Pitches wanted (digital commons) | $600-$1,100 per contributor

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: COMPOST

Deadline: 8 December 2020

COMPOST is a magazine about the digital commons. But we also see it as a process to metabolize and renew our relationships with the Web, to imagine and build interdependent, equitable, and solidarity-based systems of communication and knowledge sharing.

This is a project of the Distributed Press, made possible by our partners and supporters.

ISSUE 01: FERTILE GROUNDS

Deadline: 08 DEC 2020

The theme of the first issue is fertile grounds. As large swathes of the Web decay, we want to explore how its remains can help new networks flourish. In this issue, we invite you to help us take stock of where we are today. What are the raw materials we can work with? What tools can we employ? What worlds can we shape together?

We are looking for works that are approachable, intimate, and grounded in experience. We encourage contributors to examine the Web from a place of abundance, to reflect on the projects, communities, technologies, protocols, and networks that enable authentic and trustful connections. Even as much of existing digital infrastructure fails to embolden truth or bring people together, we want to recognize the parts that give us hope.

This magazine is a pilot of Distributed Press, a larger project to build digital publishing infrastructure that is managed collectively and horizontally. In our endeavors, participatory governance will create the feedback loops that help us respond to the evolving needs of our authors and readers. Collective ownership will help us share costs and risks while achieving success together.

CONTRIBUTING TO COMPOST

We invite writers, artists, technologists, and organizers to submit creative pitches for the first issue. You will help us launch COMPOST through your creative contributions and participation in developing a values-based publishing model.

CREATIVE WORKS

Send us your pitches responding to the theme fertile grounds by December 8th 2020. See our submission template below. Your final work could be:

• Short-form written pieces (~2000 words of fiction/non-fiction, personal essays, profiles, interviews, poems etc.)
• Visual art, illustrations, gifs, comics, or infographics
• Interactive digital pieces, javascript games, anything that can be embedded in a static HTML webpage

We will be publishing works with the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike International 4.0 license (CC BY-SA 4.0) by default. On a case by case basis, we would support authors who want to experiment with other types of licensing.

PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT

As a contributor to COMPOST, you will also participate in strategic decision making and share in the financial success of our magazine. In addition to the time you devote to creating your piece, we ask you to commit another (roughly) six hours to COMPOST before we launch. We will compensate you for this time. You will join us during scheduled conversations to help us:

• Lay the foundations for COMPOST to become a co-operative enterprise, so that it is democratically owned and controlled by its contributing members;
• Conceptualize and validate new revenue streams using web monetization, Open Collective, and Gitcoin through tips, donations, subscriptions, crowdfunds, or selling premium works and experiences;
• Create a supportive creative environment, encouraging constructive peer feedback and discussions about our magazine’s content and digital implementation;
• Imagine equitable web futures. COMPOST will be published to multiple DWeb and Web endpoints, allowing us to use the distinct features of protocols such as Hypercore, IPFS, SSB, among others. What new interactions, communities, and experiences can we cultivate?

PAYMENT FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS

For each contributor, we have budgeted:

• USD $300 flat fee for participation in development of this project; and an additional
• USD $300 ~ $800 for creative work, to allow for a range of pieces.

Once the magazine is launched, you could also receive additional payments (e.g. through tips, donations, etc.), depending on our joint decisions around revenues.

Refer here for the timeline and the submission template.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

• Questions / submissions: hello@compost.digital
• Website: https://compost.digital

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: COMPOST is a magazine about our digital commons that provides fertile ground for creative experimentation, cultivates communities that value participation, and celebrates the labor of regeneration and care. We post experiments, reflections, and art about building the web as a shared resource. More information here.
• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database and at SuccessfulPitches.com.