In message 007e01c18e1c$6031f600$44ae5bd8@default, captjohns captjohns@iw.edwpub.com writes
This isn't the only reason for authors to not put their stories up on the web. Kathryn and I do agree about *some* things - and one of them is being disturbed by the tendency of those with net access to consider those without as third-class citizens who need not be catered for - if they consider them at all.
How about this if you write a story and don't find a zine right away post it to the net til you find a zine willing to publish it then ask the site owner to remove it and store it (or you store it for them on floppy.) (or if it's your site remove it yourself place the title in with a list of your stories in zines along with the titles of the zines. Then when the zine goes out of print repost it.
As already noted by others, zine publishing doesn't work this way. If you've put it on the web, most zine publishers won't touch it, for good reason. If you submit it and then put it up on the web shortly afterwards, you may well find that the editor will not take anything else from you - and may tell all her editing friends that you are not to be trusted.
But only publishing it in zines while fair to those who can't get access to the net it causes the net to become bare in that fandom.
No it doesn't. Many writers prefer to publish on the Net. I think I'm in a fairly small minority - and even those writers who do prefer to paper-publish will often put the story up on the net once the zine has gone out of print, or after enough copies have been sold for the publisher to cover her costs.
And even if it did - so what? Why is this bad, while leaving the non-netted without fiction is ok?
It was the net that introduced me to fanfic I had never heard or thought of it before then. All because I had never meet a fellow fan or had any friends who were into any shows that I was or for that matter any shows that have spawned fanfic that I have heard of. I'm not going to say it's unfair to fans online I realise now that it is fair but it's boring when those of us on with net access and no zine access (for whatever reason) it causes shows to loose in the net race.
Um - why should I care about "losing the net race"? Saying that we're in some sort of competition with other fandoms doesn't make sense to me. I want the fandom to stay alive, yes, but not as part of some points competition with other fandoms. I want something that gives me thought-provoking discussions, laughs, and yes, the odd bit of drooling over spray-on red leather. *Not* some sort of "my fandom's more popular than your fandom" dick-size war.
Look at Buffy or x-files in any search engine on the net they have a huge presence online while some shows that are older and very good have a very low number of sites like Blake's 7.
And this matters because?
If it's a question of attracting more writers - I don't particularly want to attract the writers whose most important consideration on which fandom they write in is how many sites they'll be featured on. I want to attract the writers who actually know and care about B7.
My idea above would give everyone a chance to read your stories.
Except that as soon as I put my stories on the Web before sending them to a zine, there will be no point in sending them to a zine as they will be rejected if I have the decency to tell the publisher that they've been on a website, and then only those with affordable Web access can read my stories. (Note that affordable net access is not the same as affordable Web access).
More people reading your fic the better right?
Speaking from purely selfish reasons - no. I've actually had more feedback from zine publishing (very little) than from Web publishing (none whatsoever). And with zine publishing I get a trib copy, which means lots of lovely fic that some kind soul has already selected for quality, proof-read and laid out, without me even having to pay the expense of printing it out.
Would everyone agree this is feasible idea?
Speaking as someone who has tried my hand at publishing zines, no I wouldn't...