I was thinking, some other sites have a News letter like once a week or month. I just thought a News letter for this site would be cool. What you guys think?
1. i don't know what would go into it that we'd need a newsletter for... 2. i don't know anyone here who'd have the time or inclination to put one together and keep it up... why do you think we need one, av?
A newsletter could contain things we may want to highlight, like the winners of the short story/poetry contests and what the current contests are. Notes on what the hottest threads are, and any useful information found by forum members. Newsletters can be nice, and full of cool stuff. It does take someone to collate them, but it may be worth it. The newsletter could be made a locked sticky item on the Site Announcements part. Maybe we should run one, and if it gets enough views and interest, then someone can do it every few weeks.
It could also contain news of relevance to authors, as it's a little obsession of mine to root this out - such as the recent controversy over PLR (the tiny sum authors are paid every time their books are borrowed from a library). There isn't a lot of news relevant to authors, but it's important!
There were plans to do an e-zine a while back, which have been revived a number of times, each time slowly dying off again. The chief problem is that someone actually has to do it, which is pretty damn time consuming.
What we need then, is a committee of people! Not just one person. A steering committee, a collation group, editing group and a rota to publish it. Maybe roughly 30 people, 40 people max?
Yes like that. Just if someone had time, I would love to do it,just time I don't have... Tempus frugit.
I think doing a newsletter sounds like a great idea! I'm sure if you were to ask, there are plenty of people on this site (myself included) that would be willing to participate in something like that. If you do a committee like Sasha Merideth suggested, then you can do a rotating schedule. For example, soandso will put together the newsletter this week, and thatotherguy will do it next week. That way it still gets done but it's not too much responsibility on any one person. Great idea, Agent Vatani!
If someone would be willing to do this, then I think it would be a great place to advertise the fiction and poetry contests as well as the WF Book Club. Sending newsletters to everyone should help improve participation for both the contests and the book club. I agree that we would need more than one person in order to run it successfully. I was thinking that if we had 4 people, for example, then maybe 2 could write and 2 could edit and put it all together. Then for the next newsletter they could switch roles if they wanted.
Definitely! I would love to hear more about the contests, and this would be a great way to get the news out and participation up.
the sticking point is finding someone with the time, ability, and willingness to organize and head such a project... and so far, i don't see any hands raised, for taking on the top job...
It's worth considering. The sticking point is people who are prepared to commit to it. In the past, people have volunteered, and then not carried the workload. Multiple people is a good idea, but 30? Seriously? It'd be like herding cats. I'm undecided. Part of me thinks it'd be a good idea, but the other part of me is wary of previous failed attempts.
Willing to help is one thing, but i think it would be worth spending a lot of time (a few months) preparing for such a thing. If a group of people can put a few months into putting ideas together and preparing and asking for ideas (and if momentum continued over this time) is most certainly world be worthwhile. I'd hate to see a handful of people get together and get one going, rushing one out, getting disappointed about lack of feedback (which would happen if it was just done without lots of thought), than slowly having this potential thing falling into the dark. Would most certainly love to see this happen, if done correctly and professionally.
^ Yes, good points. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how many people are actually interested in this sort of thing.
Before even worrying about making one, you need to know if there is a demand for it. I mean there are a lot of people on this site (they don't have to be regular posters), but you need to know if people will actually read it. (Not by just by vote - anyone can vote yes, and not really care). Somehow you need to know more than those who contribute will read it, and then if you get a few more, making sure they keep doing so. No point having 3-5 people working hard on this, for 5-10 people, lets be honest. Before you can even get people on board, you need to know what people would actually want from this. What do people care for, and not so. Than when you know, or if you get to know, can you really get a picture of who and what you need to do.
I should've been clearer in my last post. By "interested" I meant to say "interested in reading it." I can't think of a good way of asking people if they would be interesting in reading it. Like you said, voting isn't practical. So we may just have to make one and see what kind of response we get. Anyway, if someone does step up and take charge, let me know, and I'll gladly assist in any way that I can.
We have like 3 people to put in time for it. I would put some in it and I would love to read them. Back from your we send it to people, PMs or email?
are any of those 3 willing and able to devote a lot of time to it, on a regular basis and for the long haul?... and are any of them willing and capable of taking on the major task of heading the group and being the 'editor-in-chief' who puts the thing together and does most of the writing?... that's what it will take, y'know... but speedy does have a good point... how many here would bother reading it?... i get newsletters from various sites, including some devoted to writing, but i never read them... they go straight into my email trash can... so it only makes sense to not go to so much trouble, spending time and energy for something too few may want, or even bother to read, without first finding out if there is sufficient demand for it...
While I would certainly be interested in subscribing to such a thing if it existed, I completely agree with Mamma's points. This sounds like the sort of thing that would be at a huge risk of falling into the trap of fading to nothing over time. Here's the scenario I could see playing out. It starts out, everyone is happy and exciteted about something new and fresh, we all love it, it's going great, but then something happens; It becomes a burdeon on those producing it. New obligations arise, time becomes more restricted, enthusiasm declines or what have you, and soon no one wants to and/or is not able to put in the time. Even with those of us simply subscribing to it-- for me anyway-- I could see it play out the same way. I get fired up the first few issues, but after a while, I don't even bother and send it to the trash bin undread. I may be completely wrong, and I would even hope that I am, but the realist in me says this has low probability of succeeding in the long term.
Well, how about something simpler then? I used to be on forum which sends out short newsletter-type emails on a regular basis to its members. It doesn't need to be a long job with endless people involved. In the example I'm thinking of, it's basically any site news (from the admins), hot topics that are being discussed or links to news stories & winners of contests. Sometimes they include birthday or holiday wishes. That's pretty much it. It's still nice to get something like that on occasion, and it prompts people pop into the forum sometimes as well, if they haven't been around for a while.
^I think that sounds feasible. I'd be interested in reading something like that, and if time permits after I start derby-ing, I'd love to help. Even if it doesn't end up panning out, I don't see what the harm in trying would be...
