A post on Facebook complaining that the kickstarted Hello Ruby book still hasn’t been completed got me thinking about crowdfunded products. As always, there is a great risk in paying money for something that may or may not come to fruition. Even if it does, it may turn out poorly. As a backer, you have to acknowledge this.

On the other hand, it is reasonable to expect that a kickstarted product should be completed either before or shortly after the date given in the original pitch. If there are delays, they should be explained thoroughly and with a convincing excuse. That, or unknowns and risks should have been documented earlier on in the process.

The Hello Ruby Kickstarter has been delayed and still doesn’t have a firm release date. I’m sure the delay is in part due to sound reasons, but not solely because of them. Day in and day out, I see the author’s name on tech sites, promoting the book or—even worse—Rails Girls in a variety of interviews, talks and news items. Hell, she even had a talk at Slush 2014.

Don’t get me wrong; I think both Hello Ruby and Rails Girls are excellent initiatives. What I take issue with is that if you have delayed a product you promised to deliver to backers, finishing it should take precedence over just about everything else. Don’t do interviews, don’t talk about other initiatives, don’t book public speaking engagements — use the time to finish your project and get the book out of the door and into the hands of the people that were amongst the first to believe in you.

You might go so far as to say that the author of Hello Ruby is using her Kickstarter as a vector for promoting herself. With an as-yet unreleased book, there might be a nugget of truth in this statement.

Full disclosure: I’m not a backer of the project. And yes, the above practices still irk me. I can only imagine what backers’ opinions are.