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What is the writer's cooperative? How will the cooperative be run? How is this different to a normal publisher? What are you interested in publishing? What will the writing process be like?
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What is The Writer’s Cooperative?The Writer’s Cooperative is an ideal of a publisher controlled by the authors that contribute its books, and run along democratic principles. It is an organisation which aims to mentor its authors, to nurture independence and creativity in a supportive context - and to commission exciting and interesting work, creating rather than responding to markets. It is founded on the principle that nobody should profit from another's labour. Having been founded in September, 2007 the Writer's Cooperative is still very much in it's infancy; and I hope that as authors join they will help to give it a more defined shape and focus. How will the cooperative be run?Unlike most organisations, the Writer’s Cooperative will be ‘flat’; with no strict or persistent hierarchy. All decisions about the direction of the group are made by collective vote, using an online forum. At the moment, I am taking quite a directive role in the running of the organisation - but this is because I am currently the only member! Hopefully, as more people join the day-to-day operations will become more genuinely democratic. How does this differ from a normal publisher?There are some real benefits with working with one of the corporate publishers. They have, for instance, the resources to conduct proper market research and high-end advertising. They can also employ full-time, trained editors and designers to manage the project from start to end. Conventionally, they have also been the only real way of getting work into to print, as they could afford the large print-runs necessary to make texts economical. This is, however, changing. The rise of Print-on-Demand means that it is now possible for individuals and small organisations to get their work into print at a competitive price and still turn a profit. It also means that the traditionally large up-front investments in books are unnecessary, as items can be printed quickly as they are ordered - reducing wastage and backlogs. An example of the kinds of things within the scope of the Writer's Cooperative using this technology can be found here. Dispensing with corporate publishers has distinct advantages. The Writer's Cooperative is less 'profit-driven' - as the emphasis is on the community, rather than generating profits for share-holders. Anyone who has worked with a publisher will recognise the frustration that can be generated by 'the market'; limiting the types of books which will be commissioned, with 'focus groups' determining the content included in those which are. Publishers also extract large profits from their authors, something which is not part of the writer's cooperative's agenda. What are you interested in publishing?As I am the only available project editor (see below) at the moment, I can only commission texts within the realm of my experience; topic books for sociology and psychology - for more information, see the current proposals on the forum. As the range of experience involved in the cooperative broadens, we will hopefully be able to extend the types of books published. What will be the writing process be like?Once a project has been commissioned, the community will need to assign people to fulfil three key roles;
For all intents and purposes, this team will then work as an autonomous unit - seeing through the production of the text from start to finish. How will payment work?Any profit generated from a book sale will be divided as follows;
Typically, a 72 page, A4 book in black and white will generate £5.55 in profit for each book sold. Of this, £1.11 will go to the cooperative fund, 55p to the designer, 83p to the editor, 28p to ethical projects and the remaining £2.78 to the authors. How do I get involved?If you are interested in being involved in this project, please visit the cooperative's forum by clicking here. Register and involve yourself in a current proposal - or make a new proposal. You can also ask any further questions about the organisation and help to iron out some of the remaining issues with legalities and business models. How do I become an Author?We are interested in potential authors with a range of levels of experience. Your first step might be to have a look at the "proposed" projects on the cooperative's forum - see if there is a project that you feel you could write for which is currently recruiting authors. You can also propose a project to be commissioned by the community on this page. How do I become a Designer?If you have experience in graphic design, please offer your services on one of the projects in the proposal forum. This is likely to be the hardest role to fill, as we need to use professional software such as indesign - which designers will need to supply themselves. How do I become an Editor?Once you have authored on a text for the cooperative, you can go on to be an editor for a different project (as you will have picked up some of the tricks and problems associated with the process). It is, however, important to ensure that editors always have at least as much experience as authors involved in a project.
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