Icon - A 13th Age Fanzine

So after some planning, talking it over with people and tentatively proposing the idea i'm finally at a stage where I can make an 'official' announcement. I'll take a moment to talk about some of the decisions i've made about the 'zine and why.

First of, I guess - the project is a go. 

Im going with a slightly modified APA or Amateur Press Association model for the 'zine. You can read more about that here. But basically i'll act as a main editor / producer that will compile submissions from readers and writers into a nicely laid out magazine.

The traditional APA model charges a fee for submission and a free copy, but because this will be a digital pdf there are no inherent costs my end to produce the finished magazine, so the final thing can happily remain free. There are also a few other things that are great about this model, especially as were now in a digital age - easy distribution, tools to create a high quality product, easy lines of communication to advance ideas and content. All of those factors should be helpful in keeping the project alive and healthy.

The exact opposite is the major problem I see with this model, if there is no interest - it will wither and die, that sounds gloomy but I'm just being a realist. So in order to make it successful it will require the support of many people, even if they just read and share.

The next decision to talk about is the name, i've gone with Icon. There were some awesome suggestions, a favourite was 13th Sage. I decided against this for a couple of reasons even though I thought it was great, for one its close to the copyrighted name of the game and I don't want to infringe on anything. Also having a name that doesn't explicitly lean on another thing for context lets the product grow and change, without feeling odd or unconnected to its namesake.

So where are we with the project?

I've already done the following : created an logo (above) built page layouts, chosen a cover. So were in a strong place to start submitting and compiling work. I've put together some submission guidelines, its nothing crazy but it is worth a read.

So how do we move forward? 

Share, Submit and Read. The more people that know about the project the more likely they are to read or submit. Likewise in a venn diagram kinda way, the more people that read - the more likely it is they will share and submit. So tell everyone you know, think of a cool idea - write about it and send it to me, then read it in digital print the next month.

Im aiming for an initial run on the 1st of May, we'll see how things go.

Thanks for taking the time to read the post, if you want to get in touch with submissions or questions email david@8bitfactory.co.uk - i'll be contacting people who have expressed and interest over the coming days.

'Til next time.

- David