The Lotus and the Artichoke – MALAYSIA Vegan Cookbook by Justin P. Moore.

Mandatory quote – “The Future Has Arrived — It’s Just Not Evenly Distributed Yet – William Gibson

After 3 successful Kickstarter projects and 3 internationally celebrated cookbooks, The Lotus and the Artichoke is back on Kickstarter! Earlier this year, I returned home to Berlin, Germany after 5 intense weeks exploring Malaysia, Singapore & Borneo: checking out the cities, cruising the coasts and countryside, island life during the wild Chinese New Year celebrations, staying in a rainforest treehouse, eating and cooking with the locals everywhere, and riding buses, trains, taxis, and boats all over the place.

Since then, I’ve been recreating the insanely delicious eats, writing up new recipes inspired from the trip, spending hours at my art desk and computer with the illustrations and design, and photographing all the dishes for my next cookbook: The Lotus and the Artichoke – MALAYSIA: A Culinary Adventure with over 70 Vegan Recipes.

Watch the the replay of the live video @ Kickstarter.

What does this have to do with anything?

Makers, artists, electronic companies, everyone who makes “things” can (and will) use live video to tell the story of why they created something, in-progress updates and live Q&A, launch parties, unboxings and weekly shows to build community and audience. There’s no going back, it’s the expectation now.

A month or so ago we were going to ask KickStarter to add live video for backer updates, this would eliminate some of the sketchy hardware promises, live at the factory, live Q&A, live demos and more – and when we went to a KickStarter events, they said it was happening, it was under Friend-NDA, so we waited to see an example, the cookbook one is a good one.

YouTube live, Facebook live, Twitch, Periscope are all the places we broadcast our shows and more, we’ll see CrowdSupply, IndieGogo and others do this too. It’s required, there’s no faking a promise or what’s really happening, it builds trust and community, the people watch are part of the story, it’s theirs just as much as the creators.

Instagram is adding live video too. appear.in, skype, google+ hangouts. It’s a live HD streaming world, we’re just living in it.

Like what you see? Pledge there, buy it now, it’s all there. Care about who makes something, where? How? It matters and you can see it.

A cook book symbolizes a lot of what open-source hardware is, at least that’s been our analogy. The food is great, you can come to our restaurant, we’ll show you where we got all the ingredients, we’ll get you a cookbook, we’ll show you live on video how we cook it up, and then you’ll be able to do the same. The recipes are not protectable anyway, so why not make them good information, which is a form of advertising.

(more about Kickstart live video here).

Every creator can now use live video to connect with backers. Stream from your studio, rehearsal space, or wherever you work. Streams integrate seamlessly into your project page. Just a few clicks and you’re live.

Kickstarter Live was built for personal interaction. Viewers can ask questions, chat with the host, or pledge to the project right from the live broadcast.

Creators are using Kickstarter Live for musical performances, cooking shows, product demos, game demos, rehearsals, and much more. It brings the creative process into the light and inspires new backers to join the fun.