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I want to start an amateur publication
Ok guys, I've been contemplating this for a long time and I to know if you think it could fly.
After spending about half an hour trying to explain the situation this idea came about in I'm just going to keep the facts simple.
--Start--
In brief
I want to make a monthly anthology of comics (serial art, if you are so inclined), articles and items of interest, produced by and relating to the anime and manga fandom, with the aims of providing a large amount of entertainment and both unique and interesting information for time expended and encouraging readers to themselves be more creative.
Back story
This is an idea I tried out last year and, were it not for me trying to both write a comic and do every other job involved with producing the publication, I would have succeeded. Having recently been listening to AWO talk about how Newtype folded and becoming Piq and their criticism of it being a very generic I thought I should have another try and that even if it bombed horribly, I would enjoy doing it.
Dimensions
To begin with the anthology would be available as a PDF or CBZ (a zip file containing the pages as images) and sized up to fit two side by side on a computer monitor (~17inch). Should things go well, we'd try to produce and sell a cheap black and white paperback, maybe with a few pages of colour and see how things go from there. The online version would have no limit over the use of colour but I would expect most things sent in would be black and white anyway.
In more detail
Comics: The comics sections, instead of asking "what is the best you can do amount-wise with your current quality in one or two* months", artists are instead asked to produce 16-20 pages (bi)monthly with the deliberate aim of having that art being below what they would do for a one off. I want to try this because it lets the artist decide to begin with how much time they want to spend doing a comic and then, over time, improve their speed and quality while keeping time worked constant. I'd also like to foster cooperation and the forming of groups.
The reason for asking for so many pages is because while we can't beat web comics on regularity, we have the advantage of being able to fit a longer plot into each issue; Things like suspense can't be done as well when you can see the start and the end of a story on the same page.
As well as the long stuff, I'd like to add some short comics, in the same vein as yonkoma but not necessarily with the same eight boxes to a page layout. Also, the few page shorts wouldn't be done by the people who do the main comics, acting as a mid way between web comics and long form.
*(if someone thinks monthly is too much they can submit a comic once every two months and have it alternate with someone else's.)
Articles: The thing that a compilation can do better than a website is having articles people won't even be looking for but will like (which is a pretty tall order). Subjects might include: Looks at how directors have changed through their careers, introductions to obscure parts of fandom (model kits, con staffing, gashpon and keychain collecting), deeper looks into common fandom (such as highly dedicated cosplayers and cosplay history), branching out into other forms of Japanese culture (both popular and traditional), etc..
Reviews of mainstream shows done by fans would be an essential part but would require some new angle, I will have to think of something..
Information: as what isn't covered by articles in terms of information is mostly news and ANN does pretty good analysis of the news as it comes out, probably just a brief round up and comments on anything of interest would be for the better; That is, unless we can provide some kind of great insight worth waiting up to a month for.
--End--
Ok, shoot me down. Is this the kind of thing you would read or even consider participating in? What problems do you see? What would you recommend I change?
This isn't my Uberleet plan but it is something I would like to do.
After spending about half an hour trying to explain the situation this idea came about in I'm just going to keep the facts simple.
--Start--
In brief
I want to make a monthly anthology of comics (serial art, if you are so inclined), articles and items of interest, produced by and relating to the anime and manga fandom, with the aims of providing a large amount of entertainment and both unique and interesting information for time expended and encouraging readers to themselves be more creative.
Back story
This is an idea I tried out last year and, were it not for me trying to both write a comic and do every other job involved with producing the publication, I would have succeeded. Having recently been listening to AWO talk about how Newtype folded and becoming Piq and their criticism of it being a very generic I thought I should have another try and that even if it bombed horribly, I would enjoy doing it.
Dimensions
To begin with the anthology would be available as a PDF or CBZ (a zip file containing the pages as images) and sized up to fit two side by side on a computer monitor (~17inch). Should things go well, we'd try to produce and sell a cheap black and white paperback, maybe with a few pages of colour and see how things go from there. The online version would have no limit over the use of colour but I would expect most things sent in would be black and white anyway.
In more detail
Comics: The comics sections, instead of asking "what is the best you can do amount-wise with your current quality in one or two* months", artists are instead asked to produce 16-20 pages (bi)monthly with the deliberate aim of having that art being below what they would do for a one off. I want to try this because it lets the artist decide to begin with how much time they want to spend doing a comic and then, over time, improve their speed and quality while keeping time worked constant. I'd also like to foster cooperation and the forming of groups.
The reason for asking for so many pages is because while we can't beat web comics on regularity, we have the advantage of being able to fit a longer plot into each issue; Things like suspense can't be done as well when you can see the start and the end of a story on the same page.
As well as the long stuff, I'd like to add some short comics, in the same vein as yonkoma but not necessarily with the same eight boxes to a page layout. Also, the few page shorts wouldn't be done by the people who do the main comics, acting as a mid way between web comics and long form.
*(if someone thinks monthly is too much they can submit a comic once every two months and have it alternate with someone else's.)
Articles: The thing that a compilation can do better than a website is having articles people won't even be looking for but will like (which is a pretty tall order). Subjects might include: Looks at how directors have changed through their careers, introductions to obscure parts of fandom (model kits, con staffing, gashpon and keychain collecting), deeper looks into common fandom (such as highly dedicated cosplayers and cosplay history), branching out into other forms of Japanese culture (both popular and traditional), etc..
Reviews of mainstream shows done by fans would be an essential part but would require some new angle, I will have to think of something..
Information: as what isn't covered by articles in terms of information is mostly news and ANN does pretty good analysis of the news as it comes out, probably just a brief round up and comments on anything of interest would be for the better; That is, unless we can provide some kind of great insight worth waiting up to a month for.
--End--
Ok, shoot me down. Is this the kind of thing you would read or even consider participating in? What problems do you see? What would you recommend I change?
This isn't my Uberleet plan but it is something I would like to do.
Comments
Staying up until four in the morning sometimes leads to brilliance or flamewars.
Edit: Mainly thinking about production/website/editing/proofreading or something.
So....comics eh?
About the comics, however, I think that quality over quantity is the best bet. I say have a rotating stable of artists who are good at one shots or short stories and alternate, giving each individual more time between each installment. People are more likely to be drawn in if they don't see amateurish art. If someone decides to do a serial, let them work at their own pace, as long as they provide a continuous stream of updates. If you want, I can give you some of my old comics from a few years ago to use freely. I've gotten better since then, but I have a few twenty pagers that might fit the bill.
Gomidog, I think I'll have to poll some people who've done comic art to gauge how much to expect. If you can email me those comics you did and tell me roughly how long it took you? (zip preferred).
Keiy, trying to set up my printer to do home printing of large quantities cost £60 ($120) and wrecked it (never put the tanks above the floor of the printer). I think online viewer (using the flash full-screen thing), a downloadable version and a buyable print version. If you never get round to implementing those ideas, do tell.
Gunfire, we'll need the website staff, you're very welcome.
The original post is what we're aiming towards for the first stage but I'm going to plan out just a few page, print and staple job to test what we're capable of. Don't anyone start doing anything yet until I get the specs and set what format I want everything submitted in.
People wanting reviews: Would you be ok writing the review and then, when formatting, leave the image spaces and include the source image at as high resolution as is reasonable with instructions about where you want them and what you want to focus on?
Comic artists: Would you mind drawing on A4/Letter/Legal and having it shrunk to make the art look better or keeping it simply on A5,Classic? Also, who's using what medium (pen/pencil/PC/etc..)?
In addition, cover art? I was thinking either a big art piece or having the name in the middle and getting everyone to draw something with a theme and then putting them in a montage around the name. Any ideas?
I say a big art piece for the cover. Lots of 'zines seem to have crazy visuals on the front, and you need something eye catching.
Is anyone ok using a custom paper size that can be scaled down from both A4 and Letter? I'm thinking standard manga book dimensions but about 30% bigger. I'm going to see what I can get printed.
Kiey: Good point about the front image. How about having a single large picture on the front (maybe without the name or with just a simple logo) and then putting the contents with pictures of each feature on the back?
It's 2 in the morning but I've been sleeping a lot of the day so I'm going to get a list of the questions I need to answer written out.
Currently I need two people to help. One who can do websites and another to organize things from America so that people there have someone to talk to in their time zone.
Kiey: I think we'll try out that idea for the first issue. An artist draws their characters in a scene (possibly out of their normal context) and includes the anthologies name as part of the scene itself.
I'm working on a schedule for what needs to be to who and when it needs to be there.
And what paper size do people want? I've decided not to use A4/Letter proportions and instead use something that will give some room for bleeding. Would people prefer normal manga size or more a small magazine size?
The schedule I'm working on uses the same day each week as a deadline and leaving at least a week for each person to do their job.
Artists: any work you do needs to have dimensions with a ratio of 1:1.5 and be at least 5x7.5 inches (I would recommend you go bigger though.) and be scanned in at 300dpi. I'd like to see everyones work as it's developing. Please send me every fifth page or so in jpeg form via email as you are working on it so I can catch any problems before they show up at the end.
Also: Don't draw important stuff right at the edges, expect a few mm to get cut off.
Writers: I would ask writers to either send a text file alone (with section titles and paragraphs marked out) and point out where, in relation to the text, you want images to feature (just put a description of the picture in square brackets) and include the script and images in a zip file.
If you would like specific formatting then please include a picture (scanned drawing, ms paint) of the page layout and roughly where you want things to be. I will try and get things to look like your design but can't guarantee much.
You can now start work if you want to, I will give you at least a month to get things done once I get the final schedule sorted.
In addition, what day would people think is most comfortable for a deadline?
Or: This ratio has a height one and a half times longer than it's width.
Also: anyone wanting to take part, email me/post here with a rough idea of what you are doing so I know what's going on.
Take one of your manga books and draw round it.
That is the ratio, just bigger would be better.