Making a Living Doing What You Love & XOXO Fest (Andy Baio Part 2)

In Part 2, Ryan talked with Andy, about "Making A Living Doing What You Love," and how Andy launched the XOXO Festival.  The next XOXO is coming up in September, 2014 in Portland, Oregon. and you can register/view the speakers: http://2014.xoxofest.com/ Dan Harmon, Hank Green, and Kevin Kelly.  (You can listen to Ryan and Earwolf CEO Jeff Ullrich, talk about Kevin Kelly's inspiring  1,000 True Fans article on Episode 7 of the Influencer Economy).

Andy chats about how a theme of the XOXO conference is about "going independent" as a creator, and how it is difficult to go independent, often the pros outweigh the cons. When someone by-passes publishers in the book/gaming/board gaming/movies world (all creative industries), it can be incredible to see how far people's ideas can go.  

Ryan asked Andy about creating projects online (Kickstarter or otherwise), without having a large (pre-existing) fan following, and how one goes about that.  Or if it's even possible.  Andy said creators with free-standing ideas that are high concept can often succeed, if you tap into a subject that people care about.  

Andy sites Indie Game the Movie as a great example of a project where you don't need a pre-existing fan-base to get off the ground.  By inviting people into the story& engaging people through the creative process, you can build a base in the process, like the creators of Indie Game did.  (You can listen to Ryan chat with VHX Founder Jamie Wilkinson about Indie Game the Movie on Episode # 8.

On this podcast you’ll learn:

• The story of Upcoming.org: the launch, acquisition and re-birth


• How to leverage the power of Kickstarter


• How to run successful Kickstarter campaigns (Andy’s projects as examples)


• How Kickstarter was founded


• What the XOXO conference is all about (you should sign-up for updates: http://2014.xoxofest.com


• How awesome the internet is and can be for givers


• How to "go independent" and by-pass publishers as a creator


• How Indie Game the Movie, built-up a fan-base and launched a movie with a large (pre-existing) following


• How board games were re-vitalized via crowdfunding 

Andy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/waxpancake

Sign-up for updates on the XLXL Festival: http://2014.xoxofest.com

Sign-up for the re-launch of Upcoming.org: http://upcoming.org