09-03-2016, 09:20 PM
(09-03-2016, 06:46 PM)Rick McDowell Wrote: Well, this is a surprise, Grim. Wasn't issue #13 just out a week ago, after a year or so between issues?
A little more than a week ago, about a week and a half ago, or thereabouts.
Issue #14 will be combination of material previously submitted back when the magazine was last being published, material submitted too late to include in Issue #13, and material submitted for the express purpose of appear in Issue #14. Issues will be smaller than during the previous publication span, so slots for articles fills up faster. Plus, it appears that at least a few people missed Suspense & Decision during its absence from the publication scene, so perhaps its return has ignited a desire within at least some of them to pony up some material to try and help the magazine to regain some steam.
I eliminated all had publication deadlines, previously, as I set about the task of preparing to publish Issue #13. That doesn't mean that I am aiming to publish less frequently than on a monthly basis. It just frees me of the headache of trying to get issues out by a certain, specific date. The core problem is not publishing the magazine with a reliable degree of frequency. Rather, what really hurts the magazine is when artificial lulls get induced, such as when I am waiting on others to get an article to me that they have committed to sending in. That's when I am most likely to drift off and get involved with other things, and that always holds the very real potential for the magazine to 'disappear' for extended periods of time - perhaps even forever.
I do not tend to allow myths, including some rather longstanding ones, to govern my approach to publishing Suspense & Decision. Publishing a magazine in PDF format really isn't an unduly difficult undertaking. It's more time-consuming than it is hard, per se. Having a steady flow of submissions coming in can greatly facilitate and expedite having a steady flow of issues coming out. Not publishing issues for an extended period of time wreaks havoc on one's familiarity, process-wise, though. In other words, not publishing the magazine makes me grow rusty, and I have to figure out, again, in some instances, how to do a given thing that, before, may have become relatively routine for me.
Publishing at a faster rate than monthly introduces its own set of potential problems. Could it be achieved? Sure. Could it be sustained over an extended period of time? Probably. Do I want to try and head that route? At this current moment in time, probably not. Why? Because I'm not sufficiently comfortable in my routines for doing things, this time around, yet, and because the flow of submissions would have to increase beyond what they currently are, and that would require more than just temporary blips in increased submissions on the magazine's radar. It would also entail other 'complications,' such as the need for an increased amount of front cover art pieces to be secured. The lack of an actual budget for this free magazine poses limitations on how far, how fast that I am willing to stick my neck into the noose for.
It's a hobby interest of mine. Now, that doesn't mean that I can't try to instill a certain degree of urgency into the processes that bring it into existence. It does mean, however, that I am unlikely to embrace more of a business-like approach to this undertaking. For now, we are pretty much stuck with the status quo, and that boils down to each issue publishing as I am able and willing to get them done.
Smaller issues will facilitate achieving greater reliability in frequency of publication. Now, whether that actually translates into a better magazine or not is something that is subject to debate.