Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Please pass along to Portland writers

We need your help. Please answer the poll, shoot me an email, or just share a comment.

A writers' room: Mostly it's a quiet space with great energy for writers. I imagine an old Victorian house with shared office space somewhere close in on the East side, like Hawthorne or Belmont. It's a little funky, Zen-ed out with a garden, books crammed to the ceiling, and a living room with comfy chairs. Here established literary artists rent one of the cool offices, and many other members use the smaller areas and pay monthly dues for shared space.

Membership includes access to all office equipment like online computers and copy machines and printers, endless coffee, publications, a library, networking, discounts to events, support, and editorial assistance.

What would you pay?

2 comments:

dampscribbler said...

Um. Why aren't people using your comments to give their responses? I'm interested in seeing what others are saying.

To answer your question, when I rented an office at ActivSpace a couple of years ago, I paid $300/month for a private office. Mailbox, garbage dumpster access, and phone line were all extra (I don't remember about Internet, as I wasn't using it.) For a private space I would not expect to pay much more than that -- maybe up to $450. But for most people, including myself now, that kind of money isn't long-term sustainable. What makes sense to me is pricing based on hours of use -- say $100/month for up to 50 hours, $200/month up to 150 hours (a pretty typical full-time schedule), and maybe a few bucks extra for working during "peak" times when the networking is likely to be best.

Do you plan to have space for writing workshops/classes/critiques?

Jeffrey Selin said...

thanks for the awesome feedback.

it appears i'm just as guilty on the comments deal (a little email misdirection glitch that has been fixed). but most folks have been sharing comments in emails to me.