The Vagaries of University Bureaucracy (re: TLE)

[Mister M]

Oh, and as for print-on-demand, University Print Services seems like they'll still do it, and the price from them is $4 per issue. (Plus we get proofs to look over, which is nice.)

[EUOL]

My suggestion:

Bring me on to teach a TLE class.  Take the focus away from the magazine, and make it focus on the student experience.  It think that by being a class, people wouldn't look so much toward the product--the magazine, with its contents--and look at the students being produced.  (Which was the real product all along.)

I'd donate my salary to paying authors and printing costs.  We go PoD to Lulu, which prints a book much like we do with MC for about four or five bucks, and we weather the storm until this new guy has more power or until I have a few best-sellers under my belt and can rattle larger chains.  

[EUOL]

Oh, and I wish you would have let me know as soon as you found out....

However, if you guys do weather this as per Mr. M's plan above, you'll certainly be among the TLE 'greats' when it comes to editors.

[Mister M]

I'll email you Matt's email address. He's the one who's been the chief liaison between us and the English department, and so he's the one who knows best who you'd need to talk to and what chance of success you have for it.

[Mister M]

Oh, and I wish you would have let me know as soon as you found out....

However, if you guys do weather this as per Mr. M's plan above, you'll certainly be among the TLE 'greats' when it comes to editors.

We would have liked to, but with things still up in the air and negotiations underway, it seemed like it might damage our credibility if we started bringing others in on it. And we needed all the credibility we could get at that point. (There might also have been specific requests by the departments or college to keep it quiet until things were concluded; I don't know for certain.)

[Spriggan]

Just a quick note, I know you guys don't want to leave BYU but there's a good chance you could get UVSC to take TLE.  They're just starting to move to a full fledged Uni by offering Master's degrees and the first 2 are English and business.  Heck even EUOL has thought about going over there and asking if they want him to teach a Sci-fi/Fantasy class.

Considering how accredit TLE is, and all the big names attached to it, they could want it.  And, after all, it would be better to move it over there then trying to strike it on your own.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I will definitely be sending a letter about how TLE was an important formative experience for my career. And I'll email Anne.

[42]

Have you considered other colleges? If the College of Engineering is willing to offer a BFA (making it the only one in the world), perhaps there are other Colleges besides the College of Humanities that would support TLE. I would suggest the science or business oriented Colleges since that much, much more funding than the art related Colleges.

Regardless of a students major, being staff on a student/semi-professional magazine looks great on a resume or grad-school application.

[Jelly_Belly]

I'd donate my salary to paying authors and printing costs.  We go PoD to Lulu, which prints a book much like we do with MC for about four or five bucks, and we weather the storm until this new guy has more power or until I have a few best-sellers under my belt and can rattle larger chains.  

What is "Lulu"? All I know is University Press is willing to do print on demand, whether 1 issue or 50 or whatever, for $4/issue. There shouldn't be any reason for them to stop after we're not associated since they do a lot of private jobs for those outside of BYU.

[EUOL]

lulu.com  PoD online.  The nice thing about using them is that they have a built-in credit card payment system.  So, you could just link to TLE issues through there, and sell them that way.  

I actually think the UVSC option might be a good one.  Scott Card has some good ins there, and honestly, it might be a far more friendly environment.  

[Nessa]

This is sad, sad news. If you guys need help, certainly let me know. I'll be living in Utah County come June, so am available for on-site help if necessary.

I may also be able to help out in the funds department. Can't help immediately, but come fall issue I will be more solvent. Shoot me an email.

[Eric James Stone]

Hmmm.  I suspect this is a warning sign regarding the fate of LTUE.

[stacer]

I have written a draft of a letter, but have to run to pack some more. (Moving tomorrow.) But I'll mail it out on Monday. I basically laud TLE as one of the things that got me started on my awesome career as an editor and how my contacts through it even now give me great professional blah blah, and how my experience at TLE also enriched my career as a graduate student.

[Shrain]

Hmm, UVSC does sound like an interesting alternative.

On the other hand, I think it'd be awesome if BYU would let EUOL teach a TLE class. I agree that the editors/designers-in-the-making who benefit from TLE really are the raison d?êtra of the magazine.

Yet I can see why UVSC might prove a more, um, enlightened place for relocation. A couple weeks ago, my writing teacher confided to me that prospective MFA faculty members are always asked what their "policy" is on teaching or workshopping SF. Yep, I can't say it was incredibly surprising, but it *does* explain why the only SF-inclined prof (Uppinder Mehan) didn't get tenure.

However, back to the issue at large.... even if UVSC embraced TLE, I'd still be ticked that BYU's students would have a lesser chance of participating. I'll sit down and write a polite letter myself--just as soon as I finish moving tomorrow. In fact, an hour ago I packed all my issues of TLE. *sigh* (Stacer, you're moving too? I hope it's to a better/cheaper place!)    

[fuzzyoctopus]

I'd also like to volunteer to perform any work that can be electronically farmed out to me.

Should all negotionations with BYU come to naught, and you become totally independant, I'd also like to volunteer for this, if there's any way I can help from out of state.