SERIOUSLY ALTERED PERSUASION
by Carrie Berry

There are occupational hazards to most jobs and in particular being the publisher of a literary magazine whose editorial staff lives inside her own head. As mentioned last month the editorial 'we' takes on a new meaning as the selection of the new Gazette staff has become a reality. While the road ahead is bound to get smoother as a result of these choices, I can see that my work habits will be forced to change as I get used to working with this immensely creative and intelligent group.

My personal background was primarily in the manufacturing world, not publishing, so I tend to think in the jargon of the former, even though I have been researching the world of independent publishing for several years now. Old habits are hard to break. In publishing, every job seems to carry the title of editor of one kind or another and there are many hierarchical distinctions made with assistant, associate and senior among the qualifiers. I am of the persuasion that in this kind of operation, every job is in its own way just as critical as the next. In most manufacturing operations, work is divided into sales and marketing, engineering, materials, production, test, quality assurance and distribution. No one of these areas can function effectively without the existence and cooperation of the others.

In the case of Gator Springs Gazette, the product is excellent, accessible fiction and poetry selected to appeal to a market of intelligent readers with a sense of humor and taste for something a bit different. Production requires establishment of an editorial standard, selection of appropriate material, presentation in an esthetically pleasing format, quality checks throughout the process and an appropriate means of delivering the end result to its audience.

Selection of the right people to do the job was both challenging and rewarding. Certain staff members have been advising me behind the scenes since the early days of the Gazette and it is a pleasure to finally see their names on the masthead. Others are newer to the group, but I am convinced their contributions will bring strength to the operation as a whole. Some phases of the work may appear more exciting than others, but having done all of it myself up till now, I realize that it is all hard work and all rewarding in one way or another. In preparing the masthead, I played with several ways of listing, including straight alphabetical, but finally opted for the manufacturing flow of operations: production, quality assurance, features (which may work separately from the normal production) and distribution.

The Think Tank is a board of advisors who have been meeting with me over the last year to discuss the requirements and methods of bringing this about. To summarize the points made in last month's editorial, we have defined our goals and started to draft a business plan. We have adopted a stricter level of quality in accepting submissions, changed the format of both the online and print editions, are looking for more cost effective means of distribution and addressing the needs of accessibility for readers with extraordinary challenges. Through a formal subscription plan and structured and suitable advertising, we hope to be able to pay our contributors in the 2005 publishing year.

Our goal, as always, will be to continue to find ways to make our talented contributor base look good and to provide a broad base of discerning readers the opportunity to indulge in entertaining and accessible literature.

As a team, we hope to accomplish all these things in an atmosphere of respect while continuing to have a good time. In future issues, we will add staff bios giving each person a chance to talk about their experience and what they enjoy most about the process.

© Carrie Berry 2004

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