Publishing LoCs concerning one's own 'zine
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| Title: | Publishing LoCs concerning one's own 'zine (this essay is officially the editor's notes regarding letters of comment) |
| Creator: | Harriet Stallings |
| Date(s): | early 1985 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | the zine is a Star Trek: TOS one, but the focus pertains to all fandoms |
| Topic: | |
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| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Publishing LoCs concerning one's own 'zine is a 1985 essay by Harriet Stallings. Stallings was the editor of the Star Trek: TOS zine It Takes Time on Impulse #3.
Some Topics Discussed
- feedback, letters of comment, criticism
- fan apathy and opinion
The Essay
Alright. So the debate began firing up, back in December of '83. Publishing LoCs concerning one's own 'zine, in the next issue of one's own 'zine, could be considered back patting and self-congratulatory. Indeed.
I must point out that if these letters do seem so positive as to be taken as congratulatory praise, then I didn't write them, and I publish all LoCs, even typing them when half-blind and dull in the morning, as they come in the mail.
Now, as to self-serving. You bettcha they serve me. I can't take 'exit polls' as each reader turns the last page of the last volume of ITTOI ! ! This format of feed-back is the only means by which any editor not given to traveling from coast to coast with a questionnaire, KNOWS what the hell the fans like to read and don't like to read.
It all boils down to one fact. If your opinion isn't stated here, and you think the letters overly-positive well, I didn't hear from you and I can't publish what you don't write. LoCs are a valuable part of the relationship between 'zine and fan. Without them, an editor stumbles around until she/he finds the right format, size, theme and tone for the 'zine she/he sweats blood, steals money from cookie jars and gets ulcers over.
As a fan, as an editor, as a writer, I've heard blatant criticsm of the somewhat generalized lumping of 'zines into themes and topics. There's too much grab-bag approach to what gets in a 'zine. -or- I'm tired of the too mature (or immature, take your choice) attitudes of the editors, -or- If I read another 'first time' story I'm going to bum all my 'zines and become a Star Wars fan (soo sorry, 'first time' plots aren't relegated just to Star Trek.).
Alright. So I listen as well as I can, hear those comments and join in the general fray of editor-to-writer-to-reader. But. The very same fan who speaks such (often valid) criticism, rarely ( if ever) writes a LoC to either editor or writer. It took me four years, almost five, to hear that a few of my stories were actually appreciated/liked/disliked. As an artist, I've heard a great big zero on my work by letter, but much in person at a con that both commentor and I happened to beat the odds to be at. And as an editor?
So, if you don't like LoCs published in a 'zine, your voice counts too. But you gotta write that in a letter and let me ( or any other 'zine editor) know. Hell no, this ain't a letter 'zine. Hell yes, your opinion matters even to a self-congratulatory, back-patting, cold bitch editor like me. There's a deadline on LoCs for this 'zine. I'm typing this in the middle of an ice-storm ( the rumor is that hell has, indeed, frozen over and that all promises and vows reserved for such an event are now retroactive), mid-March. What will come in the mail tomorrow will hopefully be as honest opinions as the ones already received and typed here.
For the fans (whose letters appear here), thank you. Not for your positive statements. but for your lack of apathy.