So as I was saying in /omg/... this is a project that has long been on my mind.
A serious occult publication that hopefully might at least reach 10% of what the Equinox was.
My ideas for it were... various. But here's the bits that were consistent.
- Minimum of 150 pages each issue.
- Two issues a year, one on each solstice (hence the name).
- Well-edited and put together (think formatting, typesetting, as few typos and errors as possible).
- Well-researched. If there's sources we're aware of for any claims, they should be at least mentioned.
- Open to contributions, but narrowed down in focus to the work of the A∴A∴ (this including tangential and circumstantial matters which might not be relevant to every aspirant).
Here's my current outline for how this might go:
- Given the lack of funding (currently), I'd like to start with an E-zine, and later progress into a print publication. Doesn't have to be nice-nice, just 'okay' is good enough for me, as long as it's circulating wide.
- There is a copyright issue - which I want to solve through simple contracts. Each work to be published will carry with it a perpetual non-exclusive license to publish, quote from, and reference said work solely for the purposes of Solstice. The legal will need to be appropriately phrased.
- If we are to publish on paper, then I'm open to having an adverts section to help cover the costs - this is something that we'll need to discuss, as nice books cost quite a bit to make.
- We'll need to be doing editing. I currently don't have much to contribute aside from excerpts from my journals, L. 131, and a number of other things which I've already published. I'm uncertain whether this will be sufficient. ~150 pages per issue is quite a bit of work to get right. Wife offered to do typesetting, which might come in useful.
- Not sure what to do about submissions - we'll need at least have a few people involved to see what's viable, and what isn't. I'm reluctant to take just anything, as I want to keep the standard high. Or as high as viable. My idea is, we'd get a few select people (say, Satyr, you have a very keen eye and a big brain), who'd oversee what's good enough and what isn't.
- Publication, at least in electronic form, could very well happen through the arcanumadytum.org domain, which I own. I have hosting already, so hooking it up would be plenty easy. I'd have to do a bit of digging and figure out the details of how this would work, but as things stand, there's nothing to stop us on that front.
- Compensation... currently it's nothing - it'd be a free-for-all project, at least to start with. I'm open to the idea of donations, or ad revenue, as long as priority spending goes to covering infrastructure costs - hosting, domains, and anything else we tie to the OSOA∴A∴. Everything above that, I'm happy to split equally between all contributors. The details will need refined.
- Bylines - I know a lot of y'all might be reluctant to share your name. That's fine, however as seen above, to be clear on the copyrights, I'd like to get contracts in place.
- Workflow - we'll need to be using some sort of task management system. Note that while this is going to be a non-profit enterprise, I do want to use proper protocol and make sure that we're on the same page. E.g. if edits to your submission are simply non-viable (i.e. you've sent in junk that has a decent premise, and we want it, but in a better state), you'll have to do just that.
- Timeframes - Given that we're looking at a 6 month publishing cycle, we'll need submissions early, and we'll have only a little bit of time to get through everything in a timely manner. This means that frequently we'll be working overtime, you might get a request for edits with a really short timeframe (think 1-2 weeks - I'll try to manage things so that doesn't happen, but sometimes life gets in the way), and other such things.
- Filler content. Sometimes there's gold, but there's not much of it. I'd really like to have some sort of structure that allows us to hit at least 120 pages per issue, regardless of how much we produce volume-wise. To that end, I propose 3 strategies: interviews, journal excerpts/ memoirs, and ritual analyses/ technique breakdowns.
Those are all rather easy to write (although time-consuming, too).
- Ongoing series. If possible, I'd like to have at least one recurring story in each issue - something that readers can follow through the issues, and that they can wait for the next issue for. Perhaps in the way of those magical journals, perhaps some sort of larger exchange between us as a group of misfits with the general world. Perhaps some writing on Thelemic politics, history, philosophy, personas. There's a lot that can go here, and I'm sure someone's going to find something that interests them enough to write about it.
- OSOA∴A∴ - to start with, I'd like to have a little bit more organization. At the very least, I'd like to have clarity on the Imprimatur of the publication, as well as establish some recognition of where everyone stands. Not necessarily as indication of their standing in the OSOA∴A∴, but rather as a metric that readers can judge the articles by. For instance, on paper, I'm at best recognized by one Motta-derived lineage as 1=10. In practice, I don't know. Straight up. I know Satyr's way beyond. Last I talked to K, he was saying he's around DL, but that was years ago. For all I know, I could be surrounded by Masters, and be the village idiot. But readers won't know that - so it's important to actually evaluate where we stand, for them to have a clearer perspective. (And tbqh I'd like to see the A.'.A.'. structure integrated a bit more with the OSOA∴A∴ - but that's for another topic entirely)
- Coordination & transparency. Given that we're aiming at an e-zine, I'd like to keep transparency to a minimum. I realize this is unintuitive, however there is an important aspect to transparency - it reduces credibility from the get-go. If we want to attract readers and get people involved in magick, or at least somewhat interested in it, then we need to tease their curiosity a bit. Keeping it 'mystical' might well be a good way of doing so.
Anyway. That's my thoughts for now. Let me know what you think, and don't forget to vote in the poll!
Thanks,
S.
Topic: Solstice (Read 280 times)