THE BEZERT AUDIO BOOK LAUNCH PARTY
Santa Barbara, CA
July 2015
We launched The Bezert Audio book in Santa Barbara at FISHBON art collaboration space. It was so much fun to see The Bezert book come to life for an adult audience with a live play & story reading, animated light projections, aerialists, and even Bezert character themed cocktails & dancing. It’s amazing what can happen when a creative multi-talented group of artists come together with only a week of planning to create an evening of festivity!
Back in Milwaukee we held a free event celebrating the release of this magical audio book at KANYAKUMARI AYURVEDA. We shared an evening of family friendly fun and frivolity while entertaining young and old alike with 'The Bezert' Audio Book, written by Maria Knier and narrated by Jonathan PJ Smith! Acting, audio, animation and an amazing arrangement of artistic aesthetics!! Treats, book signing and a menagerie of magical activities followed! Check out the slide show below!
7pm-7:45 Audio Book Performance
7:45- 8pm Q&A
8pm MAGICAL MENAGERIE of EVENTS:
• Traveling Sleight of Hand by Magician Tom Burgermeister
• Strolling Sweets and Treats by Beezert's Desserts
• Hands of Henna by Anita - beautiful mehndi and tattoos!
• Illustrious Tattoos, Fortune Eggs and more!
WE DID IT!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!
Indiegogo Audio Book Campaign
August 25th-September 30th, 2015
THE CAMPAIGN
My name is Maria Knier and I have written, illustrated and published a clothbound illustrated gift storybook entitled 'The Bezert'. The quirky and lovable character in this book takes quite a journey & meets some odd friends learning subtle, yet valuable, lessons along the way. The story is a timeless tale and in its printed book form, has recently been enjoyed by hundreds of readers and creative thinkers from ages 2-92. We now need your help to give Bezert a real VOICE so he can also tell his tale via digital audio book download to reach thousands more hearts and ears throughout the world. Over the past year we have had a blast sharing this book by traveling to bookstores, doing dramatic reading events, even winning TWO indie book awards and we truly want to continue to keep the energy alive & well in order to release the audio book and THE SEQUEL to The Bezert within this coming year
HOW YOU CAN HELP...HOW YOU CAN BENEFIT
We will share some fun personalized perks in return for helping us reach our goal. These include: signed books (they make great gifts!), sneak peek audio downloads of the book, posters with illustrations from the printed version of the book, and customized hand painted illustrations.
If we do not reach our entire goal all funds will go toward current production costs of the audio book. If extraordinary things happen, and we go above and beyond our goal, the extra funds will go directly toward the publishing of the second Bezert book in this series. It is already written and quietly waiting to meet the world while we seek out our next publisher.
THE STORY BEHIND BEZERT
'The Bezert' holds a heartfelt message that touches young and old alike. I believe it has the power to creatively challenge children (and adults) both mentally & emotionally. It had been in the works for over 15 years and was officially published in November of 2014. Although written and illustrated since 1999, the story was just waiting for the right publisher and community opportunities to bring it to life. I was thrilled to sign and work with a creative hybrid publisher in Milwaukee but unfortunately they needed to permanently close their doors only 4 months after the release and initial launch of the book. This changed our financial course quite a bit with the need to take on the expenses of distribution, marketing and buying out the remainder of the books. We persisted, and with a great deal of love and determination we have continued to organically bring Bezert into more and more homes, libraries and bookstores across the country through travel, events and genuine support from our community & friends. I've learned so much through the process of creating and marketing this story and then sharing it with the world. We've connected with more wonderful people than I could have ever imagined and this has certainly made the world a much smaller place. I would love to pass this inspiration onto others who may have the same goals and aspirations.
Please help us to make Bezert's story more accessible to many, many more people through this digital audio book version. We have an amazing narrator, music and many tools in place to finalize a spectacular interpretation of this timeless tale.
If you are not able to donate to this campaign, we thoroughly appreciate your 'tweets', 'likes', 'shares' and general 'word-of-mouth' support! You can use the Indiegogo share tools to help you spread the word. Warmest thanks for anything and everything!
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