Day 8 of 365: Almost there – The Magazines Get Closer

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][custom_headline type=”center” level=”h2″ looks_like=”h2″ accent=”true”]Almost There – The Magazines Get Closer[/custom_headline][text_output]Today I got to set down with Jeff Wilson, the man who’s going to be the new editor for Residential Aliens Magazine and Fear &  Trembling Magazine.

The whole magazine thing is pretty awesome really, and I can’t say that this was something I had specifically set out to do (ResAliens and F&T were things I adopted for a fairly low price).  In fact, what I originally set out to do was to raise enough money to teach someone game development, support them a bit, and get a couple games out with their name in the credits, and hopefully turn it into a full time profession.

I failed.

Then, I came back at it from a new angle.  My goal was to do an online indie game magazine.

I didn’t fail, but it had to be shelved for a bit.

Then, Lyndon decided to was time to fold the magazines.  He couldn’t support doing them anymore.  It’s a time-consuming thing in an already busy life.  Well, since Jeff is a big Sci/Fi and Horror fan, it made a good match.  I picked up the rights to the magazine (I was actually buying the entire publishing setup, but, we had a last minute change on that due to how the original publishing company was set up.)

Now, finally, we’re making progress to the first new issues.  Awesome!  There’s plenty of content for F&T, though we still need some more for Residential Aliens Magazine.  I’m going to end up shooting out some emails and messages to authors over the weekend, and see if anyone has anything they’d like to contribute.  I THINK we need seven more stories – the goal is 10 stories for each magazine.  That should result in plenty of content for the online version, for the various electronic versions (Nook, Kindle, and iBooks), and about 70 pages for each of the magazines.

I’m really excited.  We’ve got someone who’s interested in handling distribution.  We’ve got someone who’s interested in backing some of this (which, unfortunately, thanks to the other work I have going on, I’m behind in getting the agreements drawn up so the backer can make the final decision.)  We’ve got content.  We’ve got an editor.  And, we’ve got a plan.

Pretty awesome.

Unfortunately, this isn’t something that makes me any real cash.  All of it basically gets funneled back into the magazines, in an attempt to grow them (online & electronic editions – we don’t expect to have huge print runs.  Though, I’d love to be wrong.)  Eventually, we want to get it to the point that the editor makes a paycheck, and it becomes a legitimate alternative to being on disability.  That’s a long road.

But, what about the first two plans?

Well, Indie Game Life, the first online mag concept, will still happen.  Looks like April or May we’ll break ground on it, and after doing the Kickstarter, we’ve got enough connections to create content to fill it.  There will be a print version, too. 🙂

And game development?  Well, I’m going to teach Jeff a bit about level design, and have him contribute to Jumpman Forever (and the next game).  It gives him just a bit of geek cred for the Indie game mag, among other things :-)[/text_output][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][line][custom_headline type=”center” level=”h2″ looks_like=”h2″ accent=”true”]Today’s Stats[/custom_headline][text_output]

• Workouts:  30 minute cardio, upper body
• Cigarettes Smoked:  16
• Healthy Eating:  Just fine, until after supper.  Then there was a small piece of cheese cake and some cheetoes.  The Junkfood monster wins from time to time (and I don’t mind 🙂

Projects Worked on:

• Worked on info for Residential Aliens Magazine / Fear And Trembling Magazine editor training
• Jumpman Forever Ouya integration work

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