Coffeehouse Culture; Plain Text; Page Eight; Article Four

Misjudgement. Plain, simple, misjudgement. No excuse but certainly a reason. To tell you the truth it was all too big for us. Putting together a 32 page newspaper is a big job. But so is selling the advertising and setting up distribution. We had the newspaper and the advertising support but distribution was a logistical problem we simply couldn't solve. The fanciful idea that the cover price would be divided between distributor, delivery people and ourselves was just that. We had anticipated that the majority of our domestic sales would be through the coffeeshops. What we hadn't expected was the extraordinary level of resistance we would meet. Or the fact that no one was actually prepared to come up with any money for the copies they sold. By the time we realised that it would take us years to set up any kind of coffeeshop distribution system and forever to set up one that produced any income, it was too late to go for professional distribution. And when we tried to get some kind of distribution in the UK and the States (pathetic optimists that we are), we got turned down fairly flat. It did not matter that what we were saying was about creating a better individual and collective reality, about making the world a better place, about evolution. All that mattered to the distribution companies was that we talked positively about smoking dope. We should have known better. Indeed, we did know better. But our realism had been eaten alive by an excess of positivity.
With the first issue 'out' and issue two tapping us on the shoulder (later it got to slap us around the face), we had to consider our options. Funding a paper publication is an expensive operation that is not viable unless all the parts of the equation are in place. And our equation was missing a number of crucial factors. However, Coffeehouse Culture had never been a commercial venture; its commerciality was merely a way to get it out. We, therefore, sought some way to get Coffeehouse Culture into the public domain that didn't cost a fortune. In a less high tech age than this we would have been travelling around the country in a wagon with a soapbox pulpit (and for our troubles we would probably have been burnt). This, however, thankfully, is the high tech age and that saved us. Unhitch the horses, Mary, we are staying home.
And here we are. On the web. The Coffeehouse Culture web site is a low-cost publishing option. And, who knows, maybe we will get some of our money back.
But that is not all. For our involvement with the world wide web has given us the opportunity to become a part of what is clearly going be the world's next big evolutionary leap. Joining hands is one thing but joining minds .... that is big. In the late sixties/early seventies there was much talk about the 'Global Village'. Like most people we didn't really understand. But now we do.

	COFFEEHOUSE CULTURE -- Issue 1
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	PAGE EIGHT; ARTICLE FOUR; NEWS BUT REALLY, OLD BOY, WHAT DID HAPPEN?
	Misjudgement. Plain, simple, misjudgement. No excuse but certainly a reason. To tell you the truth it was all too big for us. Putting together a 32 page newspaper is a big job. But so is selling the advertising and setting up distribution. We had the newspaper and the advertising support but distribution was a logistical problem we simply couldn't solve. The fanciful idea that the cover price would be divided between distributor, delivery people and ourselves was just that. We had anticipated that the majority of our domestic sales would be through the coffeeshops. What we hadn't expected was the extraordinary level of resistance we would meet. Or the fact that no one was actually prepared to come up with any money for the copies they sold. By the time we realised that it would take us years to set up any kind of coffeeshop distribution system and forever to set up one that produced any income, it was too late to go for professional distribution. And when we tried to get some kind of distribution in the UK and the States (pathetic optimists that we are), we got turned down fairly flat. It did not matter that what we were saying was about creating a better individual and collective reality, about making the world a better place, about evolution. All that mattered to the distribution companies was that we talked positively about smoking dope. We should have known better. Indeed, we did know better. But our realism had been eaten alive by an excess of positivity. With the first issue 'out' and issue two tapping us on the shoulder (later it got to slap us around the face), we had to consider our options. Funding a paper publication is an expensive operation that is not viable unless all the parts of the equation are in place. And our equation was missing a number of crucial factors. However, Coffeehouse Culture had never been a commercial venture; its commerciality was merely a way to get it out. We, therefore, sought some way to get Coffeehouse Culture into the public domain that didn't cost a fortune. In a less high tech age than this we would have been travelling around the country in a wagon with a soapbox pulpit (and for our troubles we would probably have been burnt). This, however, thankfully, is the high tech age and that saved us. Unhitch the horses, Mary, we are staying home. And here we are. On the web. The Coffeehouse Culture web site is a low-cost publishing option. And, who knows, maybe we will get some of our money back. But that is not all. For our involvement with the world wide web has given us the opportunity to become a part of what is clearly going be the world's next big evolutionary leap. Joining hands is one thing but joining minds .... that is big. In the late sixties/early seventies there was much talk about the 'Global Village'. Like most people we didn't really understand. But now we do.

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