The Fortress - Basic Goals And Decisions

[Maurice Ali]

Posted: 08 Feb 2004 12:07 pm


Ok, now that the initial euphoria of producing our first newspaper has past.....it is time to take a hard look at what we want to do:


1. What is our target market? That one is fairly easy; it is ourselves and the university crowd. Much of this first issue is for the self-gratification of all participants, nothing wrong here. It is this issue where we can have some fun and make mistakes that will not be too hazardous. However, we will learn form these errors and get better the next time. The university crowd is the obvious target audience as that group is most sensitive to our message and most accommodating to the problems of low budget underground newspapers.

Bottom line is that we will keep some of the papers and distribute the rest mostly at universities and colleges (but this would not be a hard and fast rule).


2. The competition? Every learning institution has their own newspapers; but these papers concentrate on campus news and the like and we are much more global so I don't see any real conflict there.


3. Manpower. I will ask help and suggestions from anyone who wishes to help. I do not know it all (obviously) and if you think you can help.....make yourself known!!!!!


4. Concerning the next issue. I plan more issues but we should not get ahead of ourselves. So there will be no "to be continued" articles in this issue. One thing at a time.


5. Sponsorship help. One reason I avoid cash from outside is that they will always try to influence you with their money (though not all). Sooner or later if we keep this up we will have to include some kind of backing, and hopefully the right kind; but for now we do not have to deal with this problem.


That should help you see things as I see them. Chime in with any thoughts or challenge my views.....I don't mind.

[pops_fire]

Posted: 09 Feb 2004


Count me in....we can discuss in detail when we meet but in the meantime feel free to toss me ideas and what you need help with immediately.

[Maurice Ali]

Posted: 10 Feb 2004

Count me in....we can discuss in detail when we meet but in the meantime feel free to toss me ideas and what you need help with immediately.

First thing is a Rule:

All jobs employed by FOF/IAIJ will have at least three quotes from different companies with previous contractors (of satisfying work) being the last to quote.

With that in mind I will have to see how much space we have with the budget we will have and if we can include art in color on one sheet. Presently these are open-ended questions I will have to consolidate by the end of the week. We could meet during the weekend, and if possible I will e-mail you for location and time toward the end of this week. Thanks for offering your help.




Maurice Ali

[Maurice Ali]

Posted: 10 Feb 2004


More thoughts.....

I placed a general time limit of late March as the time to go to press.

I have secured funds for the project based on a formula that gave us a figure we should not exceed - these funds are now available and the budget should not exceed this. However, I will complete this first newspaper no matter what.

I am looking at regular pages, four columns, with approximately 2,600 words a page in standard sized script. We will see later on today what amount of material is already taken by our own exclusive reports and what we have left for other submissions and art.

That is about it for now.....more information later.....

[Maurice Ali]

Posted: 10 Feb 2004


I picked one thousand as the quantity we would start off with the first issue.

I have been counting the number of words in our reports, and they average about five hundred words a story. I would say that we have about four full pages of good stories and poetry. We should have one sheet for color art and front page graphics and introduction.

On the tabloid paper I used as an example, three sheets equal six sides and converts to 12 pages. So if we take the one sheet as graphics (the cover and back sheet), that will leave us with eight pages for text (about twenty one thousand words of contributed writing). However, if the solicited contributions are small; then we can simply go with the two sheets (not too crazy about a thin first paper) or lager text and photos/art to fill it up. There are many combinations here....food for thought.....

[Maurice Ali]

Posted: 10 Feb 2004


To avoid confusion running two similar threads about the newspaper, I will post some of the other thread below and lock it.....and we will just continue in this one thread:


Now that everyone has had a chance to see the discussion and comment.....the decision has been made and the paper will be called: The Fortress. It will probably be a banner at the top of the page with a wide black stripe below and above the name like this:



**************
THE FORTRESS
**************

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How are you going to pay for all this. I guess there will not be any advertising?

Out of my own pocket as there will be no advertising.

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Why will there not be any advertising ? and will you be asking for donations ?

No donations. The first one will be my treat and I will ask for submissions from a broad spectrum to keep the paper "light hearted". The idea is to learn how to put out a newspaper and produce it. I will make at least 1,000 copies (more if more interest) on regular newsprint. This number will force us to think about distribution and page layout, etc. - a real adventure!

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How big will the newspaper be ? how many pages ? and will you use any of the reports from the FOF Exclusive Reports ?

We probably will use our written reports. All submissions will be produced and copyrighted by Fortress Of Freedom Inc. and all submissions will be legally protected by me once it passes my approving eye. I am probably looking at 12 to 24 pages depending on the amount of material. The thing here is to get the paper out there.

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Besides text we should have art work in there somewhere to brighten up the paper...doesn't have to be colour--or even a lot of art--just something to compliment the words

I also agree, and it is definately something I will look into for the cover/outside sheet.

[pops_fire]

Posted: 10 Feb 2004


Due to prior commitments, including my bloody valentine, Sunday is the only free day this weekend....as far as printing is concerned, I believe you've done some work with my friend Dan from Fraser Graphics, I can check around for other quotes....

[Maurice Ali]

Posted: 11 Feb 2004

Due to prior commitments, including my bloody valentine, Sunday is the only free day this weekend....as far as printing is concerned, I believe you've done some work with my friend Dan from Fraser Graphics, I can check around for other quotes....

Sunday is fine, and I will confirm, and exact time and location a bit later in the week.

Dan and Fraser Graphics have done most, but not all, of the work to date and they have done an exemplary job. This is why I came up with the rule; we still need to shop the job around, but I have no qualms leaving Dan and Fraser till the last to quote on the job as all things being equal.....I would rather do business with a company that has a proven track record..... Regardless of the outcome of the newspaper, Dan is still going to get more work from me as I have been dragging my heals on other stationary (I guess it is a sign of success that I need business cards for the companies because I keep meeting people that ask for them.....but only have the generic "Fortress Of Freedom" Cards.....In the other "failed" businesses, I made up the cards first, only to have absolutely no cause to hand them out.....).

One other thing about the websites. Our organization took a giant leap forward last weekend when I made the changes to this message board. In a sense, what was originally the whole point of this activity (the websites); has now become just a part of something larger. You will find that we are now concentrating on the newspaper and soon the commercials and a possible TV program will also start up. The IAIJ business is set up and can almost run itself now (with just a little more tweaking). I am very pleased that the original planning and vision that lead to the set up of these companies, has now allowed the fullest expression of my original cause, and the unfettered possible growth of our media interests without compromising each other. This is one of the things that is now giving me the greatest satisfaction. At any rate, expect activity of this message board to be slow as the early prattling about incorporation was necessary but a drag on popularity; and the newspaper will be a further "drag" on popularity. However, the paper will be one of the biggest events to consolidate FOF Inc. as a real business interest. Real businesses must produce something; IAIJ produces the press cards, and FOF will produce the newspaper.

Remember that every time we change, we disassociate ourselves from others that were attracted to us originally; and we are making changes at a very rapid pace. Now is the time to make these changes so when we build on the final foundation, we will build on the personnel organization that will be with us on a more permanent basis. That is enough for now.....rant over folks.....

[Guest]

Posted: 11 Feb 2004


I'm getting confused.
Locked topics, moved topics, I don't know whether I'm coming or going any more.

[Maurice Ali]

Posted: 11 Feb 2004

I'm getting confused.
Locked topics, moved topics, I don't know whether I'm coming or going any more.

Actually that was the whole point. From now on, we try to keep everything on this one thread and in sequential order to avoid confusion. The posts from the parallel thread are posted above.