Post by PeterB on Nov 17, 2005 0:40:09 GMT -4
Here’s one for the real conspiracy buffs.
I was one of the founding members of a writing group, the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild, back in 1999. Since then, we’ve produced six anthologies of short stories, and we’ve gained a good reputation in Australia, and even gained a bit of notice overseas. (You can check out our web-site at http://www.csfg.org.au.) As it happens, it’s where I met my wife. :-)
Over this time, the group has never organised formally into a legal entity. Instead, we’ve done everything as a collective, consulting via an email list and monthly meetings of some members.
But lately we’ve got to the point that while we’re good at writing and producing books, we’re not so good at the marketing side of things. For example, we’d give books to shops to sell on consignment, then forget who we’d given the books to.
Every so often we’d talk about incorporating, but the effort always seem to much to be bothered about, and things went nowhere.
Then the New Guy joined us. He was Young, he had Ideas, and he knew he was Just What We Needed.
Among his brilliant ideas:
- Print business cards so we could have a professional look. Because glossy colour book marks featuring the covers of our earlier books that we’ve used until now look so amateurish.
- Arrange for several people from the CSFG to visit a bookshop over successive days, with each trying to convince the manager to stock our books. Because if she said no to the first two people, she’ll obviously say yes to the third.
- Arrange for sky writers to write “Down with Western Civilisation” at our book launches. Because it’s so relevant to our books and very cheap.
- Invite students from the local university to a private end of year barbecue. Because despite the fact that it’s private, we could experience “…their guitars and their 'hacky-sacks' and their liberal views on sexuality.”
Yes, he actually said that last bit on our email list. Apparently, to him, people in their 30s don’t have, and never had, liberal views on sexuality…
*sigh*
Anyway, two meetings ago we again raised the idea of incorporation. At our last meeting, last night, we got to the point of agreeing to get people to nominate for committee positions, and by our next meeting, we’re likely to have an operating, albeit interim, committee. All of this has been inspired by a desire to ensure that New Guy doesn’t get a say in running the CSFG.
I find it hard to believe that anyone or anything could have done a better job of getting us to organise ourselves. And as I said to my wife on the way home from the meeting, if I was a conspiracy theorist, I’d have believed that was his intention.
I was one of the founding members of a writing group, the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild, back in 1999. Since then, we’ve produced six anthologies of short stories, and we’ve gained a good reputation in Australia, and even gained a bit of notice overseas. (You can check out our web-site at http://www.csfg.org.au.) As it happens, it’s where I met my wife. :-)
Over this time, the group has never organised formally into a legal entity. Instead, we’ve done everything as a collective, consulting via an email list and monthly meetings of some members.
But lately we’ve got to the point that while we’re good at writing and producing books, we’re not so good at the marketing side of things. For example, we’d give books to shops to sell on consignment, then forget who we’d given the books to.
Every so often we’d talk about incorporating, but the effort always seem to much to be bothered about, and things went nowhere.
Then the New Guy joined us. He was Young, he had Ideas, and he knew he was Just What We Needed.
Among his brilliant ideas:
- Print business cards so we could have a professional look. Because glossy colour book marks featuring the covers of our earlier books that we’ve used until now look so amateurish.
- Arrange for several people from the CSFG to visit a bookshop over successive days, with each trying to convince the manager to stock our books. Because if she said no to the first two people, she’ll obviously say yes to the third.
- Arrange for sky writers to write “Down with Western Civilisation” at our book launches. Because it’s so relevant to our books and very cheap.
- Invite students from the local university to a private end of year barbecue. Because despite the fact that it’s private, we could experience “…their guitars and their 'hacky-sacks' and their liberal views on sexuality.”
Yes, he actually said that last bit on our email list. Apparently, to him, people in their 30s don’t have, and never had, liberal views on sexuality…
*sigh*
Anyway, two meetings ago we again raised the idea of incorporation. At our last meeting, last night, we got to the point of agreeing to get people to nominate for committee positions, and by our next meeting, we’re likely to have an operating, albeit interim, committee. All of this has been inspired by a desire to ensure that New Guy doesn’t get a say in running the CSFG.
I find it hard to believe that anyone or anything could have done a better job of getting us to organise ourselves. And as I said to my wife on the way home from the meeting, if I was a conspiracy theorist, I’d have believed that was his intention.