Enticing Magazines to Review Cyberfunded Projects

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I have repeatedly watched the authors of excellent cyberfunded fiction struggle to get their work reviewed in magazines. It's very difficult for hardcopy books and almost impossible for anything else. This really frustrates me. So, I'm looking for ideas to encourage magazines to review CFC projects.

1) If we had our own Crowdfunding Website, as some members have proposed, we could offer free advertising to magazines that review CFC projects. Each review would earn them a certain size ad for a designated amount of time. If they did a LOT of reviews we could bump up to a bigger ad. This would reward innovative magazines, help creative people find suitable places to send their review copies, and show readers/patrons things they would probably enjoy reading.

2) Meanwhile, since LiveJournal does not let bloggers run their own ads, perhaps we could do something similar by posting a review of each magazine that reviews a CFC project. For best effect it should probably be reviewed by someone other than the CFC project that got reviewed in the magazine, but that author could post here about the magazine and ask if someone else would be willing to review it.

3) Some magazines listen to what readers want, so it might help to get several people to contact the same magazine and ask them to review CFC projects. Not necessarily all at once -- maybe get 4-5 people to send one message per week, for repetition value.

Thoughts? Further suggestions?

Comments

[jolantru.livejournal.com]

I think the publishing industry (which magazines also fall under) is still fixated on traditional publishing and disdains self-publishing (which crowdfunded/cyberfunded projects fall under). Perhaps, we can look at indie magazines and zines open to multiple genres and publishing platforms?

The only place I know that might do reviews for cyberfunded projects is Web Fiction Guide. Unfortunately, I don't really know much about other magazines in the industry. *shrug*

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

I have been 'away' from magazines for so long I no longer know what is out there. I think a posting of what magazines to contact would be a goos thing.

There are also a lot of magazines that have websites that have some of their articles posted to entice readers to read more of the dead tree copies. If we could start with those we might be able to generate more interest since they are somewhat web savvy.

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I think that webzines, or magazines that have websites, may be more open to CFC projects than paper-only magazines.

Re: Yes...

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

magazines to contact would be a goos thing.

Ya know, I really can type, but for some reason I have been hitting wrong keys lately. *embarrased*

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

We absolutely need a website but I don't have the cycles to manage that project and whenever I post about it there are a lot of people waiting for input/the go-ahead to do it. We need someone to pick up that ball.

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I figure if we keep talking about a website, and what we could do with it if we had it, then that may help encourage other people with the relevant skills (which I lack) and time (which you lack) to develop one.

Re: Yes...

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

If it's not done by the time I get through coding on the three projects in queue in front of it, I'll pick it up. I confess I'm hoping someone else will first, though - I'd like to see it move forward faster than I'll be able to get to it. My hosting offer stands.

[zeeth_kyrah]

What does the design need? I'm good at creating block layouts into which can be fitted code objects. (But I haven't learned enough CSS to code those layouts without a table. I'm hoping someone else can pick up the layouts I create and build it from there.)

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of trading adspace for reviews.