Thought I'd repost a modified version of an email I've sent out to a couple of people, off the back of a few comments about wider strategies in the anarchist movement.
I’m looking into whether a system could be put in place specifically for radical publishing/media groups which are aiming at getting or improving a London presence, on the grounds that whatever the various groups’ differences, we could all benefit from (for example) using the same printer so our collective clout is a bit greater in getting them to print/fold/send on time and maybe getting better deals, or putting funds into a general pot for combined marketing/distro campaigns, cross-promotion work, sharing staff/expertise for certain roles to improve the quality of what’s put out etc etc.
To help work out a possible longer-term strategy for London, I’m in the process of finding out what available capacity is in terms of
- Funding
- Expertise (ie. Quark-competent designers, subs, promoters, web designers)
- Print run
- Distro capacity
And it’d be useful to have a brief run-down for that. Basically my thinking at the moment is big-tent stuff but solely in terms of practical day-to-day matters, allowing for total editorial independence on the part of all participating groups while maximising potential outreach/cost savings/labour efficiency. As it stands our ability to sell ourselves is shit and needs to improve, and I don’t see it happening as long as we only have individual groups working with minimal resources.
