What if we met at the intersection of the means of production?
Last week I walked someone at one of the major publishers through the economics of the Dark Forest Collective and Antimemetics book. I was considering using their services to distribute and print our future titles.
After showing them our margins, sales, and splits, I was surprised by what they said:
“What you’re doing now has better margins and is more interesting than what you would do with us. Keep doing it your way.”
This was not what I expected. Somehow I’d (yet again) assumed a golden key would open a magical system of easy influence and success.
Fooled yet again.
The fact that the process my design partner Leith Benkehedda and I developed for making the Dark Forest Collective books — detailed in this in-depth how-to post — was judged by an expert as a good way of doing things was just as surprising. The Dark Forest Anthology budget breakdown:
$66,000 in gross sales
$25,000 in recouped costs
$6,600 in Metalabel fees
$2,600 in Stripe fees
Which left us with:
$34,000 automatically split between the authors
$12,000 in a shared treasury to fund new releases and projects
More details here:
The economics of self-publishing a book on Metalabel
Last year, a dozen writers (including me) published a book together about how we live online. No publishers, no complex arrangements. But also not quite self-publishing, something better.
Keep in mind: we haven’t done this before. But once a group of us who cared about the same thing came together with some financial rails to help us, we discovered that our collective connections and networks gave us the pieces of the puzzle and how to assemble them. In ways that have worked out better for us than the traditional system would have.
Right now our second title, Antimemetics, is getting lots of buzz. The first print run will be completely sold out soon. We’re in the process of ordering a second, larger run. The book and its ideas are striking a chord in a real way. This fall the Dark Forest Collective will release our third title — another new work by someone we’ve long admired.
None of this would have happened if it was just one person alone. It was this combination of ideas, energy, and started reputation that unlocked a whole new world of value we can now grow and share by inviting more people to participate in it.
We’re not the only ones. Dozens of groups like ours are using Metalabel and chaining together other tools to make something bigger and more impactful together than on their own.
As we’ve said since the beginning: as individuals our powers are limited. In groups we become stronger.
— Yancey Strickler
Releases we love
Jackie Liu, “Fishin' For Average Caucasian Boyfriends ♡ Collector's Edition”
Artist Jackie Liu has a way of mixing the spiritual and girlcore-ness of the internet into a gamified experiences that are simple in aesthetics but layered in meaning. Her practice builds a world rooted in lighthearted belonging — a space she doesn't take too seriously while asking deeper questions. Like: do we want to fish for boyfriends at all? This Gameboy game (yes, you read that correctly) explores expectations, queerness, and the possibility of having dreams bigger than a boyfriend. The release includes bundle options with an embroidered hat, zine, Gameboy game and box, uniting retro gaming and new age internet concepts at last. (Danielle Paterson)
Marcel Dzama, “Empress of Night”
World-renowned artist Marcel Dzama adapts his folklore into a narrative of nightscapes and celestial characters for this artbook zine — his debut release on Metalabel. Produced alongside his newly opened David Zwirner show in Los Angeles, masked women in the river dance amongst anthropomorphized animals and dense junglescapes under expansive skies dotted with stars and moons.
Born from Dzama's midnight studio sessions, these pages seduce the darkness itself. Each illustration is a love letter to the night where the empress herself might blush at such devotion. Dzama courts danger with beauty, transforms fear into fairy tale romance. The night sky becomes accomplice to revolution, every star a conspirator in the dance of hope. (Danielle Paterson)
Julien James, I Love You Always, All Ways
Photographer Julien James composes a thoughtful spread exploring the intimate relationships between boyhood and fatherhood expressed through a visual lexicon of beauty within male connection. Through the lens of his son Maison, James’ photographs whisper to sons at-large. When we think about love and family, what memories do we hold closest? How does what we choose to hold onto and let go shape our relationships through generations? In this dance between tones gentle and firm, James shows the innocence, mentorship, and shared community that passes between fathers and sons across time. (Danielle Paterson)
Riel Roch-Decter x Expanded Views, Your Final Meditation FILM • Magic Rock
The limited edition interactive sculpture holds a series of soundscapes, light-activated gemstones, and a transcendent film and zine packaged into a custom magic rock spawned from the Jurassic and the Technozoic ages. Made by artist Corey Hughes, the rock is part ancient talisman, part digital oracle. Each rock pulses with its own consciousness, waiting to guide you through realms where meditation becomes labyrinth and transcendence might be the only way out. (Danielle Paterson)
Ruby Bailey x Danielle Paterson, Ether: Beta
The secret to all is a secret to none: overlooked but always present. Explore the liminal nature of the world of ethereality in this mindfulness visual manifesto by spiritual-tech duo Ruby Bailey and me, Danielle Paterson (hi). We’ve been collaborating for a year across oceans and timezones, connected by a love for technology’s past, present, and future — but have never met in person! ETHER_BETA is a test and a nod to new social systems based on interfaces and language models. Headed for utopia, we call upon the all-knowing force of the unknown. Collaboration is key in this first iteration of digital enlightenment. An offering in solitude, we invite you to enter ethereality. (Danielle Paterson)
Why Artist Corporations
Our work championing Artist Corporations — a new structure for creative work — is just getting started. Last week Yancey wrote a piece detailing the origins of the project. Watch the TED talk or visit the A-Corps site to support the movement. We’ll be sharing a whitepaper and more about our plans later this summer.
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Metalabel
Such intriguing stuff in this release spotlight! 👀