Editorial Oversight Board Requirements and Guidelines

The Editorial Oversight Board (EOB) has two functions: to select and arrange any approved fiction into the volume of the anthology, and to maintain oversight and provide redress for both the screening and editorial review staffs.

Volume Compilation

The EOB is responsible for the following:

· Layout and design of each volume and its contents

· Determining an issue's theme

· Compiling and coordinating the inclusion of extra materials such as author's notes, forwards, acknowledgements, etc.

Once the administrator, screeners, and editorial review team have approved enough submissions (a minimum of 10), the EOB is tasked with the layout and design of the anthology issues. In the event of a large pool of stories, the EOB chooses which ones go into each collection - an issue's theme, if there is one. They also coordinate efforts to gather and include as many extra materials as is reasonable, such as forwards, notes, acknowledgements, author and editor comments - honoring the author's choices in all cases where possible.

Mediation

The EOB is responsible for the following:

The second function of the EOB deals with the internal functions of the anthology in a support capacity. If there is conflict between two staff members - in any role - it is the EOB who will step in for conflict resolution. They will also address reallocation of staff if someone feels either underutilized or in over their head. If an editor is having difficulty deciding about a particular submission it their queue and needs someone to bounce ideas off for a few minutes, the EOB is there; the editors work independently, but not in isolation.

Likewise, if a submission is widely recognized and the objectivity of the staff comes into question, the EOB may step in to make an additional determination on the acceptance or rejection of a story. We hope that those instances are rare, but we recognize that they may happen, since we are seeking already published stories as well as new works.

EOB Staff Composition

The EOB will consist of no less than three and no more than five members. Ideally, it will be made up of a rotating group of people from the four functional areas of the project: technical, administrative, screening, and editorial review, as well as one of the other adjunct staff - or someone completely independent of the anthology's main operations. A consulting editor, if you will.

Initially, the EOB will consist of the administrator and at least two people who either volunteer or are tapped from the staff. We will seek suggestions from the staff on who should fill the other two slots either from internal or external sources. Once the anthology has made it through a production run, those positions will rotate (with the exception of the administrator), but a member at large will be either nominated from within, or selected from outside in the event of the administrator needs to step aside due to conflict of interest. We hope this will be a temporary problem, since the administrative staff currently consists of only one person. We'll be talking to people about being assignment administrator once we get up and running, which will eliminate this bottleneck.

General Function

Except in those rare occasions described above, the EOB has no input into the actual selection of the stories for any given anthology volume. Staff members can volunteer for the Board in lieu of another position, or can occupy a place there as long as submission volume and the pace of production allows.

The EOB does, in some areas, craft policy or procedure with absolute authority. They are expected to do so with input from the staff (either public or private) and may suggest changes to existing procedures. They may be required to do outreach to the community to encourage participation and submission of works, or craft special edition volumes and send out announcements.

Mostly though, in their moderation mode, they are there to lend an ear, a hand, settle disagreements, and makes sure the staff, at all levels, are getting what they need from the process and each other.