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JONATHON!!

edited August 2018 in Writing
Hello Jonathon. What are the chances of having each month's OWC winning entries printed in WM?

It would be good for TB and for the magazine, I would have thought, and they wouldn't take up much space. I know they might appear two months after the event, but if they appeared every month that wouldn't matter.

We'd get more people entering OWC if there was a chance of publication, and the pieces in WM might garner more readers plus steer a few towards TB.

Comments

  • I think this has been mooted before, Lizy.
  • Yes, it has...

    Shame, as I do think more would enter if there was promise of wider publication.
  • Yes. Why is this not so?
  • Maybe it has been said before, but I don't remember what the reasons were, or if they're still valid.
  • No, I can't remember what the reasons were.
    Quality control perhaps? But then couldn't WM have the option not to publish that month's story or poem if they didn't think it good enough?
    No space in the mag? I'd have thought it would be possible to squeeze a tiny story and poem into one of their pages.
    Adding value to the mag? Personally the more content in the way of stories and poems would be a plus for me and it would generate more interest/members to Talkback. We have shrunk to the point that this forum is possibly off-putting to newcomers as a lot of these threads portray a community of close friends. (Which is nice for us, but hard for a newbie to have the confidence/desire to infiltrate.)

    I wonder if he's on holiday? Seems odd that he hasn't replied.
  • I remember it being mentioned as a possibility, but can't recall whether WM said no, or if it was decided not to ask.
  • Crossed posts, Claudia.

    Maybe something could be emailed in each month, just as some writing groups sometimes send in their news, and it be included whenever space allows?
  • Sounds a good idea, PM.

    Perhaps there should be a sticky 'welcome' thread saying we are a small group atm but very friendly and welcome all (except spammers!) and hold a wealth of knowledge if anyone wants to ask a question. 'Newbies treated with care'. Or something.
  • I suspect Jonathan has to work on a number of magazines. He usually puts in an appearance at Swanick, I think, and other writing events.
  • You mean he's not just ours?
  • You probably need to flag this up so there's an alert.
  • Hello! Sorry for delay. I didn't actually see the flag, just popped in.
    I don't work on other mags, but time is less heavy on all of our hands than it used to be, for various reasons.

    To address these points in a probably not entirely logical order, I'd love to make Talkback more inviting to everyone. I'm with you that TB could appear not quite intimidating, but maybe a little closed to newbies, so let's collectively figure out how to fix that! Liz's idea of a sticky welcome thread is a good one, and I like the idea of brief updates into the magazine (but maybe not every month).

    I'll have to give the OWC idea more consideration. I'm sure you've realised we've removed the judging comments from mag comps to give the stories more breathing room, and space is tighter than ever.

    We've been discussing more changes recently too, but I need to get more things in place first.

    And finally, yes, I am at Swanwick on Monday and Tuesday this year. Will I see anyone there? After Swanwick, I'm away for the rest of the week, so having chipped in here for this, I might not be that responsive next week but will be plotting and figuring things out.
  • Have fun next week...

    Glad we don't have to share you with other mags. :D

    Some newbies seem to come here with a specific query and once they have an answer don't come back.

    Do you know how many hits Talkback gets versus log-ins?

  • If you click on Activity you can see how many accounts are created.
  • An awful lot seems to be the answer. Shall we create a thread for suggestions as to how to word our welcome to newbies and Webbo can look and comment when he has time?
  • edited August 2018
    Thanks for taking us seriously, Webbo.

    *goes off to think of something welcoming and intelligent to say*
  • TBH, I think there's always going to be a problem attracting and keeping new members. This forum is unusual in that its content is created by the members. I belong to other groups created by magazines and they, the magazine, run them. Anyone finding TB via the magazine might be looking for a more structured forum for writers. This has never been that.
  • It's still support though. Perhaps we could list the things we get from it? One thing that links every part of our lives for ourselves and every one of us to each other is our love of writing, whatever the genre, and our fight to write as well as we can and communicate our ideas/stories/poems to others.
  • We could. However, this is more a group of writers who chat than anything else. I doubt new members would see the writing message in most of the threads.
  • We've had the occasional newbie who's stayed awhile, but then they vanish again. One or two have been - how shall I put it? - even odder than us.
  • Perhaps that's our selling point? Oddness? We'd have to up our game but I think most of us are able to make that reach.
  • I'm more than happy to help anyone who wants to write in my genre. I think we all are, too, Baggy.
  • Yes, but that isn't obvious to a visitor.
  • So we let them know by the medium of words in the welcome. Perhaps mention the genres in which there is knowledge available. I wouldn't say help as it implies more than perhaps anyone has time to give.
  • These exchanges are interesting to read. I'm going to have a think about them and try to come up with something to put on Liz's thread asking for ideas on a Welcome thread.
  • Me too, Claudia, and I'm fresh out of mind power right now! My energies are channelled into painting walls :)
  • My energies are on potting that pink ball.
  • Lizy said:
    We've had the occasional newbie who's stayed awhile, but then they vanish again. One or two have been - how shall I put it? - even odder than us.


    Hello *waves*
  • Think I need to log out now. Oddly, I am feeling odder than ever at the moment.

    Bye *waves*
  • Hello and goodnight, dora x
  • One of the issues might be that I can only access this site via my laptop. My smartphone (not sure why they call it that it's downright stupid a lot of the time) doesn't work, nor does my iPad (well my daughters iPad really.) That might just be me though...
  • Someone (CC?) mentioned that choosing 'desk top view' from the three little dots top right of the phone screen might fix this problem. It did for me and some others.
  • It did it for me for one viewing and then went bonkers half way though again.
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