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| SFReader Forums > SFReader > Ask The Expert > Starting a new e-zine | Forum Quick Jump
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crystalwizard
Forum Moderator
      
Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 5196
| Posted 2/17/2008 10:14 PM (GMT -5) |   | You should get an ISSN, yes. And they are free.
an ISBN is the unique number each book gets
the ISSN is the same thing, but for a serial publication, such as a magazine.
Here is where you can get both information about ISSNs AND apply for one:
www.loc.gov/issn/
Again, they are free. do NOT pay anyone to acquire one. | | Back to Top | | |
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Jordan Lapp
Ebony & Ivory
Date Joined Sep 2006
Total Posts : 2953
| Posted 2/18/2008 1:31 AM (GMT -5) | | Sounds like a fabulous idea.
I do have one concern, and I only mention it because we've run into it at EDF. Who is your target audience? Because themed issues usually attract people who are interested in those themes. I mean, someone who reads Westerns may not be interested in Dinosaur Clowns, or what not. You might get readers who only stick with you for one issue.
At EDF, we sometimes get people who read a sci-fi story in our pages, then stick around until the next day and when they see a contemporary literary piece they unsubscribe. I mean, our subscriber numbers are pretty high, and because it's flash people are more willing to stick around until they get something they like, but with your format, this problem might be amplified.
But good luck. Let me know when it's up and I'll link to it, and even post about it in the EDF forums. We've all gotta help each other out!
Jordan Lapp
Managing Editor
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4557
| Posted 2/18/2008 1:28 PM (GMT -5) | | | | |
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H.P. Lovesauce
Necronomicondiment
Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 585
| Posted 2/19/2008 3:55 PM (GMT -5) | | | | |
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Nathan Jerpe
Acolyte
Date Joined Nov 2007
Total Posts : 241
| Posted 2/20/2008 8:50 AM (GMT -5) | | | | |
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4557
| Posted 2/20/2008 1:56 PM (GMT -5) | | | | |
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Swashbuckler
One-man sword-and-sorcery machine
Date Joined Mar 2006
Total Posts : 1286
| Posted 2/20/2008 2:14 PM (GMT -5) | | I wonder if a better approach would be to publish your ezine for a while first, without necessarily adhering to a specific theme of "Westerns" or "dinosaurs" or whatever -- just publish good adventure stories of any type -- and then introduce themed issues down the road once you're established.
I suggest this because it seems to me you'll have trouble establishing an identity and a core audience if you start with themes right off the bat. Word about your ezine will spread slowly, and you'll possibly even have trouble attracting authors at first. If you go eclectic from the outset, however, you can draw western fans and dinosaur fans and time travel fans, etc., from the get-go. And if the fiction is good, they'll come back and word will spread faster among a more diverse crowd of fans.
Just my two cents, and I could be wrong. Good luck with the ezine! The world can always use another good source for fiction.
Steve Goble
Visit my blog, Swords Against Boredom, for news on published fiction and upcoming stories. | | Back to Top | | |
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Jordan Lapp
Ebony & Ivory
Date Joined Sep 2006
Total Posts : 2953
| Posted 2/20/2008 2:25 PM (GMT -5) | | True about the authors. Sometimes, if an antho has too specific a theme (like the Machine of Death antho), I won't submit to it because I won't be able to submit the story elsewhere if it gets rejected. You might run into the same thing.
Take your proposed "western themed" issue, for instance:
Fact is, there just aren't very many writers of westerns (witness the closing of 1018Press' magazine, which went under before the actual publisher did). At EDF, we've gotten a grand total of two, and even those two had other speculative elements. If you're not SUPER well known, and you put out a call for westerns, you might not get enough quality to publish a full magazine.
I understand that you want to do things differently in order to stand out, but I agree with Steve here. Look at Shimmer magazine: They had a pirate-themed issue, but they published regular issues for a while before that.
Jordan Lapp
Managing Editor
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Bill Ward
Biblioholic
Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1738
| Posted 2/20/2008 4:09 PM (GMT -5) | | I agree, just state you are open to all sorts of sub-genres and list them by name (yes we take westerns, sword and sorcery, we like dinosaurs, crazy adventures, etc.).
I think just being open to and publishing adventure fiction these days is enough to set you apart from the crowd, without doing themed issues. I think themes are best left to anthologies and established magazines, as a once or twice a year thing--the submission logistics alone dictate that before one even considers audience interest.
Another thing comes to mind: paying close attention to the look of the ezine. I've been turned off by so many with cramped frames and ads all over the place...you get the idea. Not saying you need something glitzy, just something clean and professional looking--people are resistant enough to reading stories online, giving them an ugly format won't help.
Some good looking ezines would be Ideomancer, Aberrant Dreams, Chizine, Clarkesworld, Fantasy, Flashing Swords, EDF, and Spacesuits & Sixguns.
billwardwriter.com | | Back to Top | | |
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Daniel Ausema
Acolyte
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 302
| Posted 2/20/2008 4:44 PM (GMT -5) | | To piggy-back on Bill's post, what Fantasy especially gets right is new content 5 days a week (and even a predictable pattern to that new content--fiction on Monday, reviews on Tuesday, interviews on Wednesday, etc.). Strange Horizons too, though they don't structure it as well, in my opinion. Clarkesworld has become one of my most respected ezines, and they do what they do well (so it's a good example of uncluttered, intuitive design), but having new content only once a month (or once every quarter as Subterranean Online does) isn't likely to be a smart way to begin unless you have some other way to gain notice and respectability (Subterranean has its connection to the publisher and solicited stories from big names, and Clarkesworld has well-known names as editors, a half/half balance of new talent and solicited stories, as well as initially having its connection to a popular book-selling source, which has now switched to a small publisher more or less). But for most ezines, going the route of frequent and varied new content seems the smartest way to go.
Twigs and Brambles (my writing blog) | | Back to Top | | |
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H.P. Lovesauce
Necronomicondiment
Date Joined Jul 2007
Total Posts : 585
| Posted 2/21/2008 6:47 AM (GMT -5) | | | I think Alex should also be aware, as no doubt some here can attest, that this venture would be a boatload of work. | | Back to Top | | |
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