Team members

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The first and most important decision in a cooperative is: Who will be part of the team. This decision is very important because every worker is also an owner of the project.

1. First 2 members of the team:

   1. Usually, the books will begin with a writer. Therefore the writer will have the responsibility to invite more people to join the project. 

   2. The writer has to offer one of the open positions to another person. Together they can discuss the creative aspect of the book, the project's workflow, the decision-making process, and finally and most importantly, they have to negotiate each person's percentages of the revenue. These percentages determine each person's share of the revenue, however, they do not give one person’s vote more importance than another. 

      1. For example: When the writer starts the project they have 100% of the shares of the project. If they invite a person to join the team as an illustrator, the writer might offer 45% of the revenue to the illustrator. If both people agree then the illustrator will get 45% of every book sold. However, both the writer’s and illustrator’s votes have the same value.

2. Third member of the team:

   1. The two persons that are now part of the team search for the next team member. Both of the original team members have to agree 100% on who the new team member will be. Arriving at a consensus is very important because the new member will also be an owner of the project.

   2. After deciding who the new team member will be, the original people have to decide how many shares they should offer the new team member. This means that they have to decide how much they will take off their own percentages to offer the new team member. 

   3. To decide what percentage of their shares of the revenue the first two members of the team will offer the third member, the team will use democracy by average.

      1. Democracy by average is the decision-making process in which the proposals of each individual are averaged to obtain the collective decision. 

         1. For example: If the writer proposes that they should give 30% of their shares to the editor, and the illustrator proposes that they should give 10%, then the average is 20%. 

            1. (30+10)/2= 20%

         2. This means that 20% of the shares of the writer will go to the Editor, and 20% of the shares of the illustrator will go to the editor. 

            1. Writer (55% X 0.80) = 44% 

            2. Ilustrator (45% X 0.80) = 36%

            3. Editor (55% X 0.20) + (45% X 0.20) = 20%

      2. After their deliberations and after using democracy by average to obtain a specific number, the original members of the team offer their shares to the new member of the team.

3. ​Fourth member of the team:​

   1. The three members of the team decide together who the fourth member will be. To do so, they will use the same method applied to look for the third person. 

      1. All the members of the team have to agree on the new person and their roles.

      2. The members of the team deliberate on the percentages of their shares they want to offer to the new member.

      3. The members of the team write down their individual proposals of the percentage they think should go to the new member.

      4. Each member’s proposal is averaged with the rest to obtain the collective decision.

      5. They offer the percentage to the potential new team member who can accept or decline.

         1. For example:

            1. The writer proposes they should give 15% off their shares to the publicist, the illustrator 10%, and the editor 5%.

            2. All the individual proposals are averaged to obtain the collective answer:

               1. (15+10+5)/3 = 10%

            3. This means that the team will offer the publicist 10% of all their shares as compensation and motivation to work with them.

            4. If the publicist accepts, the numbers will be:

               1. Writer (44% X 0.90) = 39.6% 

               2. Ilustrator (36% X 0.90) = 32.4%

               3. Editor (20% X 0.90) = 18%

               4. Publicist (44% X 0.10) + (36% X 0.10) + (20% X 0.10) = 10%

4. ​Fifth member onwards 

   1. The process of bringing a new person into the team is the same. Everyone has to agree by consensus that they want someone for the position, then everyone has to agree unanimously that they want a specific person for the position, then everyone proposes the percentages of their shares they want to offer them, everyone's proposals are averaged and offered to the new team member.

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Changing the percentages of shares and revenue

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Once the team is completed and everyone's shares is determined, the team members can ask for a redistribution of shares following the next process:

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1. One or more members of the team can ask for a change in percentages.

2. They present their case to the team.

3. The team deliberates and votes.

4. Everyone involved should agree that there should be a change in percentages.

5. If a single person on the team refuses to change the percentages, then the initial agreement stands.

6. If everyone involved agrees to redistribute the shares, then the team uses democracy by average to make their collective decision. This means that every person on the team has to do their own list of proposals of how the shares should look now.

   1. For example:

      1. Writer’s list:

         1. Writer: 40%

         2. Editor: 10%

         3. Illustrator: 40%

         4. Publicist: 10%

      2. Editor’s list:

         1. Writer: 35%

         2. Editor: 15%

         3. Illustrator: 35%

         4. Publicist: 15%

      3. Illustrator’s list:

         1. Writer: 40%

         2. Editor: 10%

         3. Illustrator: 35%

         4. Publicist: 15%

      4. Publicist’s lists

         1. Writer: 30%

         2. Editor: 10%

         3. Illustrator: 35%

         4. Publicist: 25%

7. Once every member of the team has written down their own list. Everyone’s list is averaged. This is done by obtaining the average of each entry.

   1. 1. Writer: (40+35+40+30)/4= 36.25%

      2. Editor: (10+15+10+10)/4 = 11.25%

      3. Illustrator: (40+35+35+35)/4= 36.25%

      4. Publicist: (10+15+15+25)/4= 16.25%

8. This average is the new share distribution.

   1. 1. Writer: 36.25%

      2. Editor: 11.25%

      3. Illustrator: 36.25%

      4. Publicist: 16.25%

 

Changing team members

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1. There are two reasons why there can be changes to the team members:

   1. One person decides to leave the team.

   2. The other team members decide to oust a member of the team.

2. The process for getting out of the team is simple, the person who is leaving the team talks to the other team members explaining their resignation. After this, all the team members will decide how many of their original shares will the person that is leaving will keep.

   1. Each member of the team writes down the percentage, everyones' percentage is averaged. The person who is leaving the team is only allowed to keep that amount of shares.

      1. For example, if the publicist wants to leave the team and they have a right to 15% off the revenues, and using democracy by average everyone decides they want the leaving publicist to keep 10% of the original 15% they had, then, after leaving, the publicist will keep 1.5% of the books’ revenue.

3. The process of ousting a team member is longer and harder:

   1. One or more members of the team ask for a team member change. They express their reasons to the whole team, including the person that they propose should no longer be a part of the team.

   2. The person that might be ousted from the team explains their reasons for wanting to stay as part of the team.

   3. The team votes.

   4. Everyone, except the team member that is being ousted, has to vote to oust the person from the team. The reminding team members have to unanimously agree to be able to remove someone from the team.

   5. Once the decision to remove someone from the team has been agreed upon by everyone, all the team members have to decide how much of the original shares the person ousted will continue to have. To decide this the team uses democracy by average. Everyone votes, including the person who will no longer be a part of the team.

   6. Everyone writes down the percentage of shares they believe the  person being ousted should retain of their original percentage:

      1. For example, if the team voted to remove the publicist, all the team members have to decide how many shares the publicist will retain after being fired from the team.

         1. Publicist: 30%

         2. Editor: 5%

         3. Writer: 1%

         4. Illustrator: 0%

4. Everyone’s proposals are averaged:

   1. (30+5+1+0)/4= 9%

5. This means that the person leaving the team will retain 9% of their original shares:

   1. If the publicist previously had a right to 15% of the revenue, now they will have a right to 9% of that 15%.

      1. 15 x 0.09 = 1.35%

 

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Creative Decisions

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1. The creative decisions are democratically decided by the creative members of the team. 

2. Decisions about the narrative are taken by the writer and the editor. If both people can not find an agreement they can go to the illustrator and ask them to vote for the proposal of either one of them. The illustrator can either vote for the writer’s proposal, or the Editor’s proposal or they can ask both of them to develop new proposals. 

3. Decisions about illustration are taken by the illustrator and the writer, if they can’t agree on something, they can ask the Editor to vote for either of their proposals or to ask for new proposals from both of them.

 

 

Publishing and promoting

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The publicist has to present to the rest of the team different proposals on publishing and promoting. Each proposal should have to present the relationship between cost and benefit, in regards to hours worked, and money spent. The rest of the team has to approve a publishing and promoting proposal by consensus.

 

 

Financing for publishing and promoting

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1. After the team agreed on a publishing scheme, they will have to decide how to cover the expenses. 

   1. For example, the team might agree that they want to promote their book on Facebook, amazon, and YouTube ads for a month, and they might decide to invest $1,000 USD on advertisement. They now have to decide where that money comes from.

2. The members of the team discuss different types of financing for the project expenses, presenting the pros and cons of each type of financing scheme.

   1. These are some of the possible ways in which a project can be financed:

      1. A member of the team “Lends” money to the project:

         1. Team members might decide to “Lend” money to the team. But before they do that the team has to agree on the terms and conditions of the loans.

         2. First, the team has to agree that the first money they receive from sales will go to pay the loans plus interests. After the loan and interest are fully paid, the rest of the revenue is distributed to the rest of the team according to their original percentages.

         3. Then the team has to decide the interest rate of the loans. To do this, they use Democracy by average. This means that everyone writes down the monthly interest they believe a team member’s loan should generate, and everyone’s proposal is averaged to obtain the collective decision.

            1. For example:

               1. The writer proposes: 1% monthly interest.

               2. The illustrator proposes: 10%  monthly interest

               3. The Editor proposes: 0% monthly interest

               4. The publicist proposes 5% monthly interest

                  1. The average is (1+10+0+5) / 4 = 4% monthly interest rate.

               5. This means that for every month that passes without paying the “loan” back, 4% will be added to the debt.

         4. The “loan” does not change the power dynamics inside the team, the “lender” will not have a heavier vote, a more important voice, or a bigger share of the project.

         5. Each team member has to think individually if they want to “lend” money to the project under the agreed conditions.

         6. If they do, the first money the team receives from selling the book will go to pay back that “investment” plus interests.

         7. Once the investment plus interest are paid, the rest of the revenue is distributed to the rest of the team according to their original percentages.

   2. ​​An external person “invests” in the project:

      1. If none of the team members want to, or have the means to “loan” money to the project, they can decide to ask for loans from people outside the team. To do so the team members have to decide the interest rate they will offer “outsiders”, present the project to the outsider, and how they plan to return the loan plus interests. If a person agrees to loan them money, the first revenues from sales will go directly to pay the loan plus interests. 

   3. ​​The team decides to borrow from a financing institution:

      1. If no one from the team or people they know is able or wants to “loan” money to the project, the next thing they could do is either find a new promotion strategy or look for loans from a financing institution. Accepting these loans requires the full consent of everyone involved.

3. Reinvesting:

   1. The members of the team can also decide they want to reinvest a percentage of their earnings on promotion and publicity. Everyone on the team has to agree to the proposal. The decision of how much percentage of the earnings will be reinvested is reached using democracy by average. Everyone writes a percentage they think should be discounted from their earnings and used to invest in promotions and publicity, everyone’s proposal is averaged to obtain the collective answer.

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Donating, gifts, or waiving rights

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1. The members of the team also have to decide if they want to donate or give gifts to people or institutions. The gifts or donations can either be in “digital” books, which will not cost anything, on printed books, which will have a cost, or it might be a monetary donation.

2. A member of the team might propose a donation of any type, the whole team has to agree by consensus to do a donation, then they will use democracy by average to decide the size of the donation.

   1. For example, someone might propose to donate printed books to a children’s association. The whole team has to agree. Then each individual member of the team has to write down the number of books they want to donate, everyone’s answer is averaged to obtain the collective decision.

      1. 1. The writer proposes to donate 10 books.

         2. The illustrator proposed to donate 50 books.

         3. The editor proposed to donate 5 books.

         4. The publicist proposed to donate 15 books.

         5. ​​The average will be: (10+50+5+15) / 4 = 20 books

         6. The team will donate 20 books to a Child’s association.

   2. Example 2:

      1. A member of the team might propose that an amount of their revenue should go to a wildlife conservation association. 

      2. The team has to agree by consensus that they want to do a donation from their earnings, and to which association they want the donations to go.

      3. The team will use democracy by average to determine the percentage that will be taken from everyone’s earnings and that will be donated to the association.

      4. The members of the team can also decide to give free e-books or to waiver the rights to the book for a specific reason or for non at all. In any case, the team has to agree by consensus to do so.

 

 

These are some of the most important and common decisions that the team members from the cooperative will have to make. Any other decision they have to make has to be resolved either by democracy by consensus or by democracy by average.