We have been making rumblings about changes, updates, and general additions to, the Self Publisher Association, for a while now. What Jay Savage and I got going last year, getting Self Publisher! Magazine back in order, and putting issues out regularly, has taken solid root and is growing. Jay is currently preparing to launch his own School for comic creators. Our intention is to develop full SPA-Learning level atmosphere and systems. Jay will have both online, and a physical, local, school that can be attended. Now, Mike Gagnon and I have been talking about the international aspects of things, and true reformation of the group, finally following through on the Non Profit official status of the group, and other things that the association, can provide for publishers. Mike has official joined as a developer and the head of the Canadian activities. He is also taking over the running of the Printing Service, which we are preparing to launch again in the coming months. The service will do some things no one else is doing...and hopefully help make it possible for publishers to operate one a more profitable level, with more reach. Also joining the development team is Benjamin Slabak who runs the Cloud 9 website. He is currently in some re-development of his own, and, together with the SPA, we are going to bring about some cool things, and, he is going to be in charge of Asian development, as well as Australia where he lives. So as we set about re-launching the SPA...we are going full-out international in our scope.

We are looking at the SPA as a content management system...or Open Source project...something that we will be able to provide a structure and membership system that gives true value and resources to publishers, and can offer additional as-needed services on a plug-in basis. That way, people will be able to put in, and get out of, the SPA, what they need, for the level of publishing they are at. Now, you might note that this newsletter, has now changed it's name and numbering. This is to consolidate our past, with out furute, and re-focus what's going on. The Original run of our newsletter, we called the Kick Start newsletter. It ran over 300 editions, until the Kickstarter gang-funding site really took off, and people started confusing our newsletter with having something to do with that. We re-started the newsletter at #1 with the Jump Start newsletter, and more or less focused on Magazine things. We did over 50 editions that way as well. Now, the intention is to begin presenting access to the resources we are going to be gathering. So I've added it all up, changed the name to focus on the SPA, and this shows that we have history, and leaves it all open for whatever we add. So I hope that makes sense to everyone, and you like the change.

And so, while this issue is more of an announcement, I do want to direct people to the epicenter of where the new development is going to take place. We have brought the SPA over to a new website, removing it from the SP! website, so that we can develop publisher resources, in a place that is not more focused on what readers want to read. So while we get the SPA site going, we will also be adjusting the SP! website, and together, they will do more. The cool part is that the actual forum used on each, is the same, so no matter which site you're on, the forum and log-in, will be the same for you...including the easy-to-use Facebook login...for ease of your social networking. So please take a preview tour: and please feel free to stop into the forum, and see the posts about the initiatives we have going. In the weeks to come, I will be bringing more to this newsletter on an active-project-update basis, and we'll be showing the world what the SPA is really capable of!

CLICK HERE!

We also have a POLL running right now, asking YOU about what you want to see in the efforts we are making on the SPA. To add your voice to that poll: Click Here!

Thank you for your time reading this newsletter. Don't forget, we're already hard at work on the NEXT issue of SP! - #66. And beyond. We hope you will make SP! a serious part of your plans for letting people know what you are up to, creatively.