You guys are just amazing.
By that I mean: Yesterday, around 8:45 a.m., the JimHillMedia.com Amazon.com Honor Box went belly up. (Evidently, Amazon supposedly sets some sort of arbitrary limit concerning the number of contributions that can be made to a particular web address in a month’s time. And you folks actually blew past that limit less than 32 hours into the JHM pledge drive.)
But did that stop JHM readers from sending in donations? Hell, no. You guys just turned to PayPal and kept the contributions coming. Thanks to nice people like …
Astrid Abbitt
Chris Caines
Michael Campbell
Dominic Cancilla
Joshua Cunningham
Joe Espana
James Garrison
Howard Glosser
David Graham
Lee Harrell
Richard Harvey
Jonathan Hendryx
Randy Houle
Michael Howland
Timothy Huber
Rich LaGow
Julie Langley
Kenji Luster
Megan Mathews
Ken Mu
Christopher Murray
Patrick O’Keefe
Roger Pearson
Alanen Juha-Pekka
Emaneul Pestana
Brian D. Priesman
Josh Sandefur
Roman Sohar
Douglas Stalnaker
Michael Stanford
David Stinson
Michiel Veenstra
Kenneth Verburg
Tracy Wagner
Chris Weigert
Jenny Williams
Jim Wolniakowski
… JimHillMedia.com is still well on its way to meet the goals that were set for this pledge drive. Which was to raise enough dough to buy out Michelle (my ex-wife — AKA the Fabulous Disney Babe — who owns 66% of JHM) as well as acquire a new laptop.
Now some of you have asked “What can I expect for the contribution that I just made to JimHillMedia.com?” Well — besides my undying gratitude as well as recognition of the soon-to-go-live “JHM Contributors” page — here’s some of the perks that I’m willing to provide:
For anyone who contributes $1 — $24 to the site
Exclusive access to the JHM newsletter, a weekly publication that will feature new long form stories MONTHS ahead of when these articles will actually be available to regular JimHillMedia.com readers. “And what will your debut series be, Jim?” you ask. “In Search of Discovery Bay,” the multi-part saga about the design and development of the infamous Disneyland addition that never quite made it off the drawing board.
Regular readers won’t get access to this “Discovery Bay” stuff ’til at least the middle of July. When JHM will be rolling out these articles as part of a special birthday tribute to Disney’s Anaheim Resort. But — by then — the folks who contribute financially to JimHillMedia.com will already in the middle of the site’s next long form story, “The Don Bluth Story.”
For anyone who contributes $25 — $49 to the site
All of the above … plus the right to buy severely discounted copies of my soon-to-be-published Disneyland history book, “Once Upon an Orange Grove.”
“How discounted?” you ask. How about at cost? As in: I’ll be buying a bunch of these books at cost from my publisher in the Spring of 2005. I’ll then turn around and make these copies of “Once Upon an Orange Grove” available to any JHM financial contributors who’d like them at cost plus postage. PLUS I’ll be happy to personalize these volumes for you guys. Any way you’d like.
For anyone who contributes $50 — $99 to the site
All of the above … plus free admission to one JHM Disneyland or Walt Disney World theme park tour of your choosing. (Does NOT include the cost of theme park admission.)
For anyone who contributes $100 and above
One-on-one time with yours truly. I’d be happy to give you a call at home sometime so we can chat about any or all aspects of the Walt Disney Company. Or — if our schedules sometimes mesh in the right way — I’d be happy to join you for lunch or dinner sometime during your Disneyland or Disney World vacation, where I’d entertain you and your family with Mouse-related stories.
(Mind you, Nancy has another suggestion for a special JHM perk for anyone who contributes $100 and above: “Jim will keep his mouth shut for at least 30 minutes. Which means a half hour of wonderful Disney-free silence.” Though — somehow — I don’t think that you guys will actually go for that one … Anywho …)
So how does that sound? Anything there sound remotely appealing to you guys? If not … not to worry. Jeff Lange and I are already talking about a variety of other projects. Stuff like special limited edition JHM audio CDs, which will feature yours truly reading some of the more entertaining articles that I’ve written over the years.
Of course, if you folks have any suggestions about what you’d like to see as special JHM Contributor perks … I’d be happy to hear those as well.
You see, THAT’s the key difference between JimHillMedia.com and the other Disneyana web sites out there. Sure, it’s my name on the website. But JHM is really your website too. Which is why I always like to hear about what you folks would like to see me do with this website. (Except — of course — for that ever popular suggestion. Which is “to shove your website where the sun don’t shine.” Anyway …)
By making a financial contribution to the site, you can help determine what we do next here. What JimHillMedia.com’s future will look like. What sorts of stories we’ll eventually be able to tell here …
And let’s remember, folks: There are still lots of great Disney-related stories to tell. With your help, JHM will be around long enough to tell most of them. Maybe all of them. Only time (and your generosity) will tell …
So come on! Be a pal. Join the rapidly growing list of extremely generous people who’ve already contributed to JimHillMedia.com. Drop some dough in our Amazon.com Honor Box (which now seems to be working again … don’t ask me why …) or pass along a payment — via PayPal — to stadlerhill@mindspring.com.
As I said at the end of yesterday’s article, I want to thank everyone who’s already contributed to the JHM pledge drive. I am both humbled and honored by your generosity.
As for the rest of you … the ones who are ABOUT to donate: Thanks also. You’re really a great bunch of guys!
Okay. That’s enough shameless begging for today. Before I leave for LA tomorrow, I’ll be sure to drop you all another line. Bring you up to date about what’s going on with this donation drive.
Talk to you soon, okay?
jrh