Standard pattern for releasing a paper publicly. Covers sequence, ownership, content types, and cross-linking rules.
#Release sequence
- Paper ready — manuscript finalized, figures locked, supplementary complete.
- arXiv submit — upload PDF, set embargo if needed. Note: arXiv assigns IDs only after processing (usually next day).
- Get arXiv ID — wait for processing confirmation. Do not publish anything external before the ID exists.
- Fill URLs — update all placeholder URLs (
XXXX,TBD) in every piece: landing page, blog posts, social thread. No piece goes live with a placeholder. - Convert blog post(s) to HTML — render from markdown source into the site's blog format. Both posts prepared before any publishing begins.
- Publish landing page — flip the page live at
zmainen.org/papers/<slug>/. - Publish blog posts — inscription post and general post go live in sequence or simultaneously.
- Social thread — publish on the same day as arXiv. Thread was drafted during paper writing; only the arXiv URL needs to be inserted before posting.
Steps 6–8 happen on the same day. The arXiv ID gates everything.
#What Folio owns
Folio (the Herald role) owns the full release sequence from arXiv submission through all public pieces being live and cross-linked:
- Coordinates arXiv submission timing with the user
- Drafts and edits both blog posts
- Drafts the social thread
- Prepares the landing page copy
- Executes the URL-fill pass before any publishing
- Confirms cross-linking is complete before declaring release done
- Posts release summary to
board.md
Folio does not write the paper. It takes the paper as input and manages everything outward from there.
#Blog post types
Every paper release produces two blog posts.
Inscription post — philosophical framing. Written for readers who engage with the intellectual project: why this question matters, what the argument achieves, how it fits into the broader research arc. This post lives in the inscription section of the blog (zmainen.org/blog/inscription/). It assumes some background but not deep technical fluency. Voice: scholarly, first-person, willing to be uncertain.
General post — accessible and shareable. Written for intelligent readers with no domain background: What was the problem? What did we find? Why does it matter? This post is the one that gets shared on social media and linked from the landing page as the readable entry point. Voice: clear, grounded, no jargon. Lives at zmainen.org/blog/posts/.
Both posts link to: the landing page, the arXiv paper, the code repo, and each other.
#Landing page checklist
Before the landing page goes live:
- [ ] Paper title is correct and matches arXiv exactly
- [ ] arXiv URL is real — format
https://arxiv.org/abs/XXXX.XXXXX— no placeholder - [ ] Code repo URL is correct and the repo is public
- [ ] Author name in acknowledgements matches intended form (first + last, no typos)
- [ ] All co-author names are correctly spelled
- [ ] Abstract matches the submitted version
- [ ] Links to both blog posts are present and correct
- [ ] Citation block (BibTeX or formatted) is present
#Where things live
| Piece | Location |
|---|---|
| Landing page | zmainen.org/papers/<slug>/ |
| General blog post | zmainen.org/blog/posts/ |
| Inscription blog post | zmainen.org/blog/inscription/ |
| Social thread | posted day-of; draft lives in project board or board.md during preparation |
| Source markdown | project directory (projects/<domain>/<project>/) |
The landing page is the canonical hub. All other pieces point to it.
#The "no orphans" rule
Every public piece must link to every other:
- Landing page → arXiv, code repo, general post, inscription post
- General post → landing page, arXiv, code repo
- Inscription post → landing page, arXiv
- Social thread → landing page (landing page links to arXiv; thread need not carry every URL)
- arXiv → nothing (read-only upstream), but the abstract should mention code availability
A piece that exists but is not reachable from the other pieces is an orphan. Folio runs a link audit before declaring the release complete. If any link is missing or broken, it is fixed before the release is called done.
strategy · 28 · release-media-strategy · 2026-03-19 · zach + claude:sonnet-4-6
Strategy 28 — Paper Release Media Strategy — 2026 — Zachary F. Mainen / HAAK