Oompa Loompa Doopa Dee Dee, If You are Smart You Will Listen to Me
Written by John Erianne on December 25, 2006 – 6:45 pm -So you want to start a literary ezine. Good for you! Have you given any thought to how you will go about it? Sure, there are advantages to publishing online — it’s cheaper than print, web design is easier to learn than Quark Xpress, etc. But it’s also no cakewalk to publish a successful literary ezine. Most of them have a shorter lifespan than their offline counterparts.
About a year ago, this young, wet-behind-the ears editor contacted me to pick my brains and hit me up for free publicity for his forthcoming ezine. While he was earnest enough and was very idealistic, it was clear that he didn’t have a clear vision for his new publication. His web design was off. It was attractive enough, but not very functional or usable. Then there was matter of his editing style — he had an “editorial board” and gave them too much voice in the decision making process. Thirdly, his bulletin board system was a problem. He couldn’t decide whether his publication was a literary ezine with a discussion board or a discussion board with an ezine attached. I gave this editor as much advice as I could without charging him a consulting fee. What happened was that he didn’t accept any of the advice I gave him and failed to correct any of the problems before the first issue. And the first issue was wretched. The issue barely had any content at all — something like six pieces if memory serves. Of the six only one of the stories was any good. The remainder of the issue consisted of the bland, mediocre and just awful. There was one piece that was nothing but several pages of gibberish — just a bunch of random words and phrases run together that a child could have written. Needless to say, hardly anyone read that first issue and those who did, didn’t seem likely to return. The deadline for the second issue came and went and I doubt anyone will ever see it.
So what went wrong?
1. Don’t show your desperation.
This young editor was a little too desperate in his approach, begging anyone who would listen for help, submissions, etc. Trying too hard to “make friends.” Everyone is needy when seeking to publish a first issue, but the trick is not to act like it. Whether it comes to submissions or publicity, always act like you’ve scoped the scene and have it wired, locked and loaded.
2. Have a clear editorial vision
Know what you want your publication to look like. Know precisely what kind of material you want to publish. Stick to that vision. Shape your ideals to your vision, not the other way around.
3. Be wary of editing by committee
It’s one thing to have people helping you out with the editorial grunt work. It’s a whole other animal to give the grunts equal voice in the decision making process. Say you have a grunt who happens to like gibberish and you respond by saying, “Sure, whatever you want.” Another grunt likes dull, unenergetic academic bullshit. And that’s fine with you too? No one wants to book passage on a sinking ship. No one wants to read crap or submit to crappy publications. Good writing isn’t done by committee and good editing isn’t done by committee either. Grow some balls, man!
4. Web design should be clean and functional
Stay away from gaudy graphical links, flash intros and all that other bullshit. Your web design should be simple, but elegant. Page markup should look as close to the printed page as possible. Don’t use fancy fonts or font sizes that are either too big or too small. Menu navigation should be at the top just under the logo or at the bottom where everyone can see it.
5. Give yourself enough time to gather and read a suitable amount of unsolicited material before publishing a first issue
One cannot realistically expect to have a lot of submissions for a first issue. It takes time to get the word out . . . and money if you have any to spend of an advertisement. However, if you can only get six submissions for your first issue, they’d better be six fucking great submissions, because you will be judged on your first issue and that judgement will impact on whether or not there will be a second issue. In the best of worlds, a typical issue should contain as many pages as its print counterpart.
That’s just the basics. It also doesn’t hurt to have a catchy, memorable title for your ezine. Also, don’t get discouraged if you are not successful right out of the gate. It can take a while to attract a regular readership to an ezine, but if you are mindful of the basics, it will happen.
