tGuide how to start up...tRokDaZonetfpc01f1s2 GUIDE ON HOW TO START UP A MAGAZINE c02 by RokDaZone/Artwork c01 NOW WE COME TO THE PAY-OFF c03 Recently, not less than c04sevenc03 people from different groups have asked me to write an article for their c01'sooncoming'c03 new magazine. c02Sevenc03 new mags said to spread on our tiny market. First of all I have to underline that it appears a little strange to me that those pre-editors ask one of their soon-to-become challengers for supply. Do you think c02Burger Kingc03 would askc02 Mc Donaldsc03 for meat supply? Still, I can smell behind this shear attempt to get articles the major dilemma for those newcomers. Not that they do not get enough articles. No, actually the dilemma starts when people think this must be their major or even only problem. Looking back a couple of years, diskmags started from c04packsc03 andc04 messageboxesc03 and have been designed for a release on regular basis. The first editors were to 90% no writing talents at all. Magazines were used for personal c04warfarec03 and c04 egostimulationc03. This situation has changed frightenly within 1995 to 1996. No longer can I use "my" magazine for private affairs or for braggery. No longer am I allowed to defend myself or my group in it. No longer is the competition a f4friendlyf1 one. Interesting enough, still there are editors around to be found in certain c04chartsc03 although hardly not being able to write an editorial being more interesting than the guiding manual of a f4toasterf1. I will not give any names here, but do imagine f4certainf1 people turning reddish right now that they read these lines. By a new cascade of mags, however, this situation might turn massively - but not for the better. I shall now give some real major points of consideration to be cleared out c02beforec03 one should announce to throw a new publication on the market. c041.c01 Responsibility in the Sense of Pressright c03 A main-ed is much more than a person who is allowed to write the editorial. Believe it or not, but the moment you seal your magazine, you are responsible for its contents. Make sure no one can touch you f4legallyf1 for the contents. even if you did so, be prepared that being mained puts you in the highlight. This can be nice when people adore your work, but can also be deadly when the mag collects criticism (comp. c02"Moral Support"c03). c042.c01 Ability in the Sense of Good Taste c03 Are you completely sure that you are born to be a writer? Do you actually enjoy to work on topics and write them down with as many words as it deserves - without regard on the length in bytes? When you write, do you have always the problem that your articles tend to become much too long? Do you really know what c04alliteration, parallelism, narration, utopia, irony, sarcasm, cynicism, omnisciency, rhymescheme, climax, pun,c03 etc. are? Do you know how to use them? Does your c04vocabularyc03 grasp exceed 5000 words? Do you have at least slight ideas of 3M (motivations, marketing and manipulation)? If there is just one question in here which you cannot answer by a clear c02"Yes!"c03 then you should actually reconsider your plans. c043.c01 Editing c03 How often have we heard of someone attempting to release his magazine c04alonec03? It is in my eyes f4impossiblef1 to do and I cannot recall any magazine surviving such a state for longer than two issues. The much laughed about copyslaves are f4essentialf1 for each magazine. It is a fatal mythos, article writing takes the most time when preparing an issue. This is complete and utter nonsense. It is the c04editingc03 of news, articles, messages and adverts, the votecollecting and -counting, the errorspotting, the assembling, the finding of titles (very essential btw) and much more. There is no way to do it on your own as the written article should be a worked out piece of text. You cannot take a gossip and simply form an article of it. Well, you can, but as soon as people start asking for your foothold you are in trouble. Nothing is as hazardous for a journalist as a lack in trustability. What I mean is that researching will cost you so much time that you will hardly will be able to care for the mentioned points. Technical Outsourcing might be considered one possibility, but the competition and its steady fluctuation of cooperators make this a doubtful solution. Remember: Do not get yourself into a Lopez-net. Get yourself a good and reliable friend, someone you do know for ages and make him the second man in charge. Do not attempt to value his work lower than yours or he will be gone and with him your mag. c044.c01 Strategy c03 Although some tricky editors usually claim that all diskmags are alike, they surely know that this by no means has to do with reality. You ought to know your audience which you want to reach as it is almost impossible to attract everyone. The attempt usually leads to a colourful mixture of halfhearted articles being neither fish nor flesh. Strategies could be emphasis on styles (c02Informal, Formal, Serious, Ironicalc03), on aimgroups (c02Trader, Swapper, Musicians, Codersc03) or on topics (c02News, Reviews, Gossips, Gawpingc03). Also the f4tonef1 itself can put on emphasis (c02Friendly, Controversial, Neutral, Harsh, Offending, Insultingc03). To put it clear: This does not mean that each of your articles has to follow this style! The major impression gets created already when 30-40% of all topics follow this strategy. c045.c01 Shut Your Mouth c03 Do not talk about f4everythingf1 you are about to do. When you plan to get a new code - c02who caresc03? They will see it soon enough. All that you do is to provoke expectations you can not fullfil. c046.c01 Financing c03 c02Money? c03 Why should you care about c02money?c03 Easy. A Chef du Mag without a modem is nowadays like a swapper without envelopes. You cannot come up with the speed of the c04IRC, FTPc03 andc04 WWWc03 by letters and telephone. Can you afford being online each day? Can you afford telephoning for ages with your suppliers all over the world? Here, students at universities or employees of servers/providers are f4luckyf1 chaps. Also you should never forget to deliver at least a stock of "original" or dedicated disks to be mailed by traditional postservices. An issue of c02Generationc03 for instance costs the redactional team at least DM 1000,-. c047.c01 Distribution and Logistics c03 Without a lively f4reliablef1 net of distributors or - if any possible - resellers your chance to install yourself on the market is about naught. The knots must be fix, regions covered fully. Per country you should not have more than c04onec03 distributor. Accept only in c04experiencedc03 swapper/trader and make sure they do not work for other mags aswell. The same goes for supplier. Take advance of any possible way to distribute your magazine, but make sure you do not upload it twice anywhere if you want to gain good credits. Especially c02AmiNetc03 is very essential so consider to upload it one day before the official releasedate. Most of all you have to be 100% sure that no one prereleases your mag or the whole campaign could be aswell left out. c048.c01 Moral Support c03 A minor point? Man, alive! What will happen to you after the first release of your diskmag is with a chance of 80% bad criticism. Really bad criticism. There are too many different tastes to be served if you want to prevent yourself from it and as far as I know, never has any editor freed himself from it. People will mutter about eveything: The fonts, the design, the music, the articles, the titles, too simple grammatics, too complex grammatics. Now imagine that you have put two months of real hard work in it and get back bad criticism from all directions. Better get yourself some c04realc03 friends and prepare yourself for what will follow.