Topic: SP 51??

Indeed, Mike says he is almost done…and it would be good to have him come back in here and let people know what's up.

I'll nudge!

tappity-tappity-tap.

I wish I had better news, but I was basically told by Mike that it's his busy time at his freelance work, and the magazine is coming along, but not done with a hopeful middle of oct…I am praying we don't run into the last attempt's problem and have all the articles go hopelessly out of date before they are ready to show anyone.

I would like to find a way to get to the monthly schedule this magazine needs. I'm not sure we're going to accomplish that with things as they are. If we can't find more help on SP! I'm not sure what the next step is right now.

Boy-this is almost sounding like one of my projects that I rely too heavily on others with.  
GJ

If it POSSIBLE for me to take it over and do it all, I would.

Are you talking about my project or yours? lol.
GJ

ha, i do enough on your projects already....

Not in the last few months you haven't.
GJ

Do you just need a person to co-ordinate this publication…someone who just gets all the contents together and then submits them to a production person?
GJ

Basically, Yes, Jim. Kinda what I have tried to "combine forces" with people before. I keep trying to get across that we can all DO MORE working together than having 4 some zines that none of them really get out there right.

Okay…hmmmm….
GJ

Need to perfect the art of cloning…. My fear if I was ever cloned is that I would have to find a way to kill the clone because two of us can't exist in the same continuum…

Off topic, I know….

Hopefully SP! 51 will surface soon and we can figure out a way to get a very regular release schedule.

As I was saying to Ian off board, I'd be interested in helping to co-ordinate the publication but wouldn't be able to do it as a monthly..but that's only if he's discussed this the others who have shown interest in the position prior to me.

GJ

Maybe switch it to a quarterly format?  

Realistically, do we really need a magazine like this monthly?  If you look around the market for similar publications, you don't really see anything on a monthly schedule. And I don't think it has anything to do with no one else thinking to do so.  

From Dimestore's side of things, is there any real benefit to making this a monthly publication over a quarterly?  

It seems like something worth discussing anyway.  

Anyway, aside from all that, this is something that I'm really behind and if there is anything I can contribute, please let me know.   

I think part of the benefit would be to discuss what's available each month to order. In the direct market, strict release dates aren't so important, but if people are releasing things for stores to order from Haven, for example, there is an element of time sensitivity.

I'm almost sure I mentioned this elsewhere…but here's my take on SP mag.

Why?

What I mean is what are we doing it for? Is it to showcase Small Press books coming down the hill in the last…month, two months, quarter or even year?

Is it a preview of what's yet to come, show casing reviews, interviews, and previews?

Is it some homage to small press going back 30 years?

Is it a review mag of things past and present including mini comics no one can even get their hands on anymore?

Is it a catalog?

What's the thing for? When you can answer that, you can then build your framework.

For me personally, I think a small press Wizard style mag is totally doable, especially on a quarterly basis. With some business sense applied I think it would be a wonderful thing.

First off, make it primarily a downloaded PDF ezine. And make it free right on the front page of the website. Yes, I said free. Don't make people register, or jump through fifty hoops to get there, just let em have it. We'll get to why later.

Next, have a print version set up for sale on a POD basis. This not only removes the need to pay out a big chunk of money for a print run, it also saves storage space. If you want a batch for a convention, plan ahead a bit, and have them on hand. You can carry the ones that don't sell out of that run at future cons, but you don't have to guesstimate what your print to sales ratio will be and risk eating that.

Now the free part. Look, as much as I'd love to sit here and say we'll all make millions on downloadable content and comics…that's crazy talk Spongebob, and you all know it. And forcing people who just show up to join and go through a crazy registration process so we can hammer them with unwanted spam is lame. If they like it, they'll come of their own volition. The SPA has in the past accumulated massive email lists of these so called "members" who might have hit the site once a year on accident. Truth be told, that approach was less than effective. So if we're serious about the new approach, then we need to walk the walk and dump the old ways for something new. Offering even a casual visitor the chance to download some real content for free is a great way to build love for the community. If the production is good, people will keep coming, and want to look around more. It's how we catch rats on the farm these days. You gotta do more than put out a bit of cheese to get those wily buggers.

So what I'm proposing is we produce an ezine that features full length reviews, a 'spotlight of the month' preview where we feature someone's CURRENTLY available book with an interview and some preview pages, an UP TO DATE catalog section where we sport the Distro wares a bit, Some prose by guest writers, pin ups and such by guest artists, and an editorial by whoever's crazy enough to run this thing.

That's my proposal. Feel free to rip it at will.

We're on the same page, Cary… I would see it as an opportunity to spotlight existing books and to preview things coming up… Get some ads out there for people interested, interviews, how to's, etc… Heck, you should have a feature on lettering… tip of the month or something… Get a handful or more of creators involved to do similar tips and tricks and suddenly we have a combination of indie pop culture and a creator how to being published on a regular basis.  As far as POD goes, don't know how that would work, but limited print runs to support what creators what to buy and distribute at cons and such and also an amount that could be determined by a bit of trial and error over a few issues as we establish readership.

FREE PDF is the way to go, 100%. Registration should be optional to get people on a mailing list where they can check if they want to receive the kick start and check if they want to be notified when the latest SP! is available for download.  At least throw the option out there.

Yeah see I completely spaced having a tips and tricks section. That was one of the things I used to BUY Wizard for and they dumped it in favor of more space for Image crap. I'd totally hook up a lettering tip section. In fact, I'd be more than willing to help with production on this, provided it's a quarterly. I simply don't have the time to commit to a monthly and I'm not leaving people hanging by over-committing. I know some folks don't mind that, but I do. I think we have the people in place right now to turn in a pretty snazzy looking quarterly book personally.

I think the trick is that if there are enough people contributing content, it wouldn't be so hard to get a monthly schedule going… X pages of articles, Y pages of reviews, Z pages of previews, and the rest of catalog/ordering info = indy goodness.

Well I don't disagree that the folks are here, I just think the sheer cat wrangling aspect to start with would be better suited to a quarterly. Once you get your core group rocking it wouldn't be that hard to switch to a monthly, even if you had to stockpile content so you could have that type stuff in the can and ready to rock, you know?