Lots of people are contacting me asking about our recent foray into the retail sector, and in particular how negotiations are going with the retail consultancy I mentioned last week. So here’s a roundup answer to some of the points raised.

The consultancy has three partners, two of whom are gung ho for it and the third, dead set against. We’ve reached an amicable hiatus where one of the partners has been giving us advice on retail matters and will receive some shares in the newly-incorporated Syntagma Media, due in the New Year.

The reluctant partner is happy with that and hasn’t totally ruled out changing his mind on a capital injection or share swap sometime in the future. Ongoing is the word that springs up here.

Others have asked me why I’m laying out our business development plans so freely here on this site. The answer is that I’m writing a book on Syntagma Media’s progress and many of the posts on this blog are outlines of chapters to be written out. The long series of posts on the magazine stuff were first drafts of a whole section of the book. Naturally, the juicy bits and killer facts will only appear in the book.

Those who call us out for boring the pants off them — quite often the Melbourne crowd — well, maybe they deserve it.

Finally, others have kindly written and inquired about our plans for redesign and a series of portal pages for each of the magazines. We’ve been talking with one designer who offered to do this in return for shares in the business. I was happy to do that, but I found her portfolio of work a bit restricted and not quite bold enough for a magazine format.

Remember, serious newspapers have to be conservative in design, but magazines must never be dull. Anyone who can square that circle is welcome to approach us.