108 Comments
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Phillip D. McCombs's avatar

Will be in touch. Can help with promotion

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Allie Van Zyl's avatar

Commenting hoping that I remember to come back and read this when it feels like I have more time and attention. Color me intrigued.

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Lucy's avatar

Yesss!!! I was thinking of something similar and so happy to see someone doing it. This is a FANTASTIC idea and exactly what we need more of. ♥️

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AF's avatar

This is the way forward! I love it!

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Chris James's avatar

Imagining, thinking, and writing about an amazing futures is extremely valuable.

Great writers inspire great engineers.

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Elle Griffin's avatar

Agreed!

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Libbie Grant's avatar

I’m both a writer and a podcaster, and this sounds very awesome to me. I’ll be mulling over whether I can contribute anything good based on your current wish list.

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Kevin Howard's avatar

Elle, I am very interested in participating in a cooperative media infrastructure. I write social commentary about politics, economics, climate crisis, social evolution, spirituality, philosophy and personal growth. Please check out my writing at www.onwardatlast.com. All my content is available for free on the blog tab of the website. Please feel free to contact me at kevinh@climatechangeseverything.net. I am excited about the opportunity to work with you.

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Elle Griffin's avatar

If you have a pitch, definitely send it to me at elle@elysian.press!

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Nathaniel Roy's avatar

This is very cool! Let me know if you want another publishing design collaborator.

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Elle Griffin's avatar

Oh cool! Do you have a portfolio?

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Elle Griffin's avatar

Wow, this is amazing. Emailing you shortly....

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Elle Griffin's avatar

Op! I don't have your email address. Can you email me at elle@elysian.press?

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Nathaniel Roy's avatar

Oops, I somehow missed the notification for this comment!

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Daniel Sisson's avatar

This is the best next step for you, I'm excited!

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Elle Griffin's avatar

Thanks Daniel. You should write for it!

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Daniel Sisson's avatar

I'd love to, thank you!

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Matthew Epperson's avatar

Hi Elle! I'm guessing you know these folks but wanted to be sure to drop this particular sci-fi anthology in case not: https://radix.coop/product/many-worlds-or-the-simulacra/. I don't know Radix personally, though I backed this project on KickStarter and have since read it and loved it. I'd also share that I loved the co-op graphic novel The Co-operative Revolution which has a utopian future to it: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-co-operative-revolution-a-graphic-novel-paul-fitzgerald-aka-polyp/9908793. Good luck. I shared your post here with my friend Ahzjah Simons who has been working on a similar vision locally to me in Atlanta, GA. So you may hear from her soon.

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Elle Griffin's avatar

You are the absolute best! I’ve reached out to Radix to see if I could learn more about their model, checking out the graphic novel now.

And thank you so much for the connection. Can’t wait to talk to your friend!

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Chuck Wolfe's avatar

As commented on your pass on my idea, I think it would be helpful if you had more precise criteria for your interests under your prospective topics. Preexisting authors and article contributors will appreciate that. Substack is significant in its non-conformity and routes to "success," but guidelines are always helpful, especially to those used to them.

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Chuck Wolfe's avatar

Hi there. I do read your work albeit as an unpaid subscriber, especially as to the things you write about within the areas of my own subject matter expertise. I’m sure you will assemble a creative network that is simpatico with your interests and needs. However, the best editors I have experienced want to coach and tease out the interesting aspects of a proposal and take the time to understand the viewpoint of the submitter and his or her prior work.

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Elle Griffin's avatar

Of course, and I will absolutely do that as I receive various proposals that have something in them I want to nurture! I’m just looking for that spark!

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Chuck Wolfe's avatar

We should further discuss the city-state topic

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Elle Griffin's avatar

I don't want to add guidelines because I'm not looking for something specific. Like most editors, I'm looking for something that excites/interests me. Something with a unique idea or angle that hasn't been written about in a lot of other places. Something with an interesting story that brings the idea to life.

A good pitch should also spell out what the article could look like, complete with what lede you would use, what sources you're going to call, what research you're going to undertake to illustrate and think through your hypothesis.

If you read The Elysian, you might have an idea of some of the kind of things I'm interested in. Even then, there just will be a lot of passes as I pick and choose the ideas I'm most interested in, and that will best complement the other things I'm publishing.

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Keely's avatar

We’d love to find a way to collaborate with you at RADAR! Peek into our 2025 plans here: https://open.substack.com/pub/radarxyz/p/welcome-to-2025-on-building-the-futures?

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Elle Griffin's avatar

Very fascinating. What kind of collab are you thinking about?

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Keely's avatar

So many ideas! Will send you an email, would love to find time to chat possibilities.

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David Spinks's avatar

Such a beautiful vision. I can’t wait for it to come to life.

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Elle Griffin's avatar

Thanks David 🥰

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George Green's avatar

Hi Ellie, a few of us who are interested in creating Thrutopian stories (as opposed to dystopias- after meeting on a course created by Manda Scott) have had a similar idea! Looking forward to what we all create. We've just set up our Substack, Welcome To Thrutopia and in The next month we'll be beginning to publish the pieces (poetry, stories and non fiction) we've been gathering from our ecosystem.

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Elle Griffin's avatar

Oh so cool. Will you send me a link?

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Ante's avatar

Good idea Elle,

Maybe your initiative should focus on the existential problem we as a humanity are facing - global warming. We should build a community that writes how to resolve the crisis. We cannot rely on governments, institutions or corporations to stop carbon emissions on time and save society from a bleak future.

As far as I know, there is no significant platform that predominantly promotes strategies on how to mitigate global warming. It will take a grassroots movement to achieve this on time.

Those who have access to Substack management should pitch this idea to its management to see if this should fit into their development philosophy. Implementing this approach would put Substack on top and significantly contribute to the fight against global warming.

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Elle Griffin's avatar

There are a lot of writers on Substack talking about climate. A ton actually! Since Substack is just a platform (not a publisher) they won't be putting out climate content. But writers are definitely using the platform to do that in a big way.

Hannah Ritchie for one: https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/

Claudia Befu leads the cli-fi charge: https://www.storyvoyager.com/

You might also LOVE Grist: https://grist.org/

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Reina Cruz's avatar

Fascinating concept! Looking forward to hearing where it goes.

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