At this meeting was DM – David K. Montoya . SB – Stephanie J. Bardy . AR – Alan Russo . KA – Kevin Adams . KH – Kristofor Harris . WE – Walter G. Esselman . JS – Joe M. Sparks . EA – Eddie Aguirre

Jayzomon/DarkMyth Board Meeting


12pm






Treasurer’s Report (Kevin):

Starting Total – 13871.70

Money in – 6105.68

Money Out – 2253.26

Balance - 17724.12


Secretary’s Report –Can not present the minutes to be approved as there are changes to be made.


Business arising from the minutes – The Treasurer’s report is inaccurate so an audit must be done to fix that before the minutes can be presented for approval. David will submit the financials for the company for the audit.



Department Reports


Myth Mart – David is covering for Alan as he is absent for his report.

1 – Sales have been positive.

2. Since launch we have made 204.88

3. When Jim Bates’s book arrives pre-orders will go out.

4. Wants a vote to start charging sales tax. Taking it from the sale of the item, is eating into our profit. David seconds the vote. The vote is passed and we will start charging tax. David has to look into the actual tax that must be charged including international tax.


Advertising – Things have slowed down a bit, in talks with Dawn DeBraal who does the newsletter, this month we are finishing up with Sweetycat press. There is spreadsheet. Because of the types of podcasts we have, we can bring in a larger network of advertising.


Circulation Department/Social Media – No report from Jeff Young, Termination of his position is being considered for a replacement. He has not fulfilled the job he was hired for as an assistant. Social Media presence is growing, people are looking for guidelines for book submissions which Stephanie will be working on and getting up on the Facebook pages.


Magazine – Numbers have not dipped due to the new guidelines. Art submissions are up. Submissions for the magazine monthly are coming fast and furious. The quality of our submissions has improved. Banner ads are running constantly, a free magazine is now generating passive income.



Dark Myth Publications

  1. Editor in Chief Report – Jim Bates and Chris Bice’s books have just launched. Chris Bice remained on the Amazon hot new release’s for a week. Jim is beyond thrilled with his book. We published that book from picking him up to publishing in less than a month. September release is now in the works, Liberty’s Run is in the editing process. Our 2022 line-up is filling out. Walter asks how Chris got into the top Amazon list and wants to know how he got into that. Stephanie answers with a suggest of joining writing groups and gaining followers that way.


  1. Publisher Report – Steph covered a lot of it in her report. We have produced a lot of work in the last few months. Editing takes a break for August, Red Hills, Green Vines and Dried Monkey Meat for Dinner will be released in August under our brand new imprint Lily Mae Press, which is non-fiction. Walter in September, October is Natural Instincts for Zombie Works. Nothing for November.


Dark Myth Comics – Kris is working on getting the comics uploaded to Comicology. Focusing on the short story. Kris feels something that would benefit the comic book area, is that we need new content. He mentions an anthology, says it’s a great way to garner interest and income. Kris points out that a book between 40 and 72 pages is a good size and you can make money. Printing costs can be huge on a larger book. Set the bar at a level where we aren’t just saying yes to everything. It inspires people to try harder and build brand awareness. David feels we should move forward with it. Stephanie seconds. Kris shares an idea of having a Luchadores haunted wrestling theme. David jumps on it.


PCE/Scarefaire – Passed the mark of getting it together, ran into a road bump about having a maze, Fairground put a stop to maze because they are having a maze. Doing a Circus carnival instead. Eddie lists the entertainment for the carnival. Brought on a new act, with 6 new characters bringing our total to 20 characters walking around the event scaring people. Starting on the marketing phase. Printed flyers. David uploaded a digital copy to the group chat for us to look at. Eddie going to attend two more events to hand out flyers. Now has vendors wanting to be part of the event but we have to turn them away. So he is now signing people up for PCE and next years Scarefaire.


David presents surprise to Board regarding our own convention hall. He has been speaking to several investors, the outcome of Scarefaire and PCE 2022, will decide whether this investor reaches out to other investors and consider investing with us.


JayZoModcast – Moving along pretty well, got all the scheduling all mapped out. Joe was late due to editing one of the podcasts. Joe asks about something, David says its just an idea at the moment that he is building on. Joe is working on Penance. Smooth gravy says Joe. Stephanie presents a podcast that may be joining the network called The Whiskey Sisters. Victoria Daniels and Lillian Walker. They are going to be unfiltered and more directed. Voicing their opinions, they will be backing things up with fact and research. They will be anonymous, hence the names, because they both lead very public lives and must remain anonymous.


OCC – Hit next milestone, the end of stage 1, all chapters were to be in, but we only got 7 out of ten. Everything was sent to David, he says everything is set and the judges have their pieces to judge. Walter had sent David and idea for business cards to pass out. Just waiting on judges now.


JPWI – No report.




Old Business –


Paper Djinn update – there was no response to the monetary offer of the purchase. The offer has now been withdrawn, and we have been able to secure authors from them anyway. David feels it is a dead brand and a waste of money.


Facebook page Dark Myth – please go and like the page. Brand awareness. David posts the link to the Facebook page.


Elmvale Sci-Fi event – our time had been moved, we got bumped, we are earlier in the day. Myth Mart has their slot in the vendors room. Because of the shipping cost to Canada Stephanie doesn’t anticipate a lot of sales from Canada but it is giving us exposure.


Catalogue – waiting for Jenna to have a breather before she starts putting it together. David talks about a comic he bought that came with a bookmark that had a QR code and he initially thought it was a good idea, but then realized that he was just going to throw it away so it would be a waste of time and money. That a cheap little catalogue would be a better way to go. Kris suggests RA Direct for printing.


David is working on the 4 page comic for Scarefaire.




New Business –


Open Contract Art Edition – Basics is the first round is sketch art, people will be selected from that, then next round will be line art, 5 artists will move on from that, round three is pen and ink, moving from there will be two artists and that round will be adding colour. Prizes are 200 dollars grand prize, a booth at PCE, and placement on Myth Mart, second is 100 and placement on Myth Mart, each will have royalties placed on it so that they artist will continue to earn income after the initial win. Third prize is 50. David seconds the motion and Stephanie thirds it, and it is put in motion.


Kevin also brings up the calendar again, and it is discussed, and Walter offers to help with the selection process. Stephanie had to decline full participation due to her workload. The suggestion of an email conversation was proposed for the selection for the calendar, and it was accepted. She realizes she can’t say no. Walter’s help is greatly appreciated and accepted.

David requests an art submission from Kris for September’s 100 issue.


David jumps in, he discusses handing off the ordering of Myth Mart stock to someone else. He asks the Board to allow him to reinstate the Print Production Coordinator, Gary Falls Jr. is David’s suggestion. Everyone approves. He won’t be a member of the Board he will be an employee.


Stephanie presents Policy #071021A regarding harassment within and without the company and the standard of conduct by employees within the company regarding interactions with colleagues or the outside public. Walter seconds and David thirds and it is passed.


David presents Policy #070821 (Alan Russo’s Policy) To establish rules and regulations for Myth Mart moving forward as a subsidiary of The JayZoMon/Dark Myth Company. It is voted and passed.


David presents Policy #071021 regarding the guideline for Dark Myth Publications and all of its imprints. It is voted on and passed. He does mention that he must go back in and change the prices as Amazon has altered their prices again. Kris suggests a pay trade change to a fluid rate from a fixed rate so as not to lock us in. Prices subject to change due to current trends. David makes the necessary changes. Also adding “at the company’s discretion”. David adds 7.9. ‘All prices are subject to change, at the company’s discretion and without warning.’


David closes meeting.


Next meeting: August 8th, 2021 at 12pm PST