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Re: [GWL]: Mantis??

Nellie Neal wrote:
> 
> OK, now you're onto my topic du jour. Is anyone on this list a writer for
> nationalgardening.com besides moi? The shutdowns, selloffs, and bankruptcies
> do make me question one particular thing: everybody who's laid off seems to
> be going freelance, which makes for a crowded pool with very little bait.
> I've been party to closures of magazines, websites, and almanacs in biz for
> years. Not that I'm the Jessica Fletcher of publications, but I just work
> for a living. Who're we all going to write for? I've set up my own website,
> just to be sure I can write what I want, and maybe someday it'll pay.
> 

Nellie,

Gardening They Wrote - has a certain political correctness to your
Jessica Fletcher of publications concept.

The website concept has merit, but why not expand its scope?

The time seems to be right, even necessary, for writer/communicators to
pool their resources and launch a pay for fee website to provide
gardening/horticultural information to the general public.

The key is to provide an annual membership fee that is affordable - $12
annual fee would seem to be reasonable. A trial membership could be
launched at $6 for a 3 month period. Automatic credit card processing
would reduce staff to process the traffic and eliminate any lag between
making a decision to participate and being able to participate.

The more writers involved, the more subjects that could be part of the
database.

I would suggest a concept that would be similar to the ZifDavis computer
newsletter. 
An email message is sent to its subscriber list. It is available in text
or html format with links to specific articles posted on their site.

A weekly mailing would be the initial goal and increasing the frequency
would be possible if more writers signed on board.

Writers would receive shares of participation for each story accepted.
Of course an editorial board and various editors, layout people,
photographers, illustrators, and htlm code writers would be necessary to
make the project fly.

I would suggest equipment and horticultural supplies be evaluated like
the consumer reports testing. No advertising would force all of the
revenues to be from membership, by it would reduce downloading costs for
members to access the information.

In my opinion, to be successful in providing information via the
internet does not mean producing a magazine format complete with ads.

Hosting a question and answer section could be part of the concept.

Seed and plant exchanges might be considered as this seems to be a vital
part of several plant societies and accomplishing this on the
internet/email is especially important when acquiring perishable seed
with limited viability.

There would be lots of opportunities for people to express their
opinions in electronic editorials and for two sides of questions to
engage in debate.

Just a thought that we might consider.

Claude Sweet

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