Julia wrote:
Shane Little writes:
This decision of yours is interesting. From the sound of it, you're basically ghettoising _all_ stories about gay relationships into slash zines, and I would like to ask you why you do this. There were gay characters in the programme, so it can't be out of respect for the
canon;
since you yourself are involved in a same-sex relationship, it can't be
out
of a belief that all fiction involving gays should be kept on the
X-rated
shelf. Apparently it's just down to sales, and again I'd like more
evidence
that it _would_ harm sales-- the people who wouldn't buy the zine might
be
compensated for by the Jane Carnalls of the world: the people who don't object to fiction about gays, but do object to explicit sex.
Julia Jones writes:
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
You've been complaining that straight women are writing about gay men without the least idea of what it's like to be a gay man. Now you're writing about zine editors without displaying any evidence that you have the least idea what it's like to be a zine editor.
I was involved in the production of a number of Doctor Who zines in the mid 80's and early to mid nineties, so I have quite a bit of experience. I don't make comments about things I know nothing about, and if you've been reading my posts, then you should know that, Julia :-).
Anthology zine editing is a hobby. It's an expensive hobby. Sales *are* important, because the more copies you can sell, the more chance you have of covering a reasonable proportion of the costs involved in putting a zine together. There are fixed costs involved in doing a zine, as well as the per-copy costs, and they can be pretty high for an anthology zine. Profits? Forget them.
That wasn't the case with the zines I was involved with; in fact it was impossible *not* to make a profit, which was a bit of a problem because fanzines by their nature have to be non-profit making, or else you are infringing copyright.
at least in this fandom.
I'm sure that is your experience, but Ashton Press have their fingers in many fandoms, not just B7. Ever wondered why? Especially when you consider that Annie or Leah have repeatedly failed to demonstrate any real interest whatsoever in what B7 was about, and in fact have demonstrated a clear dislike for some of the main actors involved. Needs investigation, I feel.
In the unlikely event that someone actually covers *all* the costs, and then some, the pay per hour rate is going to make third world wages look munificent. There are easier ways of making money.
That's your experience, but again if Annie and Leah have shown little interest in B7, then what is motivating them?
The experience of editors down the years is that there *are* objections, and resulting loss of sales, to mixed zines. From both camps. It's not just the loss of sales, either, it's having to deal with the bitching from people who think that the merest hint that two men (or two women) could have a sexual interest in each other turns it into a filthy pornographic rag; and at the other extreme, the people bitching about having to pay for this boring gen stuff when all they want is the action. Or the ones who want only slash and gen, none of that horrid het (no, I am not exaggerating, I've had the dealer's table experience of people wanting me to tell them how much space was wasted on het before they decided to buy a zine).
But then that's the price you pay when dealing with a controversial subject. I know that compromises have to be made, but the end result is still ghettoisation.
Personally, I'm somewhat bemused by the belief that amateur gynaecology and explicit violence are just fine in a genzine but a passing mention of homosexuality is slash and only to be sold to the over-eighteens, but sticking to that market division is one way for an editor to reduce her stress level.
Unfortunately, you also compromise yourself. Another problem which I've experienced in my involvement with zine producing, and I'm sure you have also, is that most fanfic is very badly written :-). Not good when dealing with a controversial subject like sexual politics.
Shane
"I'm going to bed, father" -- Dayna
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