Crowdsourcing, You and Me
In retrospect, it was probably a bad idea to post about this on a Friday, when people are usually off having lives while I'm...here writing about something. But! The good news is that having the weekend to think about this was a good thing.
So, to recap!
Long ago in the beginning of 2009, I attempted a crowdsourced fiction project here on this blog called "Project Stapes," which was a flash fiction posted (roughly) every week (a stapes, if you're scratching your head, is the smallest bone in the body--a shout out both to the tiny stories and to my obsession with bones). You can read my two favorite stories from this project here and here (or check the "project stapes" tag for more). Due to a period of clinical depression that only went away when I went on a new medication, I had to stop the project in March. But I've missed it, and now that I haven't had an attack of clinical depression in more than a year(!), I've been wanting to restart it--though in a different form.
Here's what I'd like to do. I'd like to Relaunch "Stapes" as a monthly .pdf mini-magazine containing two poems, a short story (or a bunch of flash fictions, depending on whether or not a story idea gels that month) and a non-fiction piece or two, which could include essays, interviews with authors or articles about SF/F/H topics. I'd offer it for $5 an issue or $50 per year's subscription (two issues for free). The first issue would most likely come out in January or February, depending on how quickly things come together...if they come together.
Obviously, this is going to be a lot of work, and ultimately it's not something I'm going to be able to do if only a handful of people are interested, as much as I value that handful and want to create something for them. I figure that I'd need at least 30-40 regular subscribers to make the effort feasible for me. I honestly don't know if there are that many people reading this who like my work, or like it enough to support an endeavor like this. Or even if I have that many readers, period. And if that's the case, then so be it. I'll shelve this and, maybe, revisit it again another day. But if that isn't the case, I think it would be not only something that could be fun and create a lot of community--while helping me pay more bills and support my family better.
If this sounds like something you'd support, let me know in a comment or an email.
ETA: Would you be more interested if I put the first issue online for free to give you a feel for how it would go?
So, to recap!
Long ago in the beginning of 2009, I attempted a crowdsourced fiction project here on this blog called "Project Stapes," which was a flash fiction posted (roughly) every week (a stapes, if you're scratching your head, is the smallest bone in the body--a shout out both to the tiny stories and to my obsession with bones). You can read my two favorite stories from this project here and here (or check the "project stapes" tag for more). Due to a period of clinical depression that only went away when I went on a new medication, I had to stop the project in March. But I've missed it, and now that I haven't had an attack of clinical depression in more than a year(!), I've been wanting to restart it--though in a different form.
Here's what I'd like to do. I'd like to Relaunch "Stapes" as a monthly .pdf mini-magazine containing two poems, a short story (or a bunch of flash fictions, depending on whether or not a story idea gels that month) and a non-fiction piece or two, which could include essays, interviews with authors or articles about SF/F/H topics. I'd offer it for $5 an issue or $50 per year's subscription (two issues for free). The first issue would most likely come out in January or February, depending on how quickly things come together...if they come together.
Obviously, this is going to be a lot of work, and ultimately it's not something I'm going to be able to do if only a handful of people are interested, as much as I value that handful and want to create something for them. I figure that I'd need at least 30-40 regular subscribers to make the effort feasible for me. I honestly don't know if there are that many people reading this who like my work, or like it enough to support an endeavor like this. Or even if I have that many readers, period. And if that's the case, then so be it. I'll shelve this and, maybe, revisit it again another day. But if that isn't the case, I think it would be not only something that could be fun and create a lot of community--while helping me pay more bills and support my family better.
If this sounds like something you'd support, let me know in a comment or an email.
ETA: Would you be more interested if I put the first issue online for free to give you a feel for how it would go?