on fire, and hard to kill

FLAMING HYDRA is a new ad-free newsletter that will launch in January 2024. It’s an experimental project of the Brick House, a writers' cooperative that launched in December 2020.

60 celebrated writers and artists are working to bring you FLAMING HYDRA: professionals who've learned the hard way that we need to build, own and publish in our own spaces, free of corporate influence or ownership. Because there are a lot of us, only a minimal amount of work is required of each member. But together, we've got each others' back.

The members of FLAMING HYDRA are creating a splendid reading experience, five times per week. Members will share the proceeds of the newsletter equally and directly. Here's just a few of the luminaries of FLAMING HYDRA:

They're joining the existing members of the Brick House, including:

Membership in FLAMING HYDRA is by invitation only. Members agree to contribute one original 600-word piece (or equivalent) to the newsletter per month, in exchange for an equal share of the subscription proceeds, payable monthly. Members retain the rights to their work absolutely.

For the first year, FLAMING HYDRA will be edited by Brick House founder Maria Bustillos. The cost of launch and first-year operations will be borne by Brick House, with a boost from our Kickstarter campaign which ended in November 2023. Kickstarter revenues in excess of $25,000 from this crowdfunding will be divided and distributed monthly over the course of the first year, in equal shares, to all FLAMING HYDRA members.

Since its launch in 2020, the Brick House coop has provided each of our members with some money (not a ton, but not nothing, either), and given us all a place to publish freely and try all kinds of interesting things. In addition to publishing wildly original independent art and journalism from all over the world, we've published classic African literature, original American folktales and our own anthology. We've defended libraries, sold permanent ebooks to libraries and raised money to start building a library marketplace for permanent ebooks.

Based on our experiences so far, we believe that gathering a large group of skilled artists, each contributing a small amount of work each month, will be the best way for the cooperative to expand and thrive. Many hands making work light.

FLAMING HYDRA members get:

• Immediate revenue share of all FLAMING HYDRA reader subscriptions
• Cooperatively-owned space for publishing what you want
• Space to publicize your projects to the combined audiences of 60 brilliant colleagues
• No ads, investors, corporate interference, Facebook, or any of that bushwa
• Just a good shared place to work together to build a solid, wolf-proof collective for journalism, writing and art
• Cooperative ownership and voting rights after one year
• To be part of a fantastically innovative, entertaining new project

Brick House has a few hundred paying subscribers, and a board that's been operating our independent sites for almost three years. It's not big, but Brick House is nimble and well-run, and properly incorporated as an Ohio LLC, with a novel equity structure designed to deter any outside attempts to influence, control or acquire the organization. The plan is for Brick House to manage FLAMING HYDRA while we all figure out how we want to build and operate the expanded coop.

There will be a one-page agreement laying out these terms a bit more formally before we start, and all FLAMING HYDRA members will also receive a copy of the Brick House Operating Agreement, so that everyone who wants to can pitch in to refine and develop things on the organizational side as we go. At the end of the year (or sooner, if we want), we'll have a giant all-hands meeting to make our way forward.

FLAMING HYDRA: GENESIS

To recap: Brick House will bear the costs of development and publishing the FLAMING HYDRA newsletter. However, all reader subscription fees gathered for FLAMING HYDRA will be distributed equally each month, in arrears, to the 60 members of the collective, starting from launch.

We'll begin publishing FLAMING HYDRA in January 2024. At the end of the first year, the 60 members will meet to elect new leadership, amend the Brick House Operating Agreement, and agree on a formal expansion plan for the future.

We're so thrilled you're coming to BREATHE FIRE with us. We can't wait to get going.

got questions, email us!!