Thursday, August 30, 2007
A little off the cuff survey
I was thinking about revamping my 'zine the other day (yeah, I know I do that more than I change my underwear but bear with me) and it got me to thinking: what would I change about Pulp Legacy if I was given unlimited power (like the Infinity Gauntlet or something). Then I thought, what would everyone else change? So here's my question: What thing or things would you change about PL? It could be the most minute thing or it could be a broad sweeping change. Both posts and comments will work on this one (I'll tell you what I'd change when everyone has weighed in).
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10 comments:
I'd take us away from paper and into CD-Rom territory, which was quickly shot down about a year ago. There's something tactile about paper, but it would be infinitely cheaper for us to move into this realm, where we could do video and audio things, too, besides the print version.
Other than that, just getting more voices in the group. I instituted the Features (which will contain TWO surprises this time) and I think that was a huge shift for some of us.
I agree that Jason's Features section has been one of the biggest (and best) changes that has come down the pike since I've joined (Lord, have I really been doing this for 5 years?). I still don't know about doing the regular anthology in a CD-Rom format, although I could see how doing a "best of" yearly edition or the "Pulp Legacy Fiction" issues would be a good format for CD-Rom. Opinions, anyone?
I'd move PL to complete and unadulterated digital heaven.
Online.
By going online we have and are able to provide instantaneous access to new readers/ members. And we have a shot at planned content instead of last minute retread.
And cheaper annual fees for service provider than paper and printing.
And much less work for the Jesus.
I still like the ol' get-in-the-mail APA. It's tangible and how I prefer to read. I can't read an on-line APA while riding the bus. There's something extra special about seeing your own work in print that trumps on-line. What happens if your Internet provider is down?
I do, however, agree with Travis that it would be a good idea to have something on-line such as a best-of edition.
Hmmm...responses have been slow, so I'll try and spark some comments with what I'd change.
More theme issues. They really seem to resound well with our crew (or maybe I just like reading them). But anything to get the troops excited is definitely a plus.
More innovation. I know that I sometimes (okay, alot of times) phone in my work but I do try new things to shake things up now and again (i.e., the pinup girls, guest reviews, etc). Yeah, it's nice to see people like Marlan with the same 'zine going for 50+ issues, but bring me a different side dish with my main course now and again.
More fiction contributions. Again, I'm probably the biggest hypocrite there is when it comes to fiction (more so because I'm a lazy ass than anything else) but I've got a good half dozen yarns that I need to get polished for publication. This ties into the previous idea with new innovations as well as the next idea but if we can generate more excitement I think we can keep people coming back for more (and contributing as well).
Expanding our horizons. I've talked to Seth about putting together something for Chicago, like a booth in the Artists Alley, whereby we would sell a product of artwork and prose or both (and his logic destroys me every time). This will not only generate revenue for our coffers but should land us new recruits. And you wouldn't believe the number of people I let read the book who ask me, "do you guys sell this thing?"
I know that some of these ideas are on the far side of unrealistic, but remember I did say "if I had the Infinity Gauntlet" or some such. And I do like the idea of branching out to a digital domain, as it were, which is why I started the blog. Keep the ideas and opinions coming. If we get enough people onboard, we can make some good things happen.
I would add more CONTRIBUTING members.
That'd be my No. 1 thing. I want writers, not readers. I want more people to contribute to the APA. More stories, more art, more everything.
Less members who don't contribute anything.
Hey, guys! First of all: Arnett: are smoking crack in that photo? I'm just saying...
As for going digital: If we went this route, we could do it all with much less effort than we are currently expending. Conversion of Word and Publisher docs to digital format is easier than ever, assembling many PDFs into one "magazine" is a snap and the stapler jams way fewer times (assembly crew joke)! As Arnett points out, inclusion of video, audio, pictures, live web links, all kinds of cool stuff can be done this way that a hard-copy doesn't allow. Those that help with assembly know how difficult it is to arrange for everyone to be present. We can still have "assembly night" but we'll burn and label CDs instead of seeing who can amass the most paper cuts. Copy counts? No problem, just burn another one! Each member of the APA would receive their disc to view the latest issue, or could peruse it online. Either way, you could certainly print out the entire issue, or sections thereof, if you so desire.
And how about a special, end of the year, "Pulpy Issue"? We could assemble the Pulpy winning features, art, etc. onto one disc and burn loads of copies to pass out to potential members.
Seth says, "I would add more CONTRIBUTING members. That'd be my No. 1 thing. I want more people to contribute to the APA. More stories, more art, more everything." Look at how many people blog these days, that's all the writing MOST people (in my opinion) do now! Capturing and converting blog pages into the APA is easy. Contributions would certainly increase if we could include blog pages from people who don't write anything else, right? I know from my standpoint adding one more thing to my "to do" list is practically a deal-breaker. If I was doing a blog already and could simply send a link and have someone magically convert my blog into my 'zine, I would.
OK, here's my final thing: In order to recruit more talent to this APA, we HAVE to give the impression that we give a damn about what we're doing. I know everyone involved cares deeply about it, but by sticking to print, we limit our appearance to what we can afford. People these days are looking for: High tech, low cost, color artwork... without going digital we will be able to achieve any two of these items. Go digital and we have all three! Simple as that.
CJ
DIGITAL DIGITAL DIGITAL
I don't know...I'm torn between going completely digital and keeping things as they are, publishing wise. Both sides have valid arguments but I'm not sure if one side has an edge over the other.
You know, I actually talked to Seth about doing a "Best of" edition digitally as well as archiving all of the previous issues digitally. I think that a year end "Best of" digital issue is a great idea (as well as useful recruiting tool) and would be the natural starting point to test the waters, so to speak, about going digital. Anyone else?
Absolutely that would be a logical starting point. We could do a "Pulpy Issue" reprinting (digitally) the winners and have everyone submit a "Best of 2007" list of whatever they choose; music, movies, tv, etc.
Archiving the old issues needs to be done as well. Seth mentions it every once in a while at assembly, we talk about it, then we don't do anything about it (imagine that). It takes lots of time for a project of that scope. But it could be done over a period of say, a year. We could release "season 1" first to much fanfare, maybe do presale on "season 2"... ok, maybe not.
Likely everyone will have some issue with any change that is made or not made. I have my opinions, I voiced them earlier today. In my mind, there are 3 main questions to the digital/not digital discussion:
1. TIME - is there ever enough?
2. COST - the price of everything is going up, always has, always will, where do we draw the line?
3. NEW MEMBERS - what do we have to offer them?
This is getting long-winded, so I'll stop for tonight. Let me just leave you with this thought, "Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb." Adam West as Batman
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