| Anybody still here? |
[Jan. 2nd, 2006|12:10 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
OK, it's a new year. Let's try to make this work, eh?
I propose the first quarterly issue (e-zine) to be released March 1, with materials to be submitted by Feb 21.
Contents:
- fanfic
- original fic
- fanart
- original art
- reviews of BL anime/manga
- reviews of slashable anime/manga
This provides a variety of things at various creativity levels, so it should be all good, right?
Comment with what you're going to provide. If it's a review, please provide the title of the series and which volume(s) you're reviewing. I'll provide a template thing for reviews. |
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| Poll! And membership drive? |
[Jun. 19th, 2005|11:20 pm] |
Okay, is anyone still here?
Poll #516362
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllAre you still interested in the studio?
So, I'm planning on putting a call for members in the yaoi community. I think we should just do quarterly issues, with whatever people want to put in. If anyone wants to do, say, a specific-fandom-only issue/subissue, feel free; I'll get it onto the internet. I just can't think of themes.
On the topic of zines, I still have like 20 of the Grusel books. I think I'll try to sell them in the yaoi community as well.
I also thought we could include something like manga/anime/toy/doujin reviews, if people want to write but don't have time for a story or art. It wouldn't even have to be BL, or even very slashable, necessarily. One of the ratings could be 'slash potential' or somesuch.
And on that note, I need to sleep. Badly. |
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| Next zine info |
[Jan. 9th, 2005|04:19 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  busy | ] |
New zine!
Hopefully I got your attention. I would like to have the next zine available online before mid-February. Since it's just online, I won't have to take time to get it copied or spend money doing so, and the layout will be much easier. Also, I think having a free non-explicit version and a paid version with the explicit bits put back in is a good idea. By 'paid' I mean like a quarter or so, nothing too pricey. Or something like a minimum donation of 25 cents, but if they want to give more, fine.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) anacoluthon said I could use a story she's doing for an FQF when she finishes it.
I'm putting in the story that Torquere rejected for not being quite what they were looking for, whatever that means.
raphaellover said I could snag some of the illos she did for her children's lit class of Harry Potter.
Anyone else have anything they want to put in?
For Animazement, if we want to do another print zine and/or sell the 20 copies of Gruselgeschichten I have still sitting around (sold 3, plus 1 to Mo, 1 to Beth, and 2 I gave as gifts), one of you will have to do that, because I'll be in Munich. |
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| Site update -- live. |
[Oct. 1st, 2004|07:15 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
Check it out. Make sure it works. (I tried the form, and it seems to work ok.) Make sure everything's kosher.
Pre-orders will be open tomorrow or Sunday (depending on how tired I am when I get home tomorrow evening.) |
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| Future directions for the studio |
[Sep. 30th, 2004|09:00 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  hopeful | ] |
I'd like to see more frequent (and bigger) publications. Erin suggested bimonthly or so e-zines. I think that's a good idea, *if* I can get enough content. It wouldn't be everyone every time, necessarily, unless you're feeling particularly prolific. Or, maybe, if there's something you're writing and would like to serialize because it's rather long. We could have color art.
I'd like people to pay for this. Something minimal, like a quarter or 50 cents. Nothing too drastic. And I hear that bitpass can support this sort of thing, though I have no idea whether they also support fee-for-real-thing, like the print zine. (I asked the person who recommended it, since I couldn't quite find anything on the website.) At any rate, the download fee for the e-zines would go toward printing costs for the Animazement zine, for example.
The print zine could have a best-of online part, as well as all new print-only stuff. And if we sell enough e-zines, printing with color wouldn't be prohibitively expensive.
I'd like to grow. To get more members. I'm considering putting an "Interested in joining? Send writing/art samples to [address]" on the site. For new members, I'd do the initial screening, then put the good writers up to general vote. We could do guest contributions in the online zines.
We need to get the word out. The Yaoicon flyers (which cost me $15 to print and mail, btw) are a good start, but we need to get presence. Artists Alley at Animazement will be a good starting place, I think. If we could get to more cons, that would be great, but there's the whole time and money issue.
Since I'm trying a democracy here, what do you guys want to do? Where would you like to see the studio in a year, two years? How would you like to get there? |
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| Website update (sort of) |
[Sep. 29th, 2004|09:08 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  geeky | ] |
I made some new pages for the website and uploaded them. I know many of the links don't work; it's temporary, and they'll work when I put them up for real.
Feedback greatly desired. http://july.nalimara.net/temp |
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| Flyer! |
[Sep. 28th, 2004|11:48 am] |
I got the flyer finished. I'm taking it to Kinko's this afternoon to make 100 copies and mail it priority to YCon. (I'm also going to get the friendly staff to cut it into quarters for me.)
Do you think $2 is too much? It'll cost a little over a dollar to print each book, but I'll also have to buy envelopes to mail them. And having funds for the next issue would be helpful.
Speaking of funds ... it'll be about $9 to make the copies, and $5 or so to mail them (I guess...). If you could all give me $2-3 toward flyer costs, that'd help a lot, especially since ihavenofuckingmoneyomg. |
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| Layout -- OK! |
[Sep. 22nd, 2004|08:45 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Move - "Around the World" | ] |
I have a story from me, a story from Tsaiko, art from Beth, art from Erin, and promised art from Mary. 24 pages. I think I'll do preorders for a dollar and sell it to everyone else for 1.50, since I feel like a dork selling 24 pages for 2 bucks. Unless you guys think I can charge 2 bucks for it.
I'll put order info and samples on the website (which will get a redesign when I have time and inclination :P).
Mary: I'll email you tomorrow with the scenes to illustrate. Mine's original (and I'll send you a couple sketches of the relevant characters), and Tsai's is Vagrant Story.
(No, it's not 100% done yet. I'm still figuring out what to do with the back cover and whether I like what I did with the front cover. I don't think I like the text placement. I'll play with it more later.) |
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| Get me your subs! |
[Sep. 5th, 2004|11:44 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  determined | ] |
Since so many of you responded to the last one, I'll put another friendly reminder :) I've decided to extend the date to 9/15, but the sooner, the better. (Well, I need to get some computer fixy things done before I can do any layout anyway...) Any better ideas on length & stuff?
Mary -- you said you could do illustrations for stories? Do you think you could do 1 for every story before, oh, 10/07? If everyone emailed you with characters & a scene to illustrate, could you do that? I can leave space in the layout to insert the drawings (and if I know where in the story they go, I can leave it near the relevant scene.)
Beth -- if you don't have access to a scanner, I do, and you can just hand me the drawing at COUP & I'll take care of it.
YCon stuff -- I emailed Tracy, and she said it's OK to send fliers for the free table, as long as the get there by 9/30. So we need to get something decided on for layout & whatnot. My graphic design skills are non-existent, so any brilliant ideas are welcome. The title is going to be "Gruselgeschichten" and I want the flier to include the URL (july.nalimara.net), price, and publication date. Unfortunately, I haven't worked out the price yet, and won't be able to until I know how long it's going to be. :P Anyway -- half-page flyers are good. I'll do the copying, but donations toward flyer printing costs would be great. They're 8 cents/page self-serve @ Kinkos, and I'll probably do 150 sheets (300 fliers) ... though I should ask Tracy what the expected attendance is. So copying costs will wind up around $16, plus $4 for mailing them to CA. Could cut costs more by doing 1/4 page flyers, but that runs the risk of being too small to be noticed. Opinions?
Preorders -- I think I'll start taking them around 1 October, for 2 weeks, then get twice as many copies made as were preordered. Does that sound reasonable? Offer a discount (save 50 cents or something, depending on the cost). Shipping in the US is about a dollar, 1st class. I can pick up a box of envelopes at Staples for pretty cheap.
I'm planning to set up some sort of ordering system on the website. Form mail, probably, then contact the person back, asking for Paypal or check/MO. (So I should really start working on that. Erm.)
Once I have all the stories, I'll put a page of each up on the website for sample purposes. |
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| Reminder! |
[Aug. 22nd, 2004|04:49 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | busy | ] |
Just a friendly reminder that your stories for the Halloween book are due September 1. I may extend the deadline if it's the only way to have more than 2 stories. I also reserve the right to bother you by email. Repeat reminders may not be as friendly.
Please comment here if you are going to be submitting a story/art/etc, what fandom (or original), and page length/word count if you have it.
Whether or not you submit a story, I'd appreciate it if you promote the book in your LJ. It's free advertising. You don't have to say anything other than "Check out this book my circle put together!" (or something like that) and link to the entry I'll make here.
I'm thinking of doing preorders, for 2 weeks, maybe, in early October. Maybe discounting, or something. Opinions? |
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| Beta needed! |
[Jul. 28th, 2004|03:18 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  creative | ] |
I've finished a second draft of "Devil's Due," thanks to some inspired commentary from my little bro in law (of *all* people...) And the ending iz no longer pastede on yay.
It's up to 3200 words, 9 pages. And I need someone to go over it with red ink and insightful commentary. (I posted to the list, and I'm not sure how many of y'all got it.) Will send as rtf or plain text, as you prefer.
I'll be asking for fandom and page count guesstimates around the end of August. |
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| Illustration idea; mailing list |
[Jul. 14th, 2004|03:52 pm] |
I've been working on my story (close to 4 pages already!), and I had an idea for an illustration to go with it. It's sketched out in my sketchbook, and since I'm not the world's greatest artist, it's probably going to stay there. Though I'd be glad to draw it out and scan it and let the artists around here tell me what I need to fix ^_^ Anyway, if no one comes up with something better, it might wind up on the cover. That's all I'm saying.
Anyone have a good idea for a title for the zine? Best I'm coming up with is "Monsters and Myths," which, I think, is the same (or similar) name as the upcoming Torquere Press book.
Mailing list! If you haven't signed up or haven't received any of the 3? emails sent to the list so far, please sign up or comment below. I'm not sure of all the settings, since I'm new at mailman list manager software. |
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| Flyers, cons, and mailing list |
[Jul. 5th, 2004|01:42 pm] |
So, I was chatting with Pluto yesterday, and she said the best way to get the word out is to go to cons and to use flyers. And we should get on that. I'm not the most creative person in the world, so my flyer design isn't very catchy. If we had a prettyboy of some variety, that might serve to catch the eye of the target audience. Mary says she'll work on a cowboy pic, so we'll see how that turns out.
Advertise to your friends, post in LJ, whatever. Link to the community in your userinfo; add it as an interest. Use leet photoshop skills and make pretty graphics to use for linking and put one on your website. The more word we get out, the more zines we sell.
The soonest upcoming con is Otakon. Mary says she's going, and if I can get flyers done, she'll take them up. Since so far all the advertising has come from my pocket (and UNC's, courtesy of Va's office printer), I was wondering if everyone could contribute, say, $5 toward flyers. If everyone contributes, I'd have $40 for flyers, which would be good. (100 copies at Kinko's is about 8 bucks plus tax.) I'm thinking of half sheet flyers this time, rather than letter-sized. Smaller, but better for the advertising budget. I have about $10 in studio funding since Animazement.
After that is DragonCon, which isn't *quite* our target demographic, except for the Harry Potter slash types. Phil is planning on going, and he said he'd take flyers, even though we probably wouldn't hit our target. I'm thinking 1/4 page for that, 50 copies = 200 small flyers.
AWA is in the end of September. I pretty much can't go to any cons for a while (next Animazement, and that only because I'll need a break from studying for the boards.) AWA isn't that great a con, unless you're an AMV freak or just like to party. However, if anyone goes, I'll send flyers with.
Yaoicon. Halloween weekend. Perfect setting for selling Halloween-themed zines. Alas, I can't go. Pluto said she'd be happy to take flyers if she goes, but if she doesn't, she'd rather not further impose on her Minkland friends. Anyone able to go? If we can't get anyone there this year, we should definitely try for next year. A dealer's room table costs something like $150, but includes 2 con badges, each worth about 50 bucks. Then there's airfare and hotel, which could run around $300/person. I think dividing the cost of the table between the group (with the people actually going paying more) would be fair.
Animazement. I need to look into the specific rules for artist's alley to find out whether selling a fanzine is allowed. We should definitely snag a table. I'd like to buy one or two of those plastic sign stands to put a little sign in. They're pretty cheap at Office Max. Anyone who wants to sell little personal projects (like crocheted hats or prints of art) can do that. I think a small part should go to the general studio fund (10% or something from profit). It could go to printing, flyering, and other costs, potentially including things like a dealer's room table at Yaoicon, or partially subsidizing hotel/airfare (or shipping of a stack of zines, for example.) I'm planning to make dorky bumper stickers (My other car is a VF-1J, for example) and selling them for a dollar each. The inkjet bumper sticker paper costs a dollar a sheet, and there's a fixer spray as well. I can fit 5/sheet, so I'd gross $5/page, and after cost, something like $3/5 stickers. So if I gave 75 cents or a dollar, I'd still have a little for me. It's a suggestion.
At any rate, we should work out (not right now) who can be at the table & when, and that sort of thing, so it's not just one person stuck there all the time.
Another thing Pluto suggested was taking an initial investment from everyone, like $10 or something, toward printing. I can't pay for everything out of my pocket, especially with the first issue sales being all internet, so I may have 75 copies sitting around unsold, unpaid for, and eating money I haven't got. This would be in October, when I take the thing to be copied.
In the future, I'd like to look into a real print shop. There are probably some in Chapel Hill/Carrboro, but the only ones with websites I've found are in Raleigh.
Mailing list: I've created a discussion list. To subscribe, go here: http://lists.nalimara.net/listinfo.cgi/july-nalimara.net The DNS probably hasn't propagated yet, since I just created it an hour or two ago, so don't be too alarmed when you click and the hostname isn't found. Wait a couple days, then do it. I can post again when the DNS works, probably Wednesday or Thursday. I also created an announcement list, but I haven't done anything to set it up yet. There's some code to paste available from Dreamhost, and when I update the site again, I'll add it. We'll see if anyone loves us enough to join once we've got flyers out. |
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| First publication: details c/w mascot contest. |
[Jul. 1st, 2004|02:42 pm] |
Okay, in the voting, October 15 edged out Halloween by one vote, and themed book edged out single-fandom by one vote. So we'll have a themed, multi-fandom book out October 15, which means I want your stories/art by September 1. That's 2 months. (And it gives me a month and a half, during rotations where I'm working 6:30-3 or so, plus homework, to put it together. Yay, fun. :P) I think we should aim for lots of art -- doujinshi, illustrations, whatever -- in this one. Also need cover images, befitting the theme.
Now, we need to figure out a theme. What will it be? I like the idea of spooky stories and whatnot, sort of Halloween themed, since it'll be October. Does anyone else have suggestions?
Mascot. We need one. I have an image in my head of a sort of Irvine-type guy (FF8), but more obviously southern. Since we're based in Carolina and all. Something that evokes summer in the south: shorts, peaches, whatever. (No corn, please. *twitch*) Any of y'all who can draw, give it a whirl. I'll give you until, uh, October or something. If I could draw, trust me, I would. *nods*
Please discuss, or I'll be forced to hunt you down personally. |
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| October pub |
[Jun. 7th, 2004|09:30 am] |
So, I was thinking for October we should do a fan book, so people might be more interested in it. It would be better, perhaps, to do a one or two fandom book, rather than a hodgepodge. The problem is this: what fandom(s)?
I know there are some Potter fans out there, but I don't know if I can do Potter fic. So it's poll time!
Keep in mind that the story would be due a month before the publish date, especially if we're doing a print book. Also, feel free to discuss in comments.
Poll #304501
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: AllWhich date for the first publication? Would you prefer a List your fandom(s) here. |
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| Con stuff |
[May. 31st, 2004|12:29 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  happy | ] |
Sold all the GLOCK zines. Woot.
I had an idea, and I wanted to get y'all's opinions on it. Next year, at AZ, an Artists' Alley table? I know anacoluthon wants to make hats and sell them, and I would see no reason why it couldn't be a sort of conglomeration of stuff, except that it might get too cluttered.
Opinions? Anyone willing to sit at a table in shifts?
Also, we need a mascot. Not a cat boy; they're kinda overdone. Anyone with artistic talent can draw a character (full-size, chibi, or both), and when we have a couple options, we can vote. Sound good? Original preferable, but I'm not picky. |
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| First publication: poll |
[May. 26th, 2004|10:03 am] |
Please vote by midnight Wednesday May 26.
Edit: You may vote after midnight, but it won't be helpful for the flyers.
Poll #299186
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: AllChoose a date for the first publication. Online or print? Can you commit to going to YaoiCon this year? |
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