Become an Editor FAQ

QUESTION

What kind of time commitment might be involved?

ANSWER

The time commitment is entirely up to you. The system is already designed to accommodate numerous Editors, and the plan for the site’s technology is such that it will be continually developed to provide additional ease of use for anyone in any role (e.g. Editor, Bootstrapping Story Submitter). Given a well developed list of Editors, logging in and reviewing a few stories a month would be a big help. We want this to be voluntary, and fulfilling, not a burden. If those of us who care about entrepreneurial bootstrappers work together in a collective effort, the time commitment on the part of any given individual should be quite reasonable.

QUESTION

What level of service am I to provide to those individuals who submit stories?

ANSWER

The editing itself is based on approval or disapproval with feedback, and that feedback needn’t be provided at a level that includes hand-holding and copy editing. It could be along the lines of:

“You obviously have a compelling story. We would like you to revise for grammar and spelling and resubmit. If you continue to have difficulty, you might hire a freelancer.”

Keep in mind that we do want to collect all of the stories that we can. That's the whole point! Meanwhile, we assume that if you are the type of person who should be on this site, one who cares about bootstrapping as a cause in which we all share a stake, you will use professional judgment and provide constructive feedback that is actionable. The end result should be a story on this site that is at least decently written, and never an approved submission on this site that isn't a story at all (rather it is SPAM, an article, a sales letter, et cetera).

QUESTION

Is every story approved?

ANSWER

Some rejections will be terminal. Unfortunately, when a site allows submissions from the public, and it is only looking for a specific kind of content, then certain individuals will submit content that ultimately is not appropriate. The inappropriate submissions could on some occasions be malicious. The SPAMMERS, purveyors of porn, or whatever else, who try to act like this have to be banned from the site.

QUESTION

How do I handle a "problem story"?

ANSWER

On some occasions an inappropriate submission may be from someone who is incapable of telling his or her story in a decently written and coherent manner. After a reasonable effort on the part of an Editor (e.g., a few rounds of communication with no apparent progress), it is fair to wonder if the person involved is willing and able to accept suggestions or take action to remedy the situation. If you think that you may be having some sort of personality clash or communications issue, you might enlist another Editor to give it a try. On the other hand, be sure that you are not rejecting someone who is trying in earnest because you are being overzealous as an Editor. Coming from the general public, we assume a typical submission would demonstrate a level of writing quality that would be commensurate with the "Letters to the Editor" section of a daily newspaper.

QUESTION

How active do I have to be in order to remain on the site as an Editor?

ANSWER

We prefer not to define "active involvement" and suggest some sort of punitive action. However, if you never login and moderate any of the stories holding in the cue, then it would be hard for you to justify the claim that you are actively involved as an Editor on this site. Also, this site is all about celebrating bootstrappers, and anyone who aids that cause is appreciated. We will also be instituting an Awards Program for Editors, so that they can be recognized, too. We will provide national publicity for the selected Editors.

QUESTION

What kind of qualifications are you looking for?

ANSWER

We will be direct and honest with you as a prospective Editor. One of the most important things that we know this site must always do is to demonstrate an association with individuals who would be credible in a final judging process. The technology will do the vast majority of the heavy lifting, but final decisions should be rendered by a panel of professionals and experts, aided by that technology.

QUESTION

Bottom line, what's in it for me?

ANSWER

First of all, involvement would be beneficial for any Editor by demonstrating a spirit of outreach on his or her part. Secondly, you can also link to (and from) your own site(s), and as traffic will continually increase to this site (and companion sites which we will develop), your visibility here will facilitate your own marketing efforts. This is not to suggest that Editors will not already be well established professionals and effective marketers on their own. Rather, we are simply invoking the adage, “the more the merrier.”

QUESTION

What if I see something that needs to be corrected or improved on the site itself?

ANSWER

By all means, do let us know.

This site was originally constructed by a small number of persons who shared one thing in common: They were juggling to keep up with extremely demanding schedules, and there was no "Angel" or "pot of gold" to work with. In other words, the site itself was bootstrapped. Further, as is the case with any technology, there have also been "bugs." At one point, a database was corrupted on a testing server, and all of the textual content on the site was littered with "garbage" characters (boxes, punctuation marks, symbols, interspersed in the site's content). The really great think about bootstrapping, is that it assumes constant creativity, evolution, and improvement. It's not painful, it's a process of tinkering around with something and making it better, and it's fun (for persons who are genuinely bootstrappers in their orientation).

QUESTION

I successfully submitted a story, but can I be an Editor, too?

ANSWER

Many bootstrappers are multi-talented! Anyone who can direct others in following our Editorial Guidelines is not only eligible, but welcomed here. If you feel like you are qualified and want to assist other bootstrappers and the cause of entrepreneurial bootstrapping in general, please do sign up to become an Editor.