Escrow

Forward

This is the first edition of a publication called ESCROW. It’s a sample issue, kind of a salesman’s copy that suggests format and layout options for future editions. All of the text and images here are surrogates for material that will be introduced later.

The idea for ESCROW came out of a conversation about digital publishing and Print On Demand (POD), a method of printing books in which digital files are output to a high-speed printer similar to a Xerox machine. It differs from traditional offset printing in that with POD you can produce very short print runs, at low cost, and with really quick turnaround times.

The whole process is super flexible and the short production schedule allows for content to be quickly modified between print runs. In talking about this process we saw the opportunity to use a publication as a dynamic workspace, a journal in which ongoing projects could be constantly re-articulated in print.

We have started an account with a company called Lightning Source Inc. that provides printing and distribution services to small and mid-scale publishers. Through Lightning we can take any PDF and output it in a variety of formats. Print is the number one platform but we’d like to rework ESCROW as an e-Book at some point down the line. As part of our account with Lightning we have direct distribution service through Amazon and B&N as well as listings with traditional distributors like Ingram and Bertram’s.

An escrow service is a conditional arrangement in which a third party holds material while some negotiation is in process, and that’s really the gist of this publication. We will be printing an edition of ESCROW every six weeks for the next sixty weeks. In each successive issue the chapter sections are maintained by the same contributors, though, the number of participants may grow over time. With every new edition, content moves in and out of print as material is adjusted and reworked. So, in ESCROW this print space right here, and on the following pages is the work space, and renegotiation of these areas is preferred over any type of book ended or endgame situation.

Editors/Publishers New York 06