Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 22:48:01 -0500 (CDT)
From: Antistoicus
To: (our old mailing list)
Subject: Council, Newsletter, was : parking,carpools, etc
On Mon, 8 May 2000 (name deleted) wrote:
> .. Antistoicus said regarding editor for new magSubmission to the newsletter will be open to all interested local Pagans. Editorial decisions will be made solely by the staff, as they have been at preceding newsletters (eg. The Round Table, and Pipes of Pan). However, I would expect that Council members would probably be more active in the making of the newsletter (including the writing of articles) than most outsiders. I wouldn't suggest putting freedom of expression within the newsletter to a community-wide majority vote.
>
> ...... "aim is to make the choice of editor a consensus
> ...... decision, that the Council will, in general,
> ...... be happy with (or at least succeed in making
> ...... it reasonably close to being one)."
>
> .. Will only Council members have a say in the
> .. running of this new publication or is it open to
> .. all interested Pagans?
Once the staff for a project is assembled, the project becomes autonomous. As I'm not about to propose taxation without representation, it is also understood that the staff becomes responsible for the expenses of the project. If they want funds from the rest of the council, they have to make a pitch to persuade people to give.
One option if we feel uncomfortable about donating the funds for, say, a desktop publishing program to a relative stranger, would be for us to establish a legal not-for-profit organization, purchase the needed items in the name of the organization and lend them out (with suitable receipts). One virtue of this approach is that it allows us to advertise our events in the Reader (and maybe a few other places) for free.* snip *
Other matters that came up :
- " Finances ... how are we going to pay for the thing?
I have been told that the Round Table put out about 200 copies of each issue, each of which ran for about 8 pages. Let us add, that those issues were snapped up very quickly.200 copies x 8 pages x 7.5 cents/page (at Kinko's)comes to $120 per printing. OK, not exactly the budget for the Tribune, but more than one person might want to swallow.
Obviously, unlike our predecessor, we should be making a conscious effort to obtain advertising. If we were to charge $9 for the first 25 words plus 30 cents for each additional word - 1/3 of the cost of an ad in the Reader, the first 14 ads would pay for the cost of the entire run.
What do we do until then? Well, there are already 20 people on this list. If even 50% of us stay and divide the costs evenly, it breaks down to $12 per person per issue, until we can get advertisers interested. If we're publishing monthly, perhaps we could bear that for a few issues?
Getting advertisers interested is the obvious issue. The degree of focus, here, should work powerfully in our favor. True, the Reader has a circulation in the tens of thousands, but what fraction of that readership is actually Pagan and how eager are they going to be to sift through a few pages of very small print, on the off chance of finding a few ads in their area of interest? So, there is an argument to be made, in favor of advertising in the smaller publication - visibility."
- "Offices : who does what. I would propose a division of duties. One person would be responsible for obtaining articles for publication. Let's call that person "the acquisitions editor". Not a small job, that position should go to someone with well established ties in the community (or who is extremely persuasive), who can be gently persistent and supportive when a promised article is falling behind schedule.
Another would select the articles for publication. This should be done, not based on one's approval of what is being written, but on quality of writing. How hard would it be to rebut the arguments presented and how much content would one's rebuttal have to respond to? How well is it presented?
A third, the editor, would cut the articles for length and assemble them on the page. The full, uncut, articles would be made available on our homepage, three months after publication. The delay creates an incentive for the reader to seek out the print copy, maintaining the value of our advertising on it. The presence of a full copy (aside from providing the reader with a useful archive) helps protect the newsletter from the eventual possibility that a future editor might abuse his or her editorial discretion and cut a disliked article in such a way as to render it less persuasive. Eventual public accessibility of the full article guarantees that any such abuse will become known, and serves to keep us honest.
That last passage may sound a little negative, but when one is setting up the charter for an organization, one has to design it with the worst possibilities in mind (not the likeliest), if one wants the organization to stick around.
So, volunteers are sought for these three posts, and that of sales person. As long as we have more than four people, I think that we should also have a rule that no person should be allowed to hold two of these posts. Even when people mean well, historically having a system of checks and balances in an organization, will help to facilitate its operation.
This leaves the question of who should handle the money. May I propose that this should be the same person who finalizes the agreements with the advertisers? Having to help get the money, personally, gives one a personal interest in seeing to it, that it is wisely spent. Further, doing so, it would seem to me, would insure that whoever is in possession of the funds, remains responsible and accountable for them.
Like I said, one has to be prepared for all eventualities, even the unlikely ones.
This post of treasurer, I would propose keeping distinct from the sales person (though obviously, the two would be working together closely). However we appoint this individual, I would suggest that the rule be that the sales person can not be in the room as the treasurer is selected, nor may he (or she) speak in support of any application for this position. (Again, this serves to protect us, in case a grifter happens to drift in our direction). All transactions by the treasurer would be witnessed by the sales person, who would keep independent books, signed by the treasurer in the presence of those doing business with the newsletter staff.
Other staff members might be on hand to serve as witnesses.
Given the effort he (or she) will have put in setting up deals, the salesperson would have an incentive to keep the treasurer honest, in direct proportion to the incentive the available cash on hand might give a treasurer to become dishonest. "Click here to return.