Ongoing Projects

FRANCHISE ME!

“I want to franchise the franchise.” – Charles Bernstein

With FRANCHISE ME, Medsker comes across as resourceful and dazzling as the Odyssean explorer Baudelaire insisted upon for the poet’s quest. Often funny and sometimes sobering, FRANCHISE ME exposes the difficult-to-reconcile distractions, detritus, and rubble that surround our modern lives… yet, also culls glowing artifacts from this refuse. This is a poetry project of brain shocks, visions, and encounters with time and being.”- The Institute for Speculative Media

THE IDEA

The idea is that, for a yearly fee of $10 dollars,  anyone may have free reign to publish under my name (or with me as a co-author). As my own name grows in stature, so shall the franchisee’s.

THE AGREEMENT

Under the terms of this agreement, the franchisee will have use of the Josh Medsker (JM) name.The franchisee may publish any work that he or she chooses under the name Josh Medsker provided it meets my Product Creation and Distribution (PCD) Guidelines.

THE PCD GUIDELINES

All work published under the name Josh Medsker must adhere to all of the following guidelines. It must:Be free of racist, sexist, or homophobic material.Feature the name Josh Medsker as the author or co-author of the work, if published.Include at least one JM approved word per work.Follow a JM approved theme.Include JM’s Bio and Photo on the publication’s About the Author section. The JM Bio and Photo are provided after the franchisee contract is signed. (This only applies to purely JM-authored work. Co-authors may include their own bio and photo as well.)

JM APPROVED THEMES AND WORDS

–Frequent Themes–

Death, The Futility of Language, Romantic Love, Familial Love, Identity, Alienation, Oppression, Rebirth, Psychedelic Experience, Community, Place, Class, Music.

–Frequent Words–

sky, wind, time, poetry, white, hands, back, words

EXAMPLE of the PROCESS

So let’s say that Rob Boberson creates a poem called “White Sky”. And it reads like this:

 

“White Sky”

Alone floating in the white night sky
my back to the tide, lost in my own reverie
until a gust pulls me back, earthbound and down.
 ___
This poem would qualify for franchising, because it follows JM joint themes of identity and alienation, and includes JM-approved words such as “sky”, “white”, and so forth.
Mr. Boberson’s next step would be to submit the work to literary magazines of his choosing. Should he find a home for “White Sky”, he would publish it under the name “Josh Medsker”, notifying the publication of his pen name beforehand, of course. Mr. Boberson would supply the publication with a JM Bio and Photo, unless he chooses to be a co-author, in which case he would submit his own bio and photo as well.
After publication, Mr. Boberson will reference “White Sky” as his own work. However, when making reference to the work, either on his personal webpage or another venue, Mr. Boberson should state that “White Sky” was published as Josh Medsker, or co-authored with Josh Medsker (whichever the case may be).
Hopefully this example will assuage any fears you may have about publication rights and author self-presentation.

If you are interested in speaking with me about a franchise contact, or have any questions about the process or the overall project, get in touch (joshmedsker@gmail.com)

Thank you for your interest! JM