Who here reads the11.ca? If you do, support this....

[shermanator]

Steven Sandor is trying to kickstart a quarterly online magazine to feature in-depth articles about Canadian soccer. This would be a long-term viable approach to the11.ca.

I think this is a great way to build interest in Canadian soccer. A Kickstart link is below to get this magazine off and running.

http://the11.ca/2013/12/03/kickstarter-campaign-begins-long-live-plastic-pitch/

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/146256602/plastic-pitch-a-thought-provoking-canadian-soccer

[rob.notenboom]

Agreed. Help Steve out. He does great work and deserves the support. $180 down, $9820 to go. Good luck Steve. Can't wait to see the first edition.

[James]

Agreed. Help Steve out. He does great work and deserves the support. $180 down, $9820 to go. Good luck Steve. Can't wait to see the first edition.

It's up to $500.00 now… The 11.ca is important. Spread the word.

[stevensandor]

It's up to $500.00 now… The 11.ca is important. Spread the word.

Thanks so much for your support. There's a lot of reasons I want to do this... I want the writing and art to be placed in a better format.

Online, I find what works best are the longer features, that's what the stats show me you come and read. The breaking news stuff that everyone has... well that's all split up between all the sites and news organizations, and you really don't need 20 sites telling you that player A might be coming to Toronto FC or the Whitecaps.

Plus, my passion and background is in magazine writing. That's what I do... I edit (and write for some other) magazines. I love the format, the ability to be a storyteller, the ability to get all the facts rather than chase rumours. I really like to think of Plastic Pitch as an Eighteen Bridges for soccer fans (and I can't recommend enough for you to subscribe to Eighteen Bridges!)

To give you a taste, this is something I did with Tosaint a while back for Avenue, where I'm the editor. Normally, what I do with soccer is in no way related to my day job. But sometimes it can cross over when it deals with something very Edmonton-specific.

http://www.avenueedmonton.com/articles/tosaint-ricketts-getting-played

And, while not soccer related, an example of some of my more recent magazine stuff.

http://www.avenueedmonton.com/articles/growing-up-comrie

(I also love photo shoots! And illustration.)

[madmonte]

It's great Sandor, and I really want to get involved...but I have to tell you that you should really kick off the fundraising, maybe middle January. Fundraising in December for anything non charity related is basically impossible because of the holidays...I'd be kickstarting it right now myself otherwise, I definitely read your stuff.

So if it feels like you aren't making as much headway as expected/hoped in December, don't give up!

[stevensandor]

It's great Sandor, and I really want to get involved...but I have to tell you that you should really kick off the fundraising, maybe middle January. Fundraising in December for anything non charity related is basically impossible because of the holidays...I'd be kickstarting it right now myself otherwise, I definitely read your stuff.

So if it feels like you aren't making as much headway as expected/hoped in December, don't give up!

I did consider the timing, but for a couple of reasons I thought about going early. A $5 buy-in isn't a Christmas bank-breaker; and it might open up the opportunity for someone to "gift" an issue or support for an issue. Starting in January would be tough because then the front end of the campaign is competing with Christmas-bills time.

The way I look at it, my stats show there are about 20,000 unique readers who are regular (that is, they visit the site more than once every two weeks). If one in 10 of them pledges $5 each, then I hit the target. Really, if I can't make the business go based on a projection of one 10th of the normal readership, then I have to accept that the public has spoken and there really isn't a demand for this kinda thing. I believe there is; I wouldn't do what I'm doing if I didn't think that way.

[Pantsmansoy]

Alright, I've supported this. I enjoy reading the 11.ca (probably one of my favourite links on CSN sidebar).

[stevensandor]

Thank you!

[stevensandor]

I just wanted to clear up some confusion some people have about Kickstarter. It doesn't matter if you pledge now or pledge in January, you WILL NOT be charged until the end of the campaign, which is the beginning of February. Right now, all you are doing is PLEDGING support. The collections comes in February.

You will ONLY be charged if the campaign reaches 100 per cent or more of the goal.

The FAQ is here for backers.

http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/backer+questions?ref=faq_nav#BackAProj

[madmonte]

I just wanted to clear up some confusion some people have about Kickstarter. It doesn't matter if you pledge now or pledge in January, you WILL NOT be charged until the end of the campaign, which is the beginning of February. Right now, all you are doing is PLEDGING support. The collections comes in February.

You will ONLY be charged if the campaign reaches 100 per cent or more of the goal.

The FAQ is here for backers.

http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/backer+questions?ref=faq_nav#BackAProj

That changes everything for me, thanks for letting me know, I'll pledge next week my man.

[Sport Shaman]

So I kicked it and it was very painless. I recommend that others do too and you will see what I mean. $1,216 pledged as of today and if this takes off you will get a lot more joy out of this next year than some disposable cheap plastic piece of crap that you could spend your money on at MallWart. Think about it for a minute and decide if you want to get in the game for CANADIAN soccer news and stories.

[Soccerpro]

I donated yesterday.

[stevensandor]

Thanks for your support! The pledges are at 12.16% of goal right now. Behind the pace, but the stats show that if you get to 20%, you are 80% likely to succeed. Getting to 20% seems to be the magic bullet where all the fence-sitters say "wow this IS real" and decide to jump. I don't know if it will be true in this case, but the more subscriptions that are taken, the better the chances of attracting ads, etc.

[shermanator]

I've read posts from some folks calling out the quality of content on CSN on these boards. I would hope that those who do have donated to this cause, or plan to donate.

Not trying to call out anyone, just saying this would be a place to get said higher quality content, so these posters should donate.

[stevensandor]

I think there are a lot of media sources that do their best – and I include CSN in this discussion. I think they do a very good job and break some interesting and important items. I read RNO regularly, enjoy it. I was a devotee of IMSoccer News, as well.

Plastic Pitch doesn't try to redo the news website model; what it would be is true magazine journalism. Less off-the-record sources, more in-depth looks at players, issues, personalities. I like to use the term "storytelling" over and over; as journalists we're taught to tell stories, not to be crusaders or advocates. I know that the line blurs over time, but the narrative of the story, to me, is the most effective way to get a message across.

As well, I want to stress that the pledge is a transaction. I'm legally bound to produce three issues of the mag (which is the promise made in the Kickstarter process). My company, TeamWork Press, is legally registerd with Kickstarter. If it is funded, Revenue Canada is in the loop.

In return, you get a subscription or an ad buy.

Essentially, you are making an advance show of support! And, again, thanks to everyone who has pitched in so far.

[stevensandor]

The Kickstarter campaign has hit the halfway point, and we still have more than 80 per cent of the goal to go. I'm still hopeful we can get to the $10,000 needed to launch the first three issues of PLASTIC PITCH.

Please check out the Kickstarter page. Take a couple of minutes to watch the video.

I knew going in that December, the first month of the campaign, would have been slow. Christmas season, a lot of us thinking about budgets and such. Still, with such a low entry cost ($5), and the need to know if I could make this work for a spring issue, I needed to launch the campaign when I did.

Many choose shorter campaigns than I did. A lot of Kickstarter campaigns are set at 30 days. I set mine at 60. So, I look at it like this the first 30 days allowed us to get a $1700 head start on the $10,000 goal. What we now have is a 30-day campaign to raise $8300.

Please help spread the word. Share this with friends who are soccer enthusiasts. The more people who know about this initiative, the better the chance for success. If you've thought about subscribing and were holding off till the new year, the time is ripe. Remember that you won't actually be charged until the campaign ends on Feb. 1.

[stevensandor]

Quick update: Three and a half weeks to go, and we are at $2216. We have had some off-site pledges that will be factored in later, but it leaves us with about 7500 to go.

I had mentioned this on Twitter but illustrator James Grasdal is set to do our first issue's cover. Assignments can go out once funding is in; if we assigned now, without funding, we could be on the hook for kill fees. (If you assign a writer work, and through no fault of his or her own the assignment is killed, a decent publisher will produce what we call a 'kill fee.')

We have had some interest from advertisers, as they like the idea of a paid magazine better than a free website (basically, they know if a reader pays for content, (s)he reads it and values the publication. When it comes to free sites like The11.ca has been, it's harder to track how many of the hits are loyal readers, people who popped in for a second, etc.) But to make that work, subscriber numbers are key. We are at 51; but with gift subscriptions those numbers will be closer to 75. That's actually not bad for a Canadian publication startup. But the more numbers we see, the more attractive we are.

[stevensandor]

Was happy to be back on Sportsnet on Thursday, to talk PLASTIC PITCH and Toronto FC. Check it out here:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/soccer-central-radio-tfcs-big-changes/

[Raven]

Pledged my 2 cents. Good Luck!!!

[rob.notenboom]

Some good news on this project.

@the11ca: I'd like to welcome @UmbroCanada as the premier partner for PLASTIC PITCH. We are now guaranteed to launch this spring!

[stevensandor]

Some good news on this project.

@the11ca: I'd like to welcome @UmbroCanada as the premier partner for PLASTIC PITCH. We are now guaranteed to launch this spring!

Yes, it's true.

Thanks to an exciting new partnership with Umbro Canada, the PLASTIC PITCH campaign has been bolstered. We're proud to partner with Umbro. Of course, we're all familiar with the iconic brand as the supplier of Canada's national teams. But, as a supplier to many grassroots programs, Umbro is also supplying the young players who will become our national-teamers of the future.

What this means is that the PLASTIC PITCH campaign will be guaranteed to succeed. I wanted to thank ALL OF YOU for your support of this project.

But, please head over to the Kickstarter campaign in its last four days to reserve your copies via subs. It's great if you want to wait to get them from Apple Store, Amazon, etc. but, for purely selfish reasons, it's better for us if you subscribe directly as we don't lose a percentage of the sale prices to the e-tailers.

Thanks to all our supporters!

[stevensandor]

The app is READY for Android users. Apple takes a couple of extra days to approve. But the first issue is ready for you to read!

THANK YOU ALL for your support! I hope this project meets and exceeds your expectations... Already looking forward to issue #2.

For all the info on the issue, where to download, how to make sure your subscription is activated... please click here http://the11.ca/2014/03/22/plastic-pitch-has-launched-canadian-soccer-canadian-stories/

[Fussball_eh]

 

The app is READY for Android users. Apple takes a couple of extra days to approve. But the first issue is ready for you to read!

THANK YOU ALL for your support! I hope this project meets and exceeds your expectations... Already looking forward to issue #2.

For all the info on the issue, where to download, how to make sure your subscription is activated... please click here http://the11.ca/2014/03/22/plastic-pitch-has-launched-canadian-soccer-canadian-stories/

 

 

I'm so excited to read this (and I have an Android tablet, hehehehe). Yay!

[stevensandor]

Let me know how it looks on the Android. I've been previewing it on the Mac setup.

[Fussball_eh]

Let me know how it looks on the Android. I've been previewing it on the Mac setup.

 

It looks good, but the writing is too small to have everything on one page. But I use a Google Nexus 7 and the screen isn't that big. It's not a big deal to zoom in.