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Poetry, Arts, and Publishing
Two cool publishing-world suggestions and why they won't work.
I have very helpful friends that might be able to implement the ideas they pass to me in their own way, but here's the reasons why two cool ideas they passed to me won't work for me in particular.
Idea #1:
Charge a $5 reading fee for submissions and give feedback. To cover the publication costs and to shape future submissions to let them know what it is I like and need for the publication so they can better suit my needs.
Reasons why it won't work for me:
a. The handling of money in such a fashion is an IRS magnet. Bookkeeping alone is not worth it, even if I can do it under my SS# as the tax ID.
b. Feedback is exactly the problem I've been having with a lot of contributors. When I give feedback, they always, not sometimes but always, take the negative aspects of it personally. It's not worth the drama and stress that handling that response is. I gave up coediting Moon Mist Valley for things of a similar nature, and there is no way I can bend over backwards to everyone when there's so many submissions without breaking from the demands of those with the good poems that think that it's their right to be published and not their privilege. Like if I had room for everyone poetsespresso would actually be a 120 page book every month.
c. Not nearly as important as the other two reasons but still worth mentioning that the logistics of handling $5 for each submission would either mean that I'd not have enough submissions due to people not wanting to pay in this bad economy, or else there would be too many submission fees to keep bookkeeping of for just me, one person, as I have been, and would require that I respond to each one as is obligatory if I charge, and if I'm obligated to respond to each one that would mean... well let's just say I'm already signed up for more activities than I can do in waking hours, this would mean much less sleep and much more neglect of the few things that do give, like daily self-care and anything leisure and relaxing and stress-relieving.
Idea #2:
Charge $1 for each poetsespresso newsletter to cover publication costs, since it's such quality work, presentation, etc.
Reasons why it won't work for me:
a. It's doubtful that the print shop would continue to give us the low print costs we have (even though they're hard for us to afford even as low as they are) if they were to know that we're charging money for the publication.
b. It might affect the Writers' Guild or the college's non-profit status in some way, I'd have to check.
c. We might charge closer to the actual printing costs, which is about 25 to 40 cents per book, though that would require lots of coins handling, which turns to the next reason,
d. The mere logistics of selling 750 copies of a newsletter on my own or with a few helpers every two months is a monster I don't want to even think of contemplating. Imagining that if they did sell I'd be selling them in the quad during the hours it's open for about 3 years in order to sell one issue's worth, to just guesstimate. And if they didn't sell, or if we give some free, then we'd either have a stash of un-used copies that were wasted, or else we'd have an issue of unfair business practices by favoritism (if there weren't rules over who got them free and who had to pay). And if I were to find places to sell them, that would be many weeks more of work that might not even prove fruitful (most places don't want to bother with something like that unless they're already selling newspapers).
e. I couldn't even contemplate 750 receipts every two months to keep track of all on my own for the IRS.
Idea #1:
Charge a $5 reading fee for submissions and give feedback. To cover the publication costs and to shape future submissions to let them know what it is I like and need for the publication so they can better suit my needs.
Reasons why it won't work for me:
a. The handling of money in such a fashion is an IRS magnet. Bookkeeping alone is not worth it, even if I can do it under my SS# as the tax ID.
b. Feedback is exactly the problem I've been having with a lot of contributors. When I give feedback, they always, not sometimes but always, take the negative aspects of it personally. It's not worth the drama and stress that handling that response is. I gave up coediting Moon Mist Valley for things of a similar nature, and there is no way I can bend over backwards to everyone when there's so many submissions without breaking from the demands of those with the good poems that think that it's their right to be published and not their privilege. Like if I had room for everyone poetsespresso would actually be a 120 page book every month.
c. Not nearly as important as the other two reasons but still worth mentioning that the logistics of handling $5 for each submission would either mean that I'd not have enough submissions due to people not wanting to pay in this bad economy, or else there would be too many submission fees to keep bookkeeping of for just me, one person, as I have been, and would require that I respond to each one as is obligatory if I charge, and if I'm obligated to respond to each one that would mean... well let's just say I'm already signed up for more activities than I can do in waking hours, this would mean much less sleep and much more neglect of the few things that do give, like daily self-care and anything leisure and relaxing and stress-relieving.
Idea #2:
Charge $1 for each poetsespresso newsletter to cover publication costs, since it's such quality work, presentation, etc.
Reasons why it won't work for me:
a. It's doubtful that the print shop would continue to give us the low print costs we have (even though they're hard for us to afford even as low as they are) if they were to know that we're charging money for the publication.
b. It might affect the Writers' Guild or the college's non-profit status in some way, I'd have to check.
c. We might charge closer to the actual printing costs, which is about 25 to 40 cents per book, though that would require lots of coins handling, which turns to the next reason,
d. The mere logistics of selling 750 copies of a newsletter on my own or with a few helpers every two months is a monster I don't want to even think of contemplating. Imagining that if they did sell I'd be selling them in the quad during the hours it's open for about 3 years in order to sell one issue's worth, to just guesstimate. And if they didn't sell, or if we give some free, then we'd either have a stash of un-used copies that were wasted, or else we'd have an issue of unfair business practices by favoritism (if there weren't rules over who got them free and who had to pay). And if I were to find places to sell them, that would be many weeks more of work that might not even prove fruitful (most places don't want to bother with something like that unless they're already selling newspapers).
e. I couldn't even contemplate 750 receipts every two months to keep track of all on my own for the IRS.
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