Not long ago, I wrote an article on “Social Publishing” here on Many-to-Many, which suggests the possibility of a system where

“authors create and distribute their work, and readers, individually and collectively, including fans as well as editors and peers, review, comment, rank, and tag, everything.”

So I followed up on the post and, along with a colleague Richard Adler, started Oort-Cloud.org

Oort-Cloud is a site where science fiction and fantasy readers and writers can build precisely the kind of community that I alluded to in Social Publishing. Oort-Cloud utilizes a process we have termed “OpenLit” which you can read more about on the OpenLit page. Basically, OpenLit is a simple catalytic cycle:

Write - Share - Read - Respond

Write
First, writers write.
Share
Second, writers share with others what they have written.
Read
Third, readers read what is available.
Respond
Fourth, readers respond to what they have read.

In this way, writers become better writers by virtue of having a distribution outlet that embeds constant feedback, and readers have access to better and better stories, where “better” actually means better for them based on their interaction with the writers.

Hopefully, this all means new opportunities for everyone involved in science fiction and fantasy — readers, writers, and publishers alike.