From: Christopher Koulouris <christopher@scallywagandvagabond.com>
Date: 1/12/10, 03:48
To: Dara King <dara@vitalityapothecary.com>, Nicole Durbin <durbinni@gmail.com>,
Titania Veda <titaniaveda@googlemail.com>, Ricardo Garcia <RGarcia@redhot-pr.com>,
Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>, Jenifer Song <jenifer.song@gmail.com>,
kelly moorhouse <kelly_moorhouse@mac.com>,
"Sarah B. Hartshorne" <sarah.hartshorne@gmail.com>, farrah sarafa <fsarafa@gmail.com>,
Caitlin Colford <caitcolf@gmail.com>, "Joe P. Said" <jsaid12@gmail.com>,
Frank Pasquine <frank.pasquine@gmail.com>
Good morning,
I am sending you all this letter as to clarify matters going forward at SCV. First of all going forward I want each of you to be aware of some new guidelines as we head into the new year.
Grammar, punctuation and good sentence structure. Please don't put me or Barrett Brown who has come on as assistant editor and strategist to spend our valuable time being your English teacher. It's not very appealing and frankly a drag and will result in a demotion of your status with SCV.
Consistency. Some of you have not been very consistent in producing editorial material or attending events. My general feeling is as the yummy events start rolling in next week (and there are many, from Fashion week, Golden Globe Awards, Sundance, to the Tribeca Film Festival and some prestigious parties like the Viennese Opera and the princess party , theater and orchestra reviews and celebrity booze parties ) you will be overlooked. Why? Because I am forced to supply most of the content and spend most of my time providing content when I should be drumming up bus/s and ad sales. This practice will stop. If I feel, save for some particular work or personal situations (that you express to me or Barrett) that your output is not consistent I will simply overlook you when it comes to dishing out choice assignments (which there are many going forward) and eventually stop inviting you to contribute to the journal.(and i do mean that!) and the paycheck u could be earning with SCV (which i intend to offer once the mag achieves sustainable ad rev)
This is nothing personal and I am aware that as of right now there is no financial benefit to you, but as long as I am forced to provide 83 percent of the content there never be any financial rewards (as I am prohibited in pursuing ad rev because the writers i bring on don't bother to communicate with me and pitch ideas and submit compelling pieces which forces me to write material instead of pursuing sales) - I will simply bring on other writers who are more inspired who can help me provide content (and conseq more free time to book ad sales) and leave you behind. You of course can correspond between myself and Barrett and offer suggestions, editorial queries and the occasional savage predator. I am simply fed up grooming writers who don't care and only come and go when they feel like it. I will now make this a two way street, I as editor and chief will also come and go as pleased, so please show some love and I will reciprocate.
That's all. If I don't receive a response from you by Thursday, I will most surely not offer you any more assignments and will refuse to accept anything you may have to offer as once again this is a business to run and not a hobby. I am not your hobby venue, this is real legit and the journal has many fans and readership, so please recognize where you are contributing and pitch in or I will find other hungry and capable writers.
Rules for savage predator. Please no more celebrity drivel. I am sick of it, Please be more compelling and thoughtful, there is so much going on in the world that is thoughtful and that inspires dialogue. I am not Perez Hilton nor do I inspire to be the bitch that he is.
Another rule- please be very current. Please do not submit any savage predator piece unless it is very media current that day, otherwise I will going forward over look it as your pieces do not produce google traffic and are a waste of real estate space on the website.
Further questions can of course be directed to me and Barrett. Going forward every writer who wishes to remain in my favor should submit 2 letters of query a week (no later than Tuesday please) to either myself or Barrett as to editorial content or figure u wish to interview or once again I will assume being a writer is not really a priority to u and that really u have no bus/s with SCV as i am not a place where u pursue your hobbies.
It may only be that u only get to write one editorial article/interview that week - but that in it self is at least showing me that u care and that I should continue to take u seriously and consider u as the juicy events come to town.
Also please read the mission statement as this is the reason why SCV has advanced as far as it has. I have linked it below:
Also as long as you are submitting content it would be healthy if you helped get the word out and help drive traffic. Each and everyone of u as writers should have a reddit, a stumbleupon , twitter , email and digg/delicious account that could so easily help increase traffic. There is nothing worse than a writer who doesn't help link articles or pursue social networking angles to push web traffic. This is after all a bus;/s after all. Any questions please once again don't hesitate to reach out to Barrett or myself.
Scallywag and Vagabond: a dissection of pop culture, a platform for the avant-garde, an offering from the arbiters of taste and probing interviews. Imagine; a fusion of editorials from the New Yorker meets the savagery of Gawker with the allure of Vanity Fair.