Signal boost (one-link post)
Sparkler Monthly, the digital monthly magazine from Chromatic Press, is having a membership drive.Our goal was never just to publish great stories - it was to inject more fem-positive fiction into the industry, to offer jobs (and advances) to talented creators both seasoned and brand-new, and to help foster a community of inclusive creativity.
But beyond those ideals, we wanted to make a place where everyone could have fun. Taking cues from shojo magazines in Japan with their seasonal delights, talent contests, and waves of new content wrapped up in a neat package, our digital format let us play with different mediums and interactivity while plucking talent from all over the globe. We get to scout creators from our favorite fanfiction communities and Tumblr, for crying out loud. And we’ve been taking the opportunity to embrace our fujoshi ways and listen to your requests and just…offer you a ton of weird, wild, wonderful stuff.
The good news is, all of this was designed around a single goal: if we sold memberships at $5/month, this entire magazine and the rest of the company could comfortably operate on 2,000 subscriptions. We only need 2,000 people on the planet to give us $5 a month to sustain this magazine and keep those jobs open, those books and CDs coming, the community thriving.
The bad news is: on our best month this year, we barely broke 100 members. And we’ve dropped since then.
We know times are tough. We hear you. Even though we have a mountain of content accumulated in our first year, we’re keeping our monthly membership rate at the $5 we started with, because we think that’s affordable for most people. But if we can’t get 2,000 people to dedicate that $5/month to us in Year 2, there will be no Year 3. We’re proud of this magazine, and after a crazy first year, we know we can keep doing this and make it even better than before. But we need your help.
Sparkler's founders/primary staff include Lillian Diaz-Przybyl (a former senior editor at TOKYOPOP) and Lianne Sentar (a longtime manga adapter/rewriter), both of whom I've known for quite a while and both of whom I respected the hell out of long before that. They and everyone else there are as passionate about their work as they sound; in particular, I've seen firsthand how Lianne lights up when she talks about this demographic and the kind of things Japan brings out and the things she'd like to take from their example and bring to English-speaking audiences. These are some of the hardest-working people I know (and given many of the people I know, that's really saying something!). They care about their creators, they care about their work, and they care about doing right by the fans.
I'll be completely honest here and say I wasn't a subscriber during their first year, because while I believe wholeheartedly in what they're doing and trust them to bring out awesome stories, you've all heard me talk about my reading/watching backlog and how I'm behind on everything. ^^; But I often forget how insular that part of the internet can be (like most/all others), and figured the subscription numbers were better than they were. I'm a subscriber now.
The site has sample chapters of the current Sparkler offerings, and I encourage you all to check out the work they're doing and see if it appeals to you.
Originally posted at http://umadoshi.dreamwidth.org/540307.html. Comment here if you like, or comment there using OpenID. Comments at DW:
But beyond those ideals, we wanted to make a place where everyone could have fun. Taking cues from shojo magazines in Japan with their seasonal delights, talent contests, and waves of new content wrapped up in a neat package, our digital format let us play with different mediums and interactivity while plucking talent from all over the globe. We get to scout creators from our favorite fanfiction communities and Tumblr, for crying out loud. And we’ve been taking the opportunity to embrace our fujoshi ways and listen to your requests and just…offer you a ton of weird, wild, wonderful stuff.
The good news is, all of this was designed around a single goal: if we sold memberships at $5/month, this entire magazine and the rest of the company could comfortably operate on 2,000 subscriptions. We only need 2,000 people on the planet to give us $5 a month to sustain this magazine and keep those jobs open, those books and CDs coming, the community thriving.
The bad news is: on our best month this year, we barely broke 100 members. And we’ve dropped since then.
We know times are tough. We hear you. Even though we have a mountain of content accumulated in our first year, we’re keeping our monthly membership rate at the $5 we started with, because we think that’s affordable for most people. But if we can’t get 2,000 people to dedicate that $5/month to us in Year 2, there will be no Year 3. We’re proud of this magazine, and after a crazy first year, we know we can keep doing this and make it even better than before. But we need your help.
Sparkler's founders/primary staff include Lillian Diaz-Przybyl (a former senior editor at TOKYOPOP) and Lianne Sentar (a longtime manga adapter/rewriter), both of whom I've known for quite a while and both of whom I respected the hell out of long before that. They and everyone else there are as passionate about their work as they sound; in particular, I've seen firsthand how Lianne lights up when she talks about this demographic and the kind of things Japan brings out and the things she'd like to take from their example and bring to English-speaking audiences. These are some of the hardest-working people I know (and given many of the people I know, that's really saying something!). They care about their creators, they care about their work, and they care about doing right by the fans.
I'll be completely honest here and say I wasn't a subscriber during their first year, because while I believe wholeheartedly in what they're doing and trust them to bring out awesome stories, you've all heard me talk about my reading/watching backlog and how I'm behind on everything. ^^; But I often forget how insular that part of the internet can be (like most/all others), and figured the subscription numbers were better than they were. I'm a subscriber now.
The site has sample chapters of the current Sparkler offerings, and I encourage you all to check out the work they're doing and see if it appeals to you.
Originally posted at http://umadoshi.dreamwidth.org/540307.html. Comment here if you like, or comment there using OpenID. Comments at DW: