Why Support?

My being ill for so long, has killed all the momentum the SPA ever had. Which is sad, because, the SPA is not supposed to be hinged on any one single person's health. To bring back the SPA, and to get it moving again, is going to take a group effort. I can't do it alone, and thankfully so far, I have not been. Gotta give a big shout out to long time SPA Member Wade Busby, who has take it upon himself to get Sunday night Chat Night going again. Turnout has been small so far, but, it is a start and it has been fun. Everyone can check out the transcripts of these chats, because Wade posts them. I encourage everyone who reads this, to make a note for yourself, to log onto the Dimestore website Sunday nights, head into the Chat - it is found on a link on the left side of any page. Remember you can log into Dimestore with a Facebook account, so it is really easy to participate. Anyone who wants to see what we have been chatting about so far, can check out:

THIS LINK

I have been working on a re-write of the SPA Charter. When I am done we are going to have a completely different membership structure than we used to have. gone are going to be the days of "casual" members. People who just log on and post and such, are not going to be considered members of the SPA. They will be Visitors. To be considered an SPA member will be a dues-paid situation, with defined benefits for being a member. From that point, being an SPA member will begin to mean something. It will mean you are supporting the efforts of the group, actively helping it grow and do things we as a group want to accomplish.

The very first, and most important, aspect of a revived SPA, is going to be to raise the funds needed to file the paperwork needed to become an official 501c3 status for the group. It looks to cost about $300...but I think it is important for the SPA to make this step from being run as a "not-for-profit" to becoming a real Non-Profit Organization...so that we can better dig in to reach the goals of a Self Publisher Hall of Fame, and run other small-press-benefiting programs...

Dimestore Productions and the SPA have had a blurry connection, mainly due to the fact that I ended up running most of everything the SPA came up with, even though it wasn't intended to be that way. With a new SPA Charter, and official status, we can bring in an official Treasurer who is not me, so that all things the SPA does can be handled much more clearly. The financial failure of Small Press Idol 2010 has more than one person permanently mad at me personally. Where reality is that I paid more out of my own pocket than the contest brought in, some people feel like there should have been profit on sales where there wasn't. What happened - should never have. But I was sick and approved spending from bed. So we spent more than came in. don't know what else I can say about it. People still got their books, most of which at 50% cover so if sold correctly, they made $$ on them where I did not. Anyway, the point is, the SPA needs to stand more solidly on its own, run by more people than just me, if we ever want to see Small Press Idol return.

Why Support? Well...that's something only each individual publisher or creator can answer. My answer is simple: Because the SPA is important. The SPA has done a LOT to help creators through the years, and it can do so much more. It will take a group to build this group. I know we have some strong supporters, and on that is why I will continue to try. So watch in the coming weeks to the new Charter, and some Hall of Fame things, and we'll keep at it and see where we can make this grow. I am thinking we will move a LOT of the SPA stuff to the Self Publisher Magazine website. Taking it out of the Dimestore website, will hopefully start to clarify that the group is not part of Dimestore. I have just been dumping every penny I can into keeping the SPA alive, for over a decade...I guess from here on out, if others wont help, the SPA will fall. We'll see.

Dimestore strongly advocates - know who you work with!

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