Writer's Organization / Publishing Co-Op

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

So some ideas have been floating around about a couple of things:

• Putting together an organization for all people doing alternative publishing paradigms;

• Putting together a publishing company that takes advantage of alternative publishing paradigms.

Since I've seen these two, I figured I'd ask: is it the right time? Which one would you take advantage of? What would you see it doing for you?

Comments

[dulcinbradbury.livejournal.com]

I'm ... sort of in-between the two, but, I'd be interested in either, depending upon the set-up.

I do not want something that pigeon-holes writers to any particular form. Your set-up is different from shadesong's or ysabetwordsmith's. However, I like the idea of something that allows for conventional methods of finding something "quality" (editors, reviews), while allowing anyone to give it a go in their own way. I suppose in some ways that would be almost like a public slush pile -- you could always find the "top" of the pile & feature that, but, we're not telling newbies to go home.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Yes! Let's pool resources!

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

I like the idea!

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of pooling resources; not sure what would work best for me, though.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I think the time is right. An organization is possible, or toward the beginning of possibility; might not hurt to leave it a little longer. Alternative publishing is urgently needed to fill a widening market gap left by withering traditional publications.

I would be keenly interested in either of these. However ... I don't think it would be a good idea to launch both at once.

I've already detailed the usefulness of an alternative publishing company.

Uses of an organization include:

* Official presence. When an activity has some kind of organization, people tend to take it more seriously. That's a useful credential for getting "cyberfunded creativity" onto convention programming, into magazine articles, etc.

* A "mission statement" detailing the organization's purpose and goals. Developing this could help reveal what we hope to achieve with cyberfunded creativity, and make it happen sooner.

* A newsletter full of current project reviews, how-to tips, and other useful information. Most organizations have a newsletter to spread information and connect members.

* A guide to CFC projects, both in terms of things that people can enjoy, and descriptions of project types and techniques to try. This would help connect creators and donors, and develop and store information about how to do CFC for novices.

* An award recognizing excellent cyberfunded creativity projects. If extant awards aren't interested in serving this sector of the market, then we can just do it ourselves. The biggest challenge would be finding competent judges not already closely involved with the candidate projects!

Note that much of this could be accomplished just with this community, and indeed, this is why I started it -- the networking. However, an official organization would solidify much that is now totally informal; it would add weight to the activities; it could more easily broaden participation outside of LiveJournal alone; and it would probably do a better job of making an impact with an award.