And since this project as an authentic assessment of the industry, some of that information did make it into the product. The guy seems real and has me convinced that we can make a great deal of money off this project.

While all this is going on, he lured me out of the system and then costs keep piling up. And then makes me feel like crap when I try to clarify. Kind of like a used car salesman. Huffy and insulted, requiring appeasement from the customer. Finally, he gave me a cost estimate for the entire project, something I have been asking for since April. Yet, it seems strange that he has completed so many projects and doing this repeatedly, he would have a better sense for the costs of these projects.

Given our current contractual obligations, beyond the NDA, at a popular and trusted freelance site, three options are present:

1. Amend Project Plan to submit a counter on from Gmail, based on the actual contractual specifications in the project plan, xx% of the gross revenue for the actual amount specified, minus contribution for what has been paid $xxx. (I wrote the agreement and he did not contradict me at any point.)

2. See it through, keep track of it, research the guy, and toy with him if he shows signs of a crooked spammer.

3. Approach the popular and trusted freelance site for conflict resolution.

4. Trust the guy as he has a vested interest in maintaining his good standing with the popular and trusted freelance site.

Anyway, I hope to use the freelance site more. I had some hopes of making lots of money on the Internet, but I want to do it more like Seth Godin. Authentic. Real. Quality. These are not the qualities of this product and his only leverage at this point is to release it to embarrass me.

How do I free myself from this contract with the devil 1.0?

I have been listening to This Week In Tech Episode (133) with an interview with Jonathan Coulton, from Feb 24, 2008. It is a very interesting interview with a musician who has developed a scalable and sustainable business model to support artistic endeavors in the Web 3.0 era. He caters to a niche market and gives them high quality content. This is the Robot in the Woods Publishing Model. That is, producing high quality science fiction stories and robot art.

I like that they refer to him as patient zero, because they are accepting that it is not only a viable model, but it is possible for others to do the same. Please take a listen, but in the meantime, here are a few thing I took away from the interview.

• A niche finds you, but community building is key to success. You don’t need to be famous with a 100 million people, but with 10,000 people, and if its the right 10,000, you can make a living out of it.

• Engagement is critical. You should serve exactly the people you want to serve.  That is people that like the same things that you like.    A high quality audience.

• Meritocracy: You can’t fake goodness. Great things, great content, great people and great ideas will float to the top. “I don’t think everything good rises to the top, but it has to be good to rise”

• “I wanna as many people to hear my music, get famous now, figure out how to make money on it later!” Requires an openness thats about more than just making money or getting something for free. Its about giving your access to a set of things that might interest you. In return, for the artist, a transparency about wanting support is an honest approach is required.  I love a business model that thrives in honesty!

• People still like Tangibles!

• Live and die in the niche. You can’t fake quality. You approach it with passion, doing what you want to do, knowing there are others interested in your work. You enjoy it. You are of the niche.

In many ways, this website is neither about Robots, nor the woods. Robot in the Woods is a vehicle for developing a community of artists and promoting their work. However, robots are a bit of an obsession for me. And as Mark Cuban once said, “If you have an exit strategy, its not an obsession.” Truth be told, Robot in the Woods is my entrance into the concept-o-sphere. I want to operationalize all those techy buzzwords and apply them to the arts to grow not only my business, but yours. We’re talking trendy slogans such as web 2.0, the hive-mind, the long tail, virtual communities, intellectual property, connectivism, crowdsourcing, etc. But I am also hoping to use this as a venue to advance some of my own buzzwords: MicroGrants, MicroCommissions, open-source microfranchising and communal capitalism. Read more

Dear Sir or Madam,

In the spirit of full and accurate representation of myself, I am presenting myself as a hobbyist interested in finding financing for supporting the arts. I am writing to ask if the RFP I am writing below is acceptable under your terms of use. This is a proof of concept for operationalizing a term called a “MicroGrant”. For any blog posts, may I mention Guru.com? And would you consider putting an ad on my page? If it works, I would be happy to share credit. Properly marketed, it could be a big revenue stream for you.

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Vanessa Raven portfolio site: http://www.vanessaravenid.com

AWESOME! Sounds like a fun project. I would love to work with you on this …

My background is in character development and I’ve mostly designed for TShirts and Giftware for Tourism across Canada. I’ve designed for all of the big Resorts like Whistler, Jasper, Banff… and Attractions like Marineland. Most recently I am designing for Georgia Music Hall of Fame, I work quickly, always plan everything with sketches first, to create better quality designs… and I do my research. If I’m designing a Robot in the Woods.. in a 50 ’s pulp culture style. I’ll gather tons of source material and offer a few layouts and styles. You’re obviously a fan of Virgil Finlay..so I could draw reference from that style. or is the Robot like The Iron Emperor from Blackhawk or something out of War of the Worlds.. or maybe it’s one of the Cybermen or Daleks from Dr. Who. In anyway case, I put real thought into everything i do. I work on a Mac in CS2 and can prepare whatever format you require. I can also prepare art colour separated for screenprint, if you needed to use on a tshirts. Thanks for your consideration

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V-

Thank you for responding! I like that you seem enthusiastic about this idea. Can I ask you what your first thought of what Robot in the Woods looks like? Truth be told, thats what I want to see; your interpretation.

Let me briefly describe the concept. Robot in the Woods is actually an art promotion business and alternate model for distribution of art work. I am commissioning pieces now as “seeds” to attract other artists to contribute. My main drive artistically/experimentally is to see all possible renderings of Robots in the Woods and to develop a repository of images. Its a low cost way for mass exposure to the idea and to the individual artists.

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