(The photo is the same as last year - that way it hides my aging!)

Website
The website has been acclaimed by all members. I hope that the mention in the Writers News creates a lot of "hits". It will certainly have prepared the ground for the advertising.

Book:

Cost of publishing

The cheapest quote that I've had is £435 for 100 copies, but that's just printing. Promotion and distribution we'd have to see to ourselves. That quote is based on 160 pages of A5, and it appears that it will be just over 170, so the cost is likely to be nearer £450.

I have had a quote from Antony Rowe of a very similar price, but they also offer a publishing service for £150. But they choose whether to accept the manuscript or not, and if they did, we'd get about 10-20% of the cost price. From their literature, I reckon that the selling price to the public would be in the region of £8 to £10, and we'd probably get, at most, about £1 a copy in royalty. I don't think there'd be much in the way of sales at that price, and I think it's really a non-starter.

Publishing means making the book available to all, but we can name a reasonable price, and to be quite honest, I think that asking £3 a copy for distribution by post would be appropriate. People are going to buy this out of pure interest only, and in the wider world, there aren't that many who are interested in how writers circle has operated on the internet. There are some 400 writers groups in the UK, and probably many more in English speaking countries. Some of these will be interested in picking up new ideas from such a book, and there will be a few who might even think of starting up their own groups. So I am looking to sell around 100 copies or so.

Using the estimate of £450 for 100 copies, if we print 150, the cost should be around £650. We might use up say 30 copies for ourselves and promotional distribution, so that there are 120 left to sell.

If we offer it at, say, £3 per copy (to include postage) we will make some £2 on each copy for future funding - up to around £240 total. Problems could arise if we get a sudden influx of orders - but that could be an advertising gimmick.

First 100 copies at £3 per copy, later orders at £6.

If we do make a surplus, then it can go towards another venture.

Method of Ordering and Distribution

Probably the best method of distribution - if we are looking at a volume of 100 copies or so - is by simple ordering by post. Whilst it would be nice (and even appropriate) to set up an email ordering system, I don't think it's a practical solution for that volume. I can do that from my house - but anyone else can do it if they feel so inclined!

Advertising and Promotion

The website will certainly have prepared the ground for more conventional advertising, although I hope that it will contain all the necessary information for people to order directly.

We owe it to Writers News to advertise in their pages, and I hope it may qualify for a short review. I have also considered joining NAWG (National Association of Writers Groups) for a year, to get some promotion there (it'll cost £30 for a year).

Book Title and Cover

I've had some responses about the title and cover, but those I've had have been polite although I've had some suggestions about minor changes in the wording of the title. I'll keep you informed of progress. At the moment, I'm veering towards:

Shelf Life

All books now have a shelf life, and I suggest that we consider that a shelf life of 6 months is appropriate after the first advert appears. After that, I don't think we should be particularly interested in selling, although we can always get rid of any surplus copies. Perhaps it could then be made available through the internet.

Book Contents as at 20 December 2005 (order changed slightly from before)

Section (author)	Pages	Words
Foreword (Olaf)	1	250
Contents list	1	n/a
Introduction (Olaf)	1	300
The Initial Concept (Olaf)	3	900
The Realisation (Olaf)	3	1,150
Membership (Olaf)	1	300
A Short Story Critique (Olaf)	1	400
First discussion - Short Lists (Zena, Margie)*	2	700
Challenges 1-3	3	1,150
Second discussion - What's in a name? (John, Sue-J)*	2	700
Fringe Developments (Olaf)	2	600
Group Story, Phase 1 (characters and village features)	2	600
Challenges 4-6	6	1,500
Article on Dialects (Chris, David and Christine)	3	1,100
Group Story, Phase 2 (forming the overall plot)	6	2,600
Third discussion - Novel openings(Sally, Olaf)	2	750
Longitudinal Study	21	7,800
The Learning Curve (Dawn)	2	600
Regular Challenges 7-9	5	1,650
Writers Log (Margaret)	3	750
Regular Challenge 10	3	900
Group Story, Phase 3 (fitting members contributions)	2	700
Article - Now we are thirteen (Laura, Geoff and Di)	3	950
Review of the Experiment against its aims (Olaf)	4	1,550
What have we let ourselves in for? (Ann, Catherine, Clare)*	2	700
Final Group Story	86	32,000

(Note: * denotes contribution awaited)

165 estimated total pages - and just over 60,000 total words.

Each Section will start on a different page and there will be one or two blank sides and title page at the beginning, so the total page count is likely to be about 172.

Everyone will be mentioned by name at least once in the Challenge answer, and will have contributed by name to an article. The Longitudinal Exercise and the Group Story will bear no names as they are total group efforts.

Organising Challenges
Christine has offered to deal with Challenge 6, and I'm earmarking Ann to deal with Challenge 8, and I have had an offer from Catherine who, I hope, will deal with Challenge 7 (which will be set on January 12th)?. Any other volunteers would be appreciated.

Regular challenge:
Challenge 4: Laura is now collecting the assessments for Challenge 4, so you will shortly get the comments on the entries, and the top classifications.

Challenge 5: I am currently collecting your diary entries for Challenge 5. You will get the entries sent to you shortly after Christmas - I will do so before, if I can, but it will be labelled in the subject box as ALPHA DAY 6 ch.

See the Challenges page for details of this month's regular challenge, and for details of the Christmas Challenge for this year!

Longitudinal experiment:
Click here for details.

Group Creative Writing:
Click here for details.

Discussion:
No discussion topic this time as I'm sure you'll all be busy - but if you've spare time, you can always spend it on the Christmas Challenge.

My very best wishes to you all for Christmas and the New Year celebrations - and I attach your Christmas Card - a photo of a little bit of Snowdrop Valley on Exmoor (Lorna Doone country).

- Olaf