Kickstarter

Going Mobo is a digital magazine devoted to emerging mobile lifestyles, those empowered by mobile technology. It is also available on-demand in print.

We are rolling out a special issue Going Mobo Hybrid Issue.

This not simply a one-month issue, but it aimed at a six-month "shelf-life." Part-magazine/part-book,  it is a compendium of recipes and articles about empowering your lifestyle with mobile technology.  It is slated for an August publication date and to include:

• how to “go mobile,” including up and coming mobile technologies, apps and tradecraft;
• James Franco's approach to being everywhere at once, using his phone;
• how to find romance and keep it alive, using your mobile device and an adventurous spirit;
• tips on how to choose the right app to find restaurants, food trucks and interesting food adventures ;
• recipes on phone etiquette for standing in line, texting at meals and nights out with friends,
• where to look for travel and vagabonding ideas, including the best deals on hotels, flights, and tickets on your phone;
• easy-to-use guides on getting the right mobile technology for your lifestyle;
• how to use your mobile device as your portable brain, including easy steps to having the right answers mid-conversation;

What makes this exciting is that it will be available (as our current magazine already is) across multiple platforms (eg, iPad, Android, iPhone, desktop) and in print!

Although technology section may be updated once or twice, the remaining articles will have legs and include practical recipes to do more with your mobile device.

We are looking for backers to profile and to advertise in Going Mobo Hybrid Issue. 

Why make a pledge to Going Mobo?   

We do not cut down trees with your pledge.  Rather, we support our contributing writers, artists and photographers.  So, each dollar you give us, will help us spread the word, attract new writers and talent, and help us produce our Hybrid Issue.  It will also fund the remaining issues of Going Mobo for 2012.

All this for just the target goal.  Yes!  There’s not a big staff; we don’t have to print large volumes since we are digital.  So, a little goes a very long way!  Anything over our goal will continue to pay for our writers and creative talent. 

Money ultimately goes to people and not landfills.

What is Going Mobo?

The idea behind Going Mobo is simple.  We've become modern nomads—except these days with smartphones, iPads and mobile devices.  Instead of foraging for berries, we are yelping for restaurants.  Instead of following antelope tracks, we are navigating with Google Maps.  Instead of long-distance drums, we are tweeting our messages to an expanding world.   Instead of eating roasted pig from a spit, we are eating roasted pig from a food truck.  (OK, some things change only by degrees.) 

Our mobile technology is constantly changing.  And along with it, your lifestyle is changing.

Whether you are partial to Android devices, iPads, iPhones, Blackberries or Windows phones, you’re becoming more spontaneous, more knowledgeable and more inclined to squeeze a mobile game into a spare moment.  This growing mobility has opened up a new world of fun, adventure, dining, romance and technology.  Going Mobo is a magazine dedicated to this emerging mobile bohemianism. 

Where other magazines are focused on the technology, we are devoted to this exciting mobile culture.

We, Kemo Sabe?

Did I say “we”?  I meant was “my wonderful writers and myself.”

Yes, there is not a huge editorial staff, a backroom filled with gifted staff writers, photographers at my beckon call.  There isn’t a graphics design group with Wacom tablets on their tables.  No programming staff in T-shirts and flip-flops, tweaking the Going Mobo web site and keeping up with the latest.

There’s basically just me.  OK, you can find me in a T-shirt and flip-flops, but it’s a one-man operation.

I’m bootstrapping Going Mobo, publishing bi-monthly issues on a budget of $200 each.  Yes, it’s pretty lean around here.    But hey, you don’t need a lot these days.

Print, mobile, web, and digital

From the start I wanted more than a print magazine.   By the same token, I didn’t want just a web site, per say, or just a digital edition.  I wanted it all.  Maybe that’s a personality trait of mobos:  wanting all things at once.  I can’t say, but one thing I thought was possible was publishing the magazine across multiple platforms.

What does this mean?

It means that if you are waiting for a plane and had your iPad out, you can simply download Going Mobo in digital form, and read it to your heart’s content.  Take it on the plane and page through it over the coming hours and days, at your reading convenience.  No on-line connection needed.

But if you were waiting in line and wanted to just scan for new articles or read an article, you can simply browse to the Going Mobo web site and read it on your smartphone.  The page would re-size and the reading would be easy.  You could also leave a comment or two.

Or, if  you are at your desktop and wanted to read a full screen digital version--presto, the articles are there. You can page through it as through it were a glossy magazine.

Then again, you like to have a print version that you can stick in your backpack or leave on your couch to peruse at your leisure.  Why not?  You can simply order a print version on-line and have it in a couple of days.  Print on-demand.  A greener solution.

So, in order words, the magazine is available across all platforms and in print.  You can read Going Mobo in a format you enjoy.

Picking up steam…

The result has been surprising. 

Going Mobo now has had four bi-monthly issues available in both print and digitally.   Web visits, downloads and digital page-reads have grown from 400 to over 12,500 monthly.  Very little advertising has been done and little time has really been devoted to marketing.  I’ve had one backer who has helped pay for writers (about $150 an issue).  The rest has been donated.

In the process I’ve begun to tweak the format, pay attention to the visual layout (which is not my forte, to be honest) and plot a future.

I get so jazzed each time an issue is published; it’s hard to describe.

Going Mobo Hybrid Issue

This summer I plan launch the Going Mobo Hybrid Issue, with your help.   The purpose of this issue is to provide an compendium of articles about the mobo lifestyle.  There hasn’t been anything like this to date, and the number of followers continues to grow.

The Hybrid Issue will have quite a lot, but lifestyle spills over into a lot of areas. 

And this is what gives Going Mobo Hybrid Issue  its legs.  With more material, it provides additional hours of reading and viewing enjoyment.  If you become a backer and want to place an ad or include your profile, it will be viewed repeatedly.