Listed below are some of the principles I'm trying to follow as I think about setting up Cabbages & Kings, and how to interact in the podcast and on social media.  These are in flux, entirely untested, and subject to change at any time.  Let me know how they can be improved.

  • Cabbages & Kings is for readers.
    • While I may interview authors, the goal is to engage with readers, about subject other readers will want to hear about.
    •  I don't accept ARCs and have no interest in being part of a launch tour.  I think that review blogs, author tours, and other marketing efforts are great things that help get books into the hands of readers.  I also have some ethical concerns about how those efforts play out in practice, and am choosing to duck serious engagement with those issues by just not being a place for book launch/marketing efforts.
    • I would like to engage with books, genres, and characters, not with fandom writ large or the latest drama.
    • That said, texts are inherently political, and pretending otherwise is like burying your head in the sand.  I expect that topics like representation, bias in the publishing process, and how worldbuilding reflects and/or reinforces outlooks will come up.  I just want those conversations to be rooted in the reading experience.
  • I am responsible for Cabbages & Kings
    • My name is Jonah Sutton-Morse.  My twitter handle is @jsuttonmorse.  Cabbages & Kings is (at least for now) entirely my project.  If and when I say something you want to engage with - good, bad, or otherwise, I'm responsible and I want to hear about it.
    • I intend to have guests on the show.  We'll talk about books, characters, subgenres and other things, and I hope to encourage frank and interesting discussions.  When talking extemporaneously, it's easy to make mistakes.  I hope that listeners will give us the benefit of assuming good faith, and will engage with me or the show when mistakes are made.
    • I expect that I and my guests will talk about books or elements that we disliked.  Criticism of a text is good and healthy.  Criticism of an author is generally not.  Deciding whether an author's views influence your reading is an interesting topic of discussion to be handled carefully.  Gushing praise for works and authors probably cannot happen often enough.
  • I welcome engagement beyond the podcast
    • There is a blog (updated infrequently), the podcast is on twitter, and so am I. 
    • There are no comments on the site.  I do (very much!) want feedback, I just don't have the experience to curate a healthy comment site.  
      • There's a feedback form!
      • There's space to indicate whether you'd like a response
      • There's also space to indicate whether it's OK to excerpt some or all of your comment in a podcast or blog post, and specify a level of attribution
    • The social media accounts have three goals
      • Notify about new episodes and keep people informed about the production process
      • Encourage active discussion of what I'm reading
      • Highlight other great discussions and reactions to texts
    • Authors, reviewers, and fans favor different sorts of social media engagement.  Here are my own thoughts.
      • For Cabbages & Kings
        • Until proven otherwise I welcome any and all feedback by whatever means.  Tweet the show.  Tweet me. Drop me a line.  Ask to be a guest.  Write something on your blog & let me know.  Just don't try to comment here.
        • Authors are welcome to comment when we're discussing your books (or anyone else's).  I think that author comments are often very interesting, but realize also that once a text is out there in the world, it's no longer yours alone.
      • When engaging with someone else's work
        • When announcing a podcast, I will only tag an author whose work we discussed if the conversation was universally positive, unless I've seen comments from the author about wanting more or less engagement.
        • When talking about a blog post or tweet by an individual, I'll reach out ahead of time to let them know.
        • If a post comes from a zine or institution, is an example of a trend, or just included in show notes, I won't notify in advance