How this Game of Thrones-loving maker ‘newsjacked’ his way to $12K on Kickstarter

When something hits in the news and it’s popping up everywhere, Todd Blatt doesn’t see annoyance. He sees opportunity.
He said it’s called “newsjacking,” a concept popularized in a book of the same name.
“The trick is if something is popular in breaking news publishers will talk about it,” Blatt told Technical.ly. “And If you see one thing happening then hop on and make something as soon as you can. Then when the second wave of news comes your post or thing will be included.”
And when the backstory and subsequent death of beloved Game of Thrones character Hodor was revealed, Blatt knew he had to jump on the bandwagon, and fast.
His Hold the Door Memorial Door Stop quickly made its way to Kickstarter and was identified as a project the Kickstarter team loves. Video of Blatt making the laser-engraved wooden door stop quickly found its way to Mashable and Metro UK.

(For what it’s worth, Blatt wasn’t the only one with this idea.)
“Any time you do something you have no idea how much press you’re going to get,” Blatt said while on a break from making the door stops. “I was limiting it as the campaign went along. But the timeframe to make one is actually pretty quick. I’ve been contacted by a lot of people for distribution deals and wholesale orders.”
More than 600 orders came in through Kickstarter and Blatt is also selling extras around town and on Etsy.
He’s making the door stops at the Baltimore Node Makerspace, a location he knows well. When he’s not making Game of Thrones memorabilia, he’s running Custom3dStuff. Maybe you saw his custom Han Solo replica.
“I’ve been making things like this for seven or eight years, it’s a lot of movie prop replicas or jewelry,” he said. “I have a degree in mechanical engineering from UMBC.”
Even though Blatt got more orders than he originally expected, fans won’t have to wait long to get their Hold the Door Memorial Door Stop.
“I told people I would be done by July but I am almost done making the preorders,” he said. “I will be sending the first 100 orders Monday.”