The main ideas behind theRadish:

  < Provide an easy way or readers to find and read online, download, and/or purchase interesting works.
  < Provide a method to allow the reader to directly react to a published work.
  < Provide an outlet for amateur writes to publish their works.  (Opinionated works are welcome.)
  < Provide a path for amateur writers to become professional.
  < Provide an outlet for professional writers to publish, control, and profit from their works.
  < Provide a method for amateur publishers to get started.

theRadish will have two divisions or levels:  One for amateur writers and one for more accomplished writes.  The first level will allow for almost anyone to get published as long there is some indication of effort.  The second level will require a more polished piece or a work from an accomplished writer.  The author can control the submission level and can attempt promotion of a published work using reader reactions as a supporting factor.  The first level of works will be called the "Amateur" level and the second level will be called the "Professional" level.  I would hope once this gets going to associate this website with universities to use as a tool for their writing students in return for some editorial opinions.  I would also hope that a work being published at the second level could be copywrited and/or published with an ABA number at the author's expense.

Work at the second level (Level 2 Professional) would fall into 2 categories: Free and Not Free.  If an author chooses they may charge or the reading or downloading of their work.  They could/should provide excerpts for the browsing buyer to read.  At some point the author may be able to choose to actually put their work into print.  And of course there would be a way to order the printed copy individually or in bulk.

 It also might be possible or someone to design their own collection of works and have these printed together.  This could  be done at the behest of an author or by a third party who may be assembling the book or a series of books for another reason such as an educational or perhaps a profitable one.  The author would have to give permission for their work to be used and would profit from this depending upon the negotiated price of the publishing arrangement.

So how does theRadish make money you might ask, after all it is a dotcom?

  < Some advertising naturally.  (But only tasteful, non-obtrusive ads, no popups or moving ads.)
  < Fees for Copywriting and ABA assignments.
  < Fees for works purchased through the website.
  < Fees for other publishing costs. (Such as editing or file formatting for downloading,)
  < Fees for printing arrangements.

But in all cases these fees will not be exorbitant.  The basic idea of theRadish to put the ownership of the work back into the hands of the author instead of the publisher.  And much like eBay theRadish will need to grow and survive on volume.  In fact, you can think of theRadish as sort of an eBay for writers.

More details on theRadish:

Authors:

  < The Author will be able to submit original works and re-writes online.
  < The Author will be able to edit, maintain, and control their personal information online including pen names.
  < The Author will be able to submit works for level 1 or 2.
  < The Author will be able to categorize their work including keywords to help Readers find them and their works.
  < The Author will be provided with a secure login.
  < The Author will control whether or not to accept Reader emails. (The email address of the Author is not shared
     with the Readers.
  < The Author can decide whether or not to charge for their works.
  < The Author will be able to control whether or not their works are downloadable.
  < The Author will be able to control the price of published works.
  < The Author will be able to view public reaction and rating of their works
  < The Author will own their works.

Readers:

  < The Reader will be able to read works online.
  < The Reader will be able look for works by category.
  < The Reader will be able to search for works by content or keywords.
  < The Reader will be able to list works for a specific Author.
  < The Reader will be able to search for Authors.
  < The Reader will be able to download works configured as downloadable.
  < The Reader will be able to read excerpts from purchasable works.
  < The Reader will be able to purchase works online which could be downloaded or printed and shipped.
  < The Reader will be able to submit a published reaction to the works.
  < The Reader will able to rate Critic critiques by awarding a number of Radishes (More is better).
  < The Reader will be able to submit a published reaction to the Critic critiques.
  < The Reader will able to rate works by awarding a number of Radishes (More is better).
  < The Reader will be able email the Author (a feature controlled by the Author).
  < The Reader will be able to establish an account on theRadish and will be able to defines a favorites profile.

Critics:

  < The Critics will be determined at will by the staff of theRadish.
     Anyone can apply to be a critic, but only those who can demonstrate ability will be chosen.
   < The Critic will be provided with a secure login.
  < The Critics critique will be available as a link from the work and separately under the critic.
  < The Critic will be able to edit, maintain, and control their personal information online .
  < The Critic will control whether or not to accept Reader/Author emails. (The email address of the Critic is not
     shared with the Readers/Authors)
  < The Reader will be able to list critiques for a specific Critic.
  < The Reader will be able to search for Critics.

theRadish Prototype:

To begin with theRadish will only have Level 1, Amateur writing.  This will allow the bugs to be worked out of the system and provide a gauge of public reaction.  During this time works may be submitted for the eventual Level 2 Professional level.  Once there is enough material then Level 2 can be opened.  At first all Level 2 Professional works will be readable if not downloadable for free and once there is enough activity the pay to read function can be opened.

Of course it would take some serious money to successfully launch a printed book.  At some point theRadish may have enough money for this but that may be an unlikely eventuality.  More likely an Author or specific work may attract an Angel investor who could fund a large scale publishing effort.  At some point theRadish may have some expertise to assist in this effort.  Of course if pay to read electronic publishing catches on theRadish will be in a good position to play a part in this change.

theRadish EZ Reader:

In the beginning theRadish can offer downloadable Adobe Acrobat PDF files for the user to read when not connected to the Web.  The standard Adobe file viewer is not the ideal mechanism for offline reading.  It has too many menus and buttons which are confusing to the computer novice.  It would be entirely possible to build a specific reading application that would work with theRadish and provide an easy to use configurable program that could make reading on the computer as painless as possible.  Today people are purchasing more and more flat screens, some with additional width over a conventional monitor.  While this is intended for the screen to double as a DVD monitor it is also conducive to reading printed material.

theRadish EZ Reader Features:

  < The EZ Reader User may choose to display 1 to 4 pages at a time including magnification levels of less that one
     page.
  < The EZ Reader User may increase of decrease Font size.
  < The EZ Reader User may choose a Font for the display.
  < The EZ Reader User is provided quick links to the Table of Contents and/or Index if those are provided.
  < The Table of Contents and Index are displayed as Web Links to position the display at the referenced location.
  < The EZ Reader User will have simple Find, Next Page, Previous Page, and Jump to Page controls.
  < The EZ Reader will keep a directory of downloaded works with catalog and hard drive search facilities.