"Dark Fantasy/Horror Newsletter Vol." - читать интересную книгу автора

better is an editor with other friends who run layout services for other
horror/dark fiction 'zines, and/or have odd college majors like "Gothic
Fiction and the Women's Movement." Best is an incestuous combination of all
the above, plus a marketing pro thrown in for good measure.

Why incestuous? This is a tiny little art form, horror is. Not many folks
understand the need for fonts that look like they were slashed with a large
knife, or a chainsaw. Not many printshop employees know exactly what you
mean when you tell them you want the ink to look like blood--fresh blood,
actually. And very few want to sit down and read your oogey ol' stuff, tell
you what they think, and then maybe even pay you for it. Most of them simply
put you on their prayer list--which is OK too--we need all the Help. . . etc.


But other horror aficionados? They understand that there is hardly any extra
money out there, so--in my experience--they are willing to work with you. I
don't mean play real good for free. (This is one of my pet peeves--the free
business, and a fit subject for a later rant.) I have been given generous
amounts of time to pay for advertising, I have been charged a fair price for
layout and design, I have been given copies of contracts so that I could work
my own out--and help on that account by artists and writers who seem to want
to be treated fairly, and I have been able to pay my writers and artists in
small payments in order to be able to pay at all.

Plus, these folks know what I need. They are familiar with the layouts of
the same stuff I read. They are able to make suggestions that make the final
product better and more horrifying, because they have experience in these
areas also. They let me know what prices are current in the market, they
pitch me non-fiction ideas I can actually use--and I have the security that
every cent I spend helps some other horror fan, whether it puts food on the
table or ink in the old cartridges.

And when you go to the Cons? Everyone will be happy to meet you, you won't
hang out by yourself, and even more contacts will be made--more artists, more
writers, another place to put an ad, another good band to hear, more movie
stuff--and prolly a graveyard tour you can take with your new friends, who
ARE friends because you have a lot in common, you enjoy mutual respect, and
Hell--who else is gonna hang out with "creepy horror people?" Uh, I will!
------
If you are on AOL, join us creepy horror people this Subday night at 10:30 PM
Eastern in the Writers Workshop (keyword: wcchat) for some more about such
pros and cons!
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AND READ: NETWORKING AT WRITER'S CONFERENCES: FROM CONTACTS TO CONTRACTS by
Steven D. Spratt and Lee G. Spratt (John Wiley &Sons, Inc., 1995; ISBN
0-471-05522-0; $12.95)
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INFORMATION ON THE ABOVE CONS -- is attached to this email.
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