gm gm!
Project Champion: HiroKennellyᵍᵐ🏴
Squad: trewkat, Kornekt🏴, Frank America, siddhearta, Jake and Stake, AustinFoss, Mashal
Purpose: For-profit AND Public good
Affiliation: Writers Guild, Design Guild
Authors; Editors: Trewkat, HiroKennelly, siddhearta
Date Created: July 18, 2023
Date Posted: July 21, 2023
Funds Requested: 4,000,000 BANK
Project wallet (new): 0xf15414F8f8684F0C80866E074b8DF53d098689db
Writers Guild Discord server: https://discord.gg/TKtMnMwqPY
PROJECT TEASER
The Bankless Publishing and Newsletter Team projects consistently produce written content designed to inform, investigate, educate, and entertain audiences who want to learn more about going Bankless and opportunities afforded by the technologies underpinning web3. We’ve been doing this work as separate but overlapping project teams; now we are combining into one unstoppable project under the Bankless Publishing brand!
SUMMARY
Project Description
For Season 9, Bankless Publishing is requesting 4 million BANK based upon projected expenses and our existing, respective multisig balances.
Bankless Publishing and the Newsletter Team projects are merging to help overcome persistent obstacles and to catalyze a new period of growth. Among the obstacles have been confusion about available sponsorship opportunities from external brands, disjointed publishing schedules resulting in crowded shipping lanes and split audience attention, and core team members who daily experience the inefficiency of doing very similar work in two distinct projects.
By shipping all of the content produced by these projects under one banner, we’ll be able to create consistent brand messaging, unify our audience, and consolidate shipping resources to set the foundation for the next phase of our growth. Operating as a single project under the Bankless Publishing brand, we’ll refine the shipping schedule to deliver daily web3 educational content, whether articles, newsletters, threads, or topical stories; this consistency is a key driver of sustained growth in readership and engagement.
In short, we will continue to do what we’re doing, but as one team. We will:
- consolidate contributions and resources.
- streamline production and output.
- strengthen and unify branding and sponsorship offering.
- engage with our audience on a platform that suits them.
- produce high-quality content which serves as both a user-friendly onramp to web3 and a springboard for further learning.
Key offerings will be:
- Weekly Rollup
- State of the DAOs
- DeFi Download
- Layer 2 Review
- Bankless Publishing Recap
- Bankless Publishing website
- BanklessDAO Medium
- BanklessDAO Mirror
Past Participatory Activities
Bankless Publishing (known as the Editorial and Publishing Arm prior to Season 7) and the Newsletter Team have been DAO projects since shortly after Genesis. The projects’ track records are well established and can be reviewed both here on the Forum and in our publishing platforms.
SEASON 8 RETROSPECTIVE
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We shipped two articles every week (bar one) on the Bankless Publishing website. In addition to our evergreen educational articles, we have focused our efforts on shipping more contemporaneous content, with much success. We also continue to give new life to newsletter articles in need of a fresh audience.
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We have resurrected the BanklessDAO Mirror page by shipping a Crypto Basics Series article each Monday. Publishing on Mirror allows readers to mint the article as an NFT to help build their crypto reference library, while bringing in a small amount of revenue to Bankless Publishing. We plan to conclude the Crypto Basics Series at the end of the season, but serialize content from the popular Weekly Rollup section ‘Phishing School’ in Season 9 via Mirror.
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The Bankless Publishing audience is steadily growing. The number of Twitter followers has reached 1,027 — on track to meet the Season 8 KPI (grow to 1,200 followers from baseline of 790). Our Telegram group currently has 64 members.
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We’ve grown our Twitter audience thanks to the regular high-quality content, but also by producing informative Twitter threads about published articles and tweeting content from other outlets as a way of demonstrating our leadership in this space.
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We’ve strengthened the connection between this season’s BanklessDAO Writers Cohort and Bankless Publishing by introducing a streamlined editing workflow for any Cohort pieces submitted and accepted for publication. We have shipped 12 Cohort articles to date.
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We ship a number of newsletters each week — delivering relevant content directly to 20,000 Substack subscribers.
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Our open rate continues to smash the industry standard at 36%, and the combined newsletters have had approximately 300,000 views so far in Season 8.
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Finally, Bankless Publishing had the good fortune to bring on a Partnership and Sales Lead in Season 8, Mashal, who is bringing a wealth of business savvy to the BP team and is helping us reimagine ways to grow our brand and monetize our content.
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TL;DR: Season 8 was a success for both projects, and the best is yet to come.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
SEASON 9 ROLES
Lead Staff Editors (2): 1 each for Articles and Newsletters
- Assess incoming article/editorial submissions in terms of required editing lift and writing style.
- Manage the Kanban board and ensure accepted articles move through the editing process in a timely manner.
- Post editing opportunities for qualified ‘BPub Editors’ tag holders and ensure equitable assignment of editing tasks.
- Act as the central point of contact for submissions of the editing tests by prospective staff editors.
- Take notes at the weekly working sessions.
- Assist in procuring covers, drafting tweet text, and ensuring quality of content.
Content Managers (5)
Articles (2)
- Ship on Medium, banklesspublishing.com, and Mirror.
- Manage website.
- Oversee strategy / content placement.
- Work with current authors to get articles ready for publication.
- Coordinate cover design (working with bDAO designers to get a custom cover).
- Do final edits and tweaks of the article for quality assurance.
- Draft article tweet and social preview copy.
Newsletters (3) WR,SoD, DD
- Maintain a weekly agenda and content calendar.
- Ensure consistent delivery and distribution of content.
- Coordinate writers and editors week to week.
- Track and record weekly bounties for distribution by the Treasurer.
Staff Writer (1)
- Write fortnightly articles for publication on our website.
Treasurer (1)
- Work with Content Managers to ensure proper bounty input, and execute distribution of role and ad hoc bounties monthly.
Partnership and Sales Lead (1)
- Build relationships with ecosystem participants, work to refine product offerings, and provide partners with engaging, relevant content to showcase their products.
Social Media Threader (1)
- Produce high-quality, consistent threads of articles (1 per week).
AD HOC BOUNTIES
Writers
- Writers may submit an article/newsletter editorial for consideration at any stage during the season. If accepted for publication, the writer will work with the assigned content editor to finesse the piece for publication.
Newsletter Micro Roles for Content Creation
- A number of roles exist for the collation and writing of content for the various newsletters. These are allocated by issue or on a per-season basis.
Content Editors
- Having passed the Content Editing Test, work with the submitting author to improve thesis, structure, cohesion, topic coverage, and flow.
- Ensure article/newsletter text aligns with the current Editing Framework, while contributing to the continual improvement of this framework.
Copy Editors
- Having passed the Copy Editing Test, proofread assigned material and edit the copy, ensuring aspects such as linked references, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation are correct, and clarity of expression is excellent.
- Ensure article/newsletter text aligns with the current Editing Framework, while contributing to the continual improvement of this framework.
Cover Designers
- In consultation with Content Managers, design and produce cover artwork and/or graphics for articles or newsletter editorials published by Bankless Publishing.
Compensation Breakdown
| Role/Bounty | BANK per Week / Notes | BANK for Season 9 (17 weeks) |
|---|---|---|
| Lead Staff Editor (articles) | 8,000 | 136,000 |
| Lead Staff Editor (newsletters) | 6,000 | 102,000 |
| 2 Content Managers (articles) | 16,000 | 272,000 |
| 3 Content Managers (newsletters) | 30,000 | 510,000 |
| Staff Writer | 8,000 | 136,000 |
| Treasurer | 6,000 | 102,000 |
| Partnership and Sales Lead | 5,000 | 85,000 |
| Social Media Threader | 2,500 | 42,500 |
| Writers (articles) | Up to 34 articles per season, 6K BANK per article. | 204,000 |
| Writers (newsletter editorials) | Up to 35 articles per season, 6K BANK per article. | 210,000 |
| Micro Roles for Content Creation (newsletters) | 12K BANK x 3 newsletters x 35 issues | 1,260,000 |
| Content Editors | Up to 69 articles per season, 6K BANK per article. | 414,000 |
| Copy Editors | Up to 69 articles per season, 4K BANK per article. | 276,000 |
| Cover Designers | Up to 69 articles per season, 5K BANK per article. | 345,000 |
| TOTAL Season 9 Expenses | - | 4,094,500 |
| Current Multisig Balances (BANK) | 1,554,828 | |
| Remaining expenditure S8 (est.) | 1,500,000 | |
| Anticipated balances at end S8 | - | 54,828 |
| Adjusted S9 Budget | - | 4,039,672 |
| Season 9 Budget Request | 4,000,000 |
SEASONAL KPIs
- Increase Bankless Publishing Twitter followers to 1,500 (currently 1,025).
- Increase Substack subscribers to 22,000 (currently 19,974) and maintain steady open rates (current 30-day open rate 36%).
- 10 sponsorship enquiries and 5 placements, defined as paid articles or ads.
COMMITMENTS
In Season 9, Bankless Publishing will continue to expand and evolve the brand through several initiatives to grow its audience, reach new markets, and attract quality writers, editors, and designers who can help to create content that is both engaging and informative.
These initiatives are also intended to attract sponsors for the Bankless Publishing brand and to foster a sense of community among our readers, supporters, and contributors. With these goals in mind, we look forward to establishing a strong and united presence in the web3 publishing space, one that is irresistible to mission-aligned organizations wishing to bring their message to the Bankless nation.
By attracting sponsors, we aim to become self-sufficient by Season 10, while also providing 10% of revenue to the DAO. We also feel that this project meets the definition of a public good as it fulfills the DAO’s mission to help the world go Bankless by creating user-friendly onramps for people to discover decentralized financial technologies through education, media, and culture. Should we be successful in bids for public goods funding from external parties, 10% of this will be provided to the BanklessDAO Vault.
We have requested 17 week’s worth of funding, as we intend to ship during the two-week annual end-of-year break to maintain momentum into Season 10.
BRANDING
Bankless Publishing leverages the BanklessDAO brand through retention of the Bankless ethos and by maintaining a strong presence on the DAO’s social media channels. We aim to continue this strong trend and enhance ties with Bankless entities.
By producing excellent content, we also contribute to the strength of the BanklessDAO brand, driving sales for other DAO initiatives and partnerships.
FURTHER PROJECT CHANNELS
- Bankless Publishing Notion Page
- Newsletter Team Notion Page
- Bankless Publishing website
- BanklessDAO Mirror
- BanklessDAO Medium
- BanklessDAO Substack
- Yes
- No