Publishng: Thoughts on transparency and an agenda
This week, as the project continues to evolve, I’ve been thinking a lot of about transparency. What types of things are appropriate to talk about? What things are off limits? Is transparency a singular notion in the heads of many, or is there some universal accepted definition?
In the end, I do believe that each of us is comfortable with sharing at different levels. All this to say, there are things that I am not comfortable sharing in a public forum just yet. There are other items which are already public knowledge. As this project evolves, I truly believe that the level of openness is going to evolve with it. But, there has to be a starting point.
One component of transparency that is coming soon is social media. I will be setting up a Twitter feed for the Publishng project which will syndicate our articles, discussions, etc. I will also be setting up a Formspring account so that anyone can submit questions to us about the process, about publishing, about digital development, about our specific work on the project, etc. Be on the look out for these early next week.
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I’ve emailed all the contributors this week. I sent them a manuscript to consider and we all have a Skype conference call set up for Sunday afternoon. While I am not yet prepared to share the identity of the author of this proposal, I have spoken with him and I feel like this work, and this author, would be a great fit for our project. I promised everyone an agenda in advance of our Sunday meeting so they can bring ideas. Here are the things I’d like to discuss:
- Thoughts and comments on the proposal
- Ideas for publicity venues (Online + Traditional)
- How do we start engaging readers now?
- Social Media plans (Twitter, Formspring, FB)
- Short print run? (we’ve received interest from two publishing houses) + (interest from tech company to be involved)
- Thursday features, setting up a schedule
- Set up regular bi-weekly meeting schedule
