We're an open book 😉

Who is 'we'?

I mean, it's an abstract 'we'. I (the person writing this and most of the static content on the site) am Zoe. I love doing weird publishing stuff. This publication and its publisher, Radish Press, are my projects, but the point is to make them things that are cool and interesting to people who are doing cool and interesting things. That's really where my love of publishing started - I am so interested in what other people are doing, all the time! I see publishing as a form of facilitation (a position shared by other weird publishing people I know and admire) that helps people share their cool, interesting things with the people who will appreciate them. I'm often the voice behind the OTL 'we', but I hope that's less and less the case over time. For now, though, (in the interests of transparency!) I have written the following from the first person perspective as I get everything up and running.

Outside The Lines is published by Radish Press, a corporation registered in Canada, which is wholly owned and operated by me, its founder, Zoe Wake Hyde. It is not a non-profit or charity, meaning there aren't any legal restrictions on how any profit generated can be used, and there is no governing board. I chose this structure very simply because it was significantly easier to get up and running solo, and because for the foreseeable future, I won't be generating enough revenue to have to figure out how to spend it (there is far more risk of me underpaying myself than making off with extravagant bonuses). I have seen great projects get bogged down in the heavy overhead of running a more complicated organisational structure, and I want to avoid that until there is a clear, compelling reason to (e.g. to receive funding, because there is enough revenue to require oversight etc.). If/when the time comes, I will change and adapt. That might mean converting to a non-profit, creating a separate non-profit that is in part funded by the corporation, or spinning OTL off as a cooperative association.

I know I am asking for an amount of trust in choosing this path, and I hope I have earned it from the people who have known me over my years of working on similar open projects.

What's the financial situation?

Radish Press covers some standard administrative costs like banking, accounting and workspace software. I maintain a public summary of income and expenses relating to specific OTL activities and aspire to update it monthly. Monthly costs include hosting and various SaaSes. Annual or one off purchases can look like annual membership fees (e.g. CrossRef), buying design assets, or consultant fees. (Note: The summary is in US dollars, so includes some rough exchange rates as the Press based in Canada.)

Realistically, however, labour is the biggest cost we have, and it is difficult to account for when its unpaid. My weekly hours before launch ranged from 2 to 20. Getting all the tech set up has been at least another 20 hours, all volunteered from a kind soul who I roped into being my tech person (thanks Erik!!). In addition to compensating admins, editors and contributors, we'd really to be able to cover things like communications strategy support, and eventually an intern or two.

We also want to create merch, release print editions, maybe host or attend community events... All things that help build the publication's profile, meaning greater reach and impact for our contributors. As we get further along in these plans, we'll keep you posted.

What if someone attacks or threatens the team and/or contributor(s)?

I'll be honest, this scares me a bit. There is always an amount of risk in existing online, and that risk is not evenly distributed, with greater harm being done to women, people of colour, queer and gender non-conforming people, disabled people and other marginalised communities. Online harassment is not something I have much experience with, and while my instinct is to be fiercely protective, I don't have much practical knowledge to back that up. So I'm looking to people who do. The Open Notebook, an organisation supporting journalists reporting on science, is one, who have documented how publications can support writers facing harassment. Article 19 is another, who champion a feminist approach to the safety of journalists. I'm learning more, and figuring out what a proactive strategy looks like for a publication like OTL in these early days. I hope that if/when the need arises, we will also be able to count on our community for support.

What happens if it all falls down?

Every project has its end. Nothing lasts forever. Death comes for us all. Wait, too dark. Look, I think it's healthy for a project to evolve and change, achieve its goals and eventually ride off into the sunset, but many (most?) projects don't make it to that graceful end.

OTL will last as long as there is time and energy enough to make it operate in a way that offers enough value to its editors, contributors and readers. If any one of those aspects lags (time, energy, value), it could go the way of countless other sites before it. What I can promise is: if the time comes for things to end, and I am still involved (you can never entirely avoid the risk of mutiny), I will do my best to ensure that it lives on in some discoverable form, and that the integrity of DOIs issued is maintained. That might look like freezing the site, migrating the content to an open repository, or creating some other kind of archival version. There may be costs associated with this kind of preservation, which I will either cover with any remaining OTL or Radish Press funds, or fundraise for. Should the end come and there is still money in the coffers, I will either distribute it among contributors, or make a donation to a charity whose purpose aligns with ours.

Want to know anything else?

If you have other questions, please reach out to me via email or the Discord server. I can't promise to always have satisfying answers for you, when I have them at all, but I'm committed to showing up and practicing the transparency I advocate for. While part of me wants to preempt every possible thing you could want to know, I couldn't even if I tried. As I get older, wiser and somehow even more tired, I'm more and more comfortable with imperfection, murkiness, nuance, figuring things out as we go, changing our minds and our ways, and disagreement. We will disagree sometimes. I will make calls that not everyone would make. But, no matter what, I am always trying to do my best for the people and issues I care about. I hope that will be enough.