For writers hot on breaking into the magazine world, it looks like a dream come true: Write a piece for the magazine you choose, upload it and wait for the royalty checks to come it. No tedious pitch letters or awkward rejections, just load it up to the website and you’re published.
The only glitch in the plan is that people have to want to buy that magazine. And from what we see so far, call us skeptical at best that this will happen.
SamEnrico.com is in beta testing on a new crowd-sourced magazine publishing concept that at first glance seems like a great way for writers to gain exposure and get some print credits under their belt. And we bet the company will have no dearth of writers jumping on board.
In one promotional email, the company said it looks to become the YouTube for writers, allowing just about anybody and everybody to become a published writer.
From the email: “Journalists, writers and authors can choose between different publications to place their content or articles within and earn a royalty payment whenever the publication in question containing their material is sold.
Sam Enrico Williams, the founder of the start-up, was quoted as saying: “with declining print sales, writers and journalists find it difficult to get paid well for their work and decent exposure within their field of expertise. SamEnrico offers an excellent solution that provides writers and journalists with a revenue stream, allowing them to get on with what they love doing most and contribute to publications that focus on their chosen subjects.”
All that sounds great, until you begin to think about what this finished product might look like. A magazine is (ideally, anyway) a carefully crafted amalgamation of content and images, put together like a jigsaw puzzle. Overarching themes, well-defined editorial guidelines and a strong voice that resonates with the readership are keys to its cohesion.
We just don’t see any of that being able to happen here. What envision something more along the lines of the break room; full of random and unrelated bits of ideas that reflect the writer’s opinion with little guidance. We can get that on Facebook, thanks.
Still, any start-up deserves a chance. We’ll keep an eye on this one and see how they do. Maybe they’ll surprise us.
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