Publish Central!

Hello everyone, this is an update for 6/9/09. I apologize for the length this post is likely to be but I want to get everyone up to speed on where we are at and how we are going to approach both the Publish Central (PC) site and the Writers Café (WC) Group. So below is going to be a list of goals and plans. Think of it sort of as the business plan of how we are going to get things going.

First let me say that there are essentially 3 aspects, areas, or phases that will be utilized in the process of getting you all from idea to publication. I will preface all of this by mentioning that it is critical the group helps itself. What I mean by this is that us as creators and you as moderators will serve to facilitate the PC process, but the advocacy of the group and the exposure of what we are trying to accomplish will necessarily depend on the efforts of the members. So here we go.

1.) The WC group, ?Publish Central?, will act as the starting point for new and current writers. This is where the ?inspiration? tire will meet the ?writing? road. Here you can get ideas and start to put together pieces for review. Now, many people use WC to simply post their writings in a casual manner. A take it or leave it approach. I have no problem with that and there are certainly groups that are dedicated to that on WC. However, I would encourage your WC ?Publish Central? Postings to be tailored for two things. First, use the group to get help with things like composition, writing style, visualization, vocabulary, creativity, fluidity, etc. Second, use ?us? as PC members to assess the publishing viability of the piece. Think of this as a kind of audience pre-screening, a test run to see if readers will be drawn to this type of piece. Many of our members are scholars, agents, and editors use their expertise to you advantage!

Here is where the members come in. I ask you as PC members to be honest and constructively critical in this area. Often writers have a good bit of intuition as to what a reader may be interested in. On the other side of this coin that intuition may be compromised by a members preference for a particular style. So I ask you that in reviewing writing to keep you mind open. Perhaps you might not like a particular style, but would it be successfully publishable? Do you have a friend that would love it? Or conversely, is it an over saturated area of the market, perhaps requiring that the writer to be informed that they may need to stretch their style or genre?

Finally, as far as the featured writers go we are going to set up a calendar so that if you are an upcoming scheduled feature writer you can let people know and prepare pieces and then notify me of which piece you want featured. For those days that we don't have anyone scheduled we will just do random posts. We are then going to be using the contests to generate winners who will then be featured for an extended period on PC & Ning (1 week or so). The idea behind this is that if a piece gets a lot of buzz on WC we feel it then earns the right to get more than the daily exposure created by the WC feature. This will also allows the winning piece or pieces to be advertised to the A's and Pub's on PC & Ning. We will also implement cash prizes if and when we receive any and donations. But again don't feel pressured to donate just for that purpose.

2.) The ?Publish Central? site will be the next step. Here we will begin to assemble a sort of one-stop-shopping feature for writers, agents(A?s), and publishers (Pubs.) The site will soon actually have separate links for the member/authors, A?s and Pubs. (i.e. ?Shop for Writers?, ?Shop for Publishers?, ?Shop for Agents?). I say ?shop? but there will be no fee for anything. At this stage the writer should have some buzz on the piece or buzz on themselves as a writer. The purpose behind this is that the A?s and Pubs. will use this site to ?shop? for you! Think of it as kind of a billboard. This intent here is for A?s and Pubs. to review writers and pieces that have already been battle harder by the WC review process. Bright, tight, and brief. The will allows the A?s and Pubs. to get more effectively filtered pieces to review. Then if they are interested in more they can check out you profile on WC. So I would suggest the member name on PC is at least somewhat close to the name on WC.

That?s basically how ii benefits A?s and Pub?s. How it benefits ?us? is, we will be able to peruse the A?s and Pub?s posted on the site. The idea behind this is for the A?s and Pub?s to post what type of writing they are looking for. Here is where we hope to really blow open the genres and styles. We want A?s and Pub?s to be looking for all the writing WC provides and well as things like writing for travel, game design, business, law, instruction, scholarship, cooking, and list can go on. The reason that I mention this is that many of you that have a knack for stringing a sentence together may be able to supplement your true calling with these side jobs. I am not suggesting you ?sell out?, whatever that means, but we should be pragmatic about our careers as writers. PC will be the professional business side of the project.

3.) The Ning. Sounds freaky but this will help supplement the site and will really act as more of the social networking and fun/casual side of the project. Think of this as myspace/facebook meets publish central. Here we can announce items as well as schedule events and a whole host of other features. I would kind of liken this to the private club of PC. Mainly this is here to have fun with this.

So that basically the general idea. But, this is going to require a lot of effort on the member?s part. We need you to be zealous advocates for the cause. Contact A?s and Pub?s with a short professional inquiry into our little project let them know what we are doing and how the project can benefit them. In addition contact magazines as well as alternative publishing sources and let them know what we are doing. Just be polite, courteous, and professional and it will pay off. Don?t be surprised if you run into a good deal of dead ends. The way I see it with the advent of technology these types of projects will be on the forefront of publishing in the years to come. I know that may seem a lofty ambition but, look at the effect of the internet on the newspaper industry right now. Contact other writer?s and interested parties too. Think outside the box, or inside the box if it gets us more exposure. Be creative ?we? will be our best voice.

Keep up the suggestions and thanks again,

- C.M.