We’ve been experimenting with a new system of content production here at Syntagma. Apart from our team of proven, regular authors, we’ve been driving newer sites from a small base of in-house writers — people who also work in some capacity for us and have expertise in specific fields.

It will be coming on-stream from next Monday, July 2.

The reason for this new approach is that we’ve adopted a tighter focus for the Syntagma network, specializing in certain areas we know to be effective revenue-earners. We can better manage such a team from within, rather than relying on a sprawling web of freelances across the globe.

Of course, we’ve still got some writers spread around the world, but these are authors who have proved reliable over time. In other words, we will become more like a business producing print magazines in structure, than a typical blog network — a model we’ve been moving away from for a while now.

We’re closing the Allusionz network magazine on July 1, and will be using our three remaining portals as the base for a variety of new activities, not all conventional or expected.

As a small, compact business, we have great flexibility of manoeuvre. We don’t have to stand still or follow the rest. We won’t.

New sources of finance mean we are tentatively moving away from the cash-flow-techniques model we’ve adopted thus far, although we will never go down the venture capital route for reasons given here many times.

So there will be new energy and new blood next month here at Syntagma.

June has been a month of heroic reconstruction here at Syntagma. It may not seem like that at first glance, but we’ve reorganized the place from top to bottom. We’ve also brought in a number of professionals to help out and, in some cases, write for us below the radar as part of specific Syntagma Teams.

This is a new system for us. It gives us a powerful in-house team for the first time, but without massive cost implications. I’m hoping it will move us in a different direction in the year to come.

We’ve also returned to Syntagma Media as our main name, with Syntagma Digital as the operating company.

Along the way some things had to go. The Allusionz network magazine — our poorest performer — will be put out to grass when its advertising contracts run out at the end of this month. Some of its sites have been moved onto LifeTimes magazine. They include : Marshall’s Art NYC, Steve’s Publisher’s Diary, Our Man in Stratford and Jazz Groove. Also Classy Classical and a rejuvenated Stage Latest, which will now concentrate on the West End and Broadway, plus ticket sales ads. Sad to lose so many sites and a few authors, but it’s a business and one can’t be sentimental about it.

We’re also hoping to spawn an offshoot of Syntagma Media in a new direction. We’re waiting on negotiations on this one. There may be some opportunities for existing, and other, authors in the new project. More later.

Essentially, we’ve distilled the Syntagma inventory down to its most profitable core in response to the awkward fact that “blog” networks are not being bought out anymore. The second half of the year should see us expanding out again from a sounder base.

So, after the fundamental change in market conditions in recent months, we’re now optimized for the new opportunities. In many ways we’re better placed than our competitors. The huge success of the Glam network — announced this week — reinforces our decision in going for retail as the future of Web business. But, we are still keeping our powder dry and our independence intact. It’s all to play for, and we are very well positioned for new developments.

We are now actively working on the next planned development of our network magazine concept. This involves opening them up to suitable sites/blogs outside the Syntagma Digital inventory.

The move will allow external sites inclusion in our rolling feeds, plus graphical representation on the portals and participation in the Editor’s Pick of the Posts. In addition, they will become recipients of any magazine-wide advertising deals we negotiate going forward. Involvement will not change the ownership, hosting arrangements, or running of outside sites in any way.

We are currently looking at the technical and monetary aspects of this proposal and will reach some decisions over the coming month. Inclusion will be open to all four of our network magazines :

Allusionz – Arts and Philosophies
LifeTimes – Lifestyles and Celebrities
21st-century Phi – Sciences and Future Technologies
(Coming Soon) Moneyizor — Money Matters and Small Business.

In the meantime, site/blog owners who may be interested in this proposition can email me to register an interest and be involved in the early stages of the arrangement. The email address is in the footer.

Update : In an interview with 901am, the conversation continued :

How will you split the revenue with participating sites?
We’re currently looking at a 70/30 split in favor of the client for all new magazine-wide advertising. That beats what’s on offer elsewhere, at least to my knowledge. It also has added advantages in terms of traffic.

What’s your goal with adding more sites to the various network magazines? Are there any milestones you want to reach, and where will it lead eventually?
The goal is to use the increased page views from the extra sites to secure better advertising for everyone aggregated in the magazine, including our own authors. It makes sense to maximize the use of the content platforms we’re creating in a way that benefits everyone involved. As for milestones, the system is totally expansible with no limits that I can see.

External sites and blogs will get exposure on our content platforms, traffic back, and 70% of new advertising revenue generated on contributing sites. Owners pay nothing, and virtually do nothing for all that. It’s got to be one of the best deals around.

The newest crib on the block for Syntagma Digital is the second of Guy Adams’s three new webtitles : The Dark Room - Literary Worlds of Horror, part of our Allusionz network magazine.

Guy Adams is a full-time professional author and writer, as well as being a partner and senior editor in the British publishing company, Humdrumming.

Horror…for many years a fictional genre that has suffered from a less than sterling reputation.

If ever an argument against over-exposure exists in fiction writing then Horror is the perfect example. For hundreds of years writing about the darker things in life (both real and supernatural) was considered a rich and healthy pastime. Shakespeare was no stranger to the Grand Guignol of storytelling, Dickens was a sap for the ghostly tale…a glance at a school syllabus will see old staples as Stoker and Shelley deemed perfectly valid ‘classics’.

Also watch out for Guy’s The Hack’s Progress, which will be up and scribbling next week.

Read The Dark Room.