Mute goes beta with print on demand and new distribution!

Mute magazine, the media arts and technoculture magazine, announces the beta launch of its new Open Publishing web site and services http://metamute.org/

The site is an example of participatory publishing and a networked economic model.

Mute has a number of interesting new services, including print on demand and Networked Distribution, developed on top of the Open Source web tools Drupal CMS and CiviCRM (constituent relationship management). CiviCRM is an NGO software package that originated with the US Democratic presidential nomination campaign of Howard Dean in 2004.

The Mute site has been designed to address the difficulties facing a small publishing cultural group, the most persistent of which remain reaching your audience and covering your production costs.

Mute uses print on demand (POD) and Networked Distribution Services (NDS) as its way to tackle these economic issues. POD is a high quality, low cost form of digital book printing, through which one or 1000s of copies can be printed. For Mute, the Networked Distribution Service is the crucial ‘other half’ of the publishing equation; in conjunction with a network of self-selecting agents, the NGO web campaigning tool CiviCRM will be used to manage all aspects of distribution (including orders, deliveries and payments) over the net.

Both services are in beta and as Open Source are available for others to make use of. NDS is also open to other publications requiring distribution.

See Mute’s site announcement http://www.metamute.org/en/Welcome

PODs
PODs help Mute continue as a print publication by eradicating the set up costs associated with traditional printing methods. By allowing you to print precisely the number of publications you need at any given time, PODs allow publishers to spread out their expenditure on printing. You can subdivide your total outlay on a print run into however many parts you need to, meaning the way you spend money is more in keeping with how you receive it (in dribs and drabs!). The publications also get printed in different locations around the world, significantly reducing shipping costs.

Networked Distribution Services/NDS, Agents network
To reach your audience you need good distribution. Having had a mixed experience with traditional magazine distributors (where, especially for international sales, an enormous amount of postage cost and actual magazines go to waste meeting loosely calculated ‘sale or return’ order numbers from sales outlets), Mute has now started using an NGO-built ‘Contacts Management’ web system to attempt a more precise operation. We are creating our network of local agents to sell Mute together with other publications at a variety of outlets and events.
http://www.metamute.org/agents

Become a FLOSS partner
There are several ways you can get involved in this project. Firstly on a technical level, as a voluntary developer or researcher. Secondly on an economic level, as a contributor to the fund being built to continue development. The following FLOSS projects are available from Mute:

* Web2POD
* Networked distribution services

Or look at the NDS Web2POD project invitation at http://www.metamute.org/en/web2pod