After meeting with Caroline and the business circle today, we saw value in finding a way for me to check in about what topics feel relevant/important to include in the weekly newsletter. I typically draft the letter Thursday it’s ready to go out first thing Monday morning. With that in mind, I’d like to ask you to please share any topics, ideas and/or language you would like to include in the weekly newsletter, here, by EOD each Wednesday.
Does that feel doable on your end? I’m hoping we can start this week! So, please send me any relevant topics for next week’s newsletter by EOD Wednesday (tomorrow).
Hi Maria, I got word today, just after we finished talking, that a new slot opened up on the Can*Con panels and so now I have two panels. Here is the info:
Can*Con, BrookeStreet Hotel, Ottawa, Oct 16-18
19:00 Friday
Panel: Healing Trauma Through Joy
11:30 Saturday
Panel: The Violent Victim
10:00 Sunday
Book signing (Dealer’s Room)
Healing Trauma Through Joy Panel
As seen from the experience of queer joy in stories like Heated Rivalry which have resonated with audiences worldwide, we often yearn for stories that not only help us make sense of traumatic experiences and help us heal from them. What are we feeling when we see these moments depicted on screen and on the page? What does showing these moments add to these stories that painful moments alone do not? How do the joyful moments in these stories connect with us and help us with our own troubled feelings?
The Violent Victim Panel
Getting violent, bloody revenge can be a cathartic fantasy in fiction, especially for characters who have been victimized not just by their situation, but by society at large. We love it when the dog bites back — usually. When writing about violence as a response to marginalization, at what point does indulgence become oversimplified, sweet revenge become sour? What are the nuances of using violence as a tool for restitution and storytelling catharsis, while still acknowledging that some problems can’t be stabbed to death?
Congratulations, @Gennifrey_Edwards ! This is wonderful and exciting. Let’s def push this on social too, are you planning on doing so through your own channels? Should we can coordinate and put the word out on the same week? Let’s talk strategy.
Last call here for items that feel relevant for Monday’s newsletter @madrush@care_save and @ellenkdance. I’m thinking of leading with the member dialogues series…
Thanks Maria! I think sharing the video & summary of what the discussion was like from today’s community meet-up feels important to include in the Monday newsletter (although I recognize that’s quick turnaround after today’s event!)
Agree to leading with the dialogue series… or more specifically, the course & our collaborative process around it is a good story, I think.
Thanks, @care_save! I am unclear about what you mean by “video & summary of what the discussion was like from today’s community meet-up feels important to include in the Monday newsletter” Can you please provide a little more context? I worry there’s something here from the meeting I missed Friday and I’d like to fire this newsletter out before noon, if possible.
Hi @madrush, do you have a link to Friday’s community meeting on creativity that I can include with today’s newsletter? Ideally, I’d love access to the summary as well to pulls a sentence or two about takeaways and meaningful findings.
The community meet-up was recorded and is undoubtedly, a great source of content (though I haven’t watched it yet myself!).
I notice that Marco sent it to us via email entitled “Meeting assets for Community Meeting are ready!” Were you able to see the video from that email?
What we lack right this moment (quite unfortunately!) is the capacity to quickly turnaround those videos into Vimeo uploads, which then get posted on a forum: our standard SOP for things like this.
FYI @madrush is finalizing an SOP for this, and will be asking @lysaremo if she’s up for taking on Media Management as part of her 10 hours a week… if she’s not up for it, we’re bringing on an additional VA and they may be able to instead.
Sharing the video from the discussion with the community is best facilitated by Vimeo, not by Zoom link / passcode. Luckily, I was able to download the Zoom files from the email Marco sent, so here’s a quick Vimeo link you could share out – note: video may still be rendering for another few minutes… https://vimeo.com/1235119340?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci
Hi @Fileon, each week, we publish 1-3 new pieces in Metapsychosis. What if there was simply a section of the newsletter for new publications, which includes the latest from Metapsychosis along with any other member projects? In the previous incarnation of the newsletter, there was the “Metapsychosis Zone,” but that felt a little corny. But something like that.
Oh, great! I didn’t know we were publishing new pieces that often. So cool.
What is the best process for incorporating those into the newsletter? Do you have the bandwidth to flag the new pieces each week or is there a way for me to navigate to the source directly and find out? Adding this to the reoccurring newsletter offerings.
Hi @Fileon, if you go directly to metapsychosis.com you’ll see what’s newest at the top, followed by the next-newest pieces under “Features.” Individual editors can also provide you with more information about each piece they want to feature. In the past, we had a board to keep track of stories for the newsletter and requests from members. Do you want to start using that again, or something similar? I believe we may have some better options now in the Tech circle.
But I think we need some kind of overall content calendar for the organization, to know which stories are coming out or being promoted when, which communications, and so on. That way things can be better coordinated and cross-promoted when appropriate. Wdyt?
Especially, we’d like to highlight the essays by Brian and Cat, both Cosmos members. And the music brings in renown names in the Acousmatic field, Denis Dufour and Mat Ward; see (and make use of) Michael’s editorial notes for marketing copy.
In general, we need support developing marketing for whatever we publish, and ideally there is a way we can get a few weeks ahead, so there is already a plan in place when a piece goes live, and in the days leading up to it. People we reach out to, social media posts, etc.
Thank you @madrush! This is very helpful. Moving forward, I’ll check metapsychosis.com directly for what’s newest and I’ll try my best to ask the editors for what they’d like said about each piece although this seems time consuming and perhaps unreliable in terms of hearing back from folks? I will try it and report back!
In terms of the marketing effort for each piece, we can absolutely have a repeatable plan to post a teaser in the days leading up to one, a launch-day push and a follow-up afterward. We can start this week! Cat’s essay and Brian’s two-part essay are being featured in today’s newsletter with links, and I’ll plan social posts that credit them for later today and then again Wednesday. @3wordchant the scheduling tool for the newsletter is not working. I set a time/date for the letter to go out but it doesn’t until I log back into the system (a few min ago for example, even though it was scheduled to go out at 7am MT). Can you help me look into that? Same thing has happened 3 times already.
From now on, we’ll have something like a “New Work” section as a standing feature in the newsletter with the latest from Metapsychosis, plus books, music and calls for submissions from any member project. Then the social push before/after.
So, I’m drafting a simple calendar that we can post somewhere and everyone can access but i’m very open if the tech circle has a better suggestion @3wordchant. I will share what I come up with shortly here.
Thank you, @Neuroticdog. Unreliable was perhaps not the best word to use in reference to the editors as I was referring to the unreliable nature of the whole process and not to a single person. Thank you for your reply and of course I look forward to collaborating and getting to know your work better.
Here’s a link to the type of calendar I’m proposing we establish moving forward. This is a work in progress (I’m fiddling with it now and beyond) but the goal is to pin down a process and make adjustments together: Cosmos Content Calendar for marketing efforts - Google Docs
I look forward to everyone’s thoughts FYI @madrush
I’ve been reviewing some of Sky’s marketing efforts from before she left, and I’d like to suggest something a little new for next week’s newsletter. Can you please give me your OK and/or feedback by EOD Wednesday?
Share your story!
Every creative member has a story worth sharing about what you make, why you make it and who it is for. Maria Leon, our marketing, sales and publicity lead, is opening one-on-one Tell Your Story conversations. There is no form to fill out. Talk with Maria for 30 minutes about your work, and she will help you turn it into something people can find.
In your conversation, you will:
Tell the story behind your work, in your own words. With your consent, we record the call on Zoom.
Leave with one concrete next step to reach your audience such as: short video clips for your social channels and ours, a pitch you can send to partners, or a place in our author-to-author cross-promotion.
From the conversation, we can also create or revise a bio for the Cosmos About Us page and a featured piece for this newsletter (all things with your approval).
Book a Tell Your Story conversation (My calendar link)
Reminder: you can earn commission just by making connections
