Self-publishers unite!'s topics - tribe.net

Layout or Format Programs?

Arun-once-was-ZyGoat — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:56:05 GMT

I am in the process of compiling books of words and images
and I am curious as to recommendations for a good program
through which I can set up the pages with text and images
so that the result can easily be printed in small batches...
any leads or ideas or advice?

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 2 replies

Amazon acts like the mob

Adam — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:24:32 GMT

Amazon is starting to act like microsoft, check out this::

Dear Author,

PublishAmerica is intensifying its ties with BarnesandNoble.com as its primary online vendor. At the same time, we are devaluating our relationship with Amazon.com. Unfortunately, we are doing this under pressure.

Amazon has informed us a few days ago that they are insisting on printing every PublishAmerica book they sell, in their own recently bought in-house digital printing facility. We have been given just over two weeks to comply. Their ultimatum implies that PublishAmerica must submit almost 60,000 separate book files (text and cover), and redo every single one of them so they conform to the complicated technical specs that Amazon's in-house press requires.

They also demand a huge increase of their own profit-per-book, which would lead to dramatically lower royalty payments for our authors on all books sold through Amazon.com. Amazon's threat: if you do not play ball, we will disable the "Buy" button for your books.

Not surprisingly, PublishAmerica refuses to be swayed by anyone's strong-arming tactics, big name or otherwise, especially given the fact that budging would mean an additional expense on the publisher's side of tens of thousands of dollars, on top of the unacceptable royalty losses for our authors.

When they tried to force our hand in the past, Amazon representatives have suggested that PublishAmerica should simply pass on its Amazon-caused expenses to its authors. Of course we have refused this. PublishAmerica never charges its authors as much as a single penny, ever. We are not going to change this winning policy under the threat of anyone's intimidation, nor are we willing to involuntarily accept any royalty cuts on behalf of our authors.

PublishAmerica's almost 30,000 titles remain available to Amazon, and we will continue to also make all future titles available to them. Amazon continues to be able to access our books the same way they, as well as all other retailers, have always accessed them, through at least four separate venues. One of those venues is LightningSource, a daughter company of the world's largest book wholesaler Ingram, which prints our books for retailers. (Amazon was attempting to take away a portion of this printing volume from Lightning Source until we prevented it.) If they want to obtain any PublishAmerica title, they can at all times, as they always have.

PublishAmerica's books will furthermore continue to be available to just about every other book retail venue as well, including all Barnes and Noble, Borders, Waldenbooks, Books-a-Million and many other chain and independent bookstores, and to online outlets such as BarnesandNoble.com.

Barnes and Noble remains PublishAmerica's number one customer: more of our books have always been sold through Barnes and Noble and that company's online store than through any other vendor. Given the new circumstances, we now fully anticipate significant sales increases through BarnesandNoble.com and other places.

Thank you for your support. If you feel inclined to let Amazon.com know what you think of their actions, we encourage you to contact them at cust.service@amazon.com or call them at 206-266-1000 or 1-866-216-1072.

Thank you,
PublishAmerica Author Support Team

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

Screenprinted Covers and Copywrites...

Arun-once-was-ZyGoat — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 07:28:29 GMT

i am assembling a book of words and images, and i am wanting to personally screenprint the covers...i am wondering if these can then be given to whoever does the actual printing and binding...does anyone do this that you know of?

has anyone done this before?

also, I have not been copywriting my work as i go...can i get many drawings copywrited at once or does it have to be an individual process for each one?
as you can tell, this is my first book.

thank you for any advice.

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

WRITERS WANTED...

Richard — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 10:12:25 GMT

Poets, novelists, essayists, short story writers, playwrights, journalists...If you write and have a site that you would like to like to mine, then I would like to hear from you. A reciprocal link will seal the deal...PLUS you will also have access to my new blog, where you will be expected to post your excerpts and related material on a regular basis. Oh, wow! He’s got to be kidding! All of that FREE publicity and exposure!

Ayup...I have my reasons. But I’m also very interested in helping to promote my peers whenever and however possible. And my current project just worked out that way. So, if you interested, please get back to me ASAP. There will be limited space!

The 2 sites in question are as follows:

The Portfolio: http://rdklove.googlepages.com- (Your link will be on a separate page, called “Artistic Links”, created especially for this purpose.)

The Portfolio Blog: http://rdkpf.blogspot.com/ (Note: Although brand-spanking new, this blog has been highly syndicated, promulgated, listed and advertized in about as many ways as I know how and is already getting “unsolicited hits” from visitors from everywhere. Witness the “Recent Visitors” button on the right-hand side tab and the number of directories/syndicators listed there, as well, which are only a fraction of the actual total; which is to say: if you post something here, it will be getting national and, quite likely, worldwide exposure. Also, please note that links back to your sites and/or storefronts will not only be allowed, but also encouraged. This is a win/win, folks!)

Serious inquiries only, please.

RD Kennedy

For those of you who are NOT writers but enjoy quality literature, this also applies to you, because ALL visitors/readers WILL be allowed to post comments on the work they read. You may also know happen to know some writers, who are always looking for another place to promote their work and gain additional exposure. (We’re almost as bad as musicians!) Be SURE to spread the word and ask them to check this opportunity out, as well. You know how it works...

rdk1421@hotmail.com

(Please mention WRITERS WANTED in subject line!)

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

New Hunter S. Thompson Documentary

petunia — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:25:21 GMT

Dear Friends,
This is a VERY funny and poignant film director Blue Kraning made about Hunter S. Thompson. You can follow this link to where the trailer is posted up on Tribe:

http://people.tribe.net/ef16dbc2-...e40916ff6d

or you can follow the other links to his website www.gonzopatriots.com to see the trailer and buy the film.

I went ahead and copied the text from the tribe page below so you get a better idea of the work.

Please support the spirit of independence in which this film was made AND BUY THIS FILM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Much Love To All,
Lisa Ferguson (aka Petunia Maple Cake)

New Hunter S. Thompson Documentary
This is the trailer for the fun-loving but poignant film that is a tribute to Gonzo journalist, Hunter S. Thompson, and a document of how his legacy continues to live on in the hearts and minds of his fans. Blasted!!! follows the many "Gonzo Patriots" across America that volunteered their personally owned artillery to fulfill the good doctor's last wish to have his ashes fired from a cannon. Before Johnny Depp became involved with the ceremony, and paid over 2 million dollars for a professional fireworks company to blast his friend's ashes from a 200 foot tall 'Gonzo fist,' an essay contest was held by the Aspen Daily News (at the request of Hunter's family) to see who would be available to provide the service of firing his ashes. Over 50 private cannon owners applied and though these letters were published in Harper's magazine, these brave men and women, who had come forward to fulfill the dying wish of their hero...were eventually forgotten.

DVD's for this film can be purchased at www.gonzopatriots.com

Blue Kraning, Los Angeles based documentary director and Emmy Award winning writer, has just released the DVD of his film, Blasted, The Gonzo Patriots of Hunter S. Thompson, which recently premiered at the Starz Denver International Film Festival and the Rotterdam International Film Festival.

Three years in the making, this film is a tribute to a great journalist and renowned physician. Kraning says the film, “is intended for any fan of Hunter S. Thompson or just anyone who likes to see large stuffed animals blown to bits by a homemade Bowling Ball Cannon fired by a man in a purple polyester suit, or see transgender Civil War re-enactors blast their aptly named mountain howitzer...’Lucrecia,’ while reciting Hunter’s wisdom. I made this film entirely as a one-man-band, in the tradition of Gonzo individuality and artistic freedom, so I will be distributing the film entirely by myself by selling the film off my website at www.gonzopatriots.com”

"Hunter S. Thompson embodied the American ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Blue Kraning's Blasted!!! is a twisted, anarchic, fun, and funny tribute to Hunter, those ideals, and Americans who don't merely mouth the Declaration of Independence, but live it." - Michael Simmons, The Huffington Post

“These are not the famous actors, politicians or even journalists. These are Hunter's readers who are “his people” in the purest sense, an army of thoughtful citizens who are inspired by Hunter's work and who do a fine job of carrying on his legacy.” –Anita Thompson, wife of the late author, Hunter S. Thompson

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

PRESS STATEMENT: Revised 12.06.2007, Black File 7001, Freelance Journalist inside the Federal Witness Protection Program as a Non-Criminal Federal Witness.

Lee Vin Bah — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:41:39 GMT

PRESS STATEMENT: Revised 12.06.2007, Black File 7001, Freelance Journalist inside the Federal Witness Protection Program as a Non-Criminal Federal Witness.

Freelance Journalist inside the Federal Witness Protection Program as a Non-Criminal Federal Witness. “Black File 7001” is a work of investigative journalism that initially began in 1994. Early in 1999, I completed a covert assignment with the FBI lasting five years after having been previously requested to stand-down from a fulltime university curriculum with an inactive law enforcement background for possibly twelve months. Immediately thereafter I entered the Federal Witness Protection Program (WitSec) and ever since have continued to experience the U.S. government’s use of psychological torture practices and political retribution by the named agents and agencies of the U.S. government under the Bush-Cheney administration. Multiple actionable offenses have been committed under state, federal and international law while the culpable agents and agencies remain shielded from civil and criminal prosecution by the administration’s threat or issuance of national security letters, which prevent legal discovery and subvert the rule of law. The U.S. government does torture, I am one of its American victims and am requesting a humanitarian intervention before it is too late.

EDITORIAL FOREWORD:

Producing the report titled “Black File 7001” has experienced the threat or issuance of national security letters by the Bush-Cheney administration, a subordinate agent directly under the administration threatening me with the invention of a criminal charge if I publish and the suppression of this story by the same Democratic Congress that falsely promised an end to the money laundering operation in Iraq that remains perpetuated by the insidious genocide of our American military service members and other innocent human beings throughout the world.

As a former lifelong humanitarian member of what use to be the Republican Party until 2000 and a person who also voted for Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, I charge the neoconservatives with having filled the bowels of this Trojan Horse Republican Party with the stench of operating a continuing criminal enterprise under the guise of bringing democracy to the world.

The U.S. government infrastructure has been overthrown and this administration has declared constitutional civil war against the United States of America. The American people must organize in a lawful and peaceful revolution that mirrors and surpasses the civil rights era. We must march on Washington, D.C. and picket the corporate offices of the propaganda ministries to force their coverage of your protests and displayed messages.

It is critically important that before the next election we must demand Democratic Congressional members to openly support publically funded elections; not for profit universal healthcare; free or affordable higher education for all citizens; the meaningful development alternative fuel sources; the abatement of the conditions causing the honey bee populations from disappearing from around the world (later in the primary story I will invite you to read why noticing the smallest of G-d’s creatures holds the largest messages); and the criminal investigation of the named agents and agencies of the U.S. government under the Bush-Cheney administration regarding the Black File 7001 report.

Career politicians, regardless of political affiliations who fail the muster of the American people should be removed and replaced with genuine representatives before the next voting cycle.

Americans must become the partisans of liberty to reclaim the dream and promise of America and our inalienable rights as human beings. The jackbooted fascists of today must be prevented from emulating the treason of U.S. Senator Prescott Bush through their perversion of peace for the profits of war. The American mainstream has already been herded towards the invisible and tangible death camps of democracy. In those places you will endured conditions far worse than any physical torture where other Americans like me have been left for dead for over thirty years. These human beings of whom I speak are not criminals or terrorists; they are honorable American citizens who answered their country’s call to duty for special covert government service only to become a disposable population and the hidden dirty secret of the U.S. government.

Since 1970, one thousand and eighty (1,080) American citizens have existed as something cousin to death camp victims from the destructive effects of the Federal Witness Protection Program. These non-criminal federal witnesses and American veterans of voluntary covert government service became the unknowing test subjects in a clandestine torture experiment that exists as the precursor model for converting a freethinking U.S. civilian population into a self-consuming enslaved society. Within the death camp known as “WitSec” these human beings are subjected to the insidious methods of psychological torture that systematically erode the individual sense of self-identity until the will to live has been lost.

ABOUT ME:

My WitSec No. is 7001, I am a husband, father, writer, and freelance journalist who remained inside the Federal Witness Protection Program as a Non-Criminal Federal Witness and am now ready to surface under guarded conditions with the firsthand story of how a minority group of honorable American citizens are being psychologically tortured and politically persecuted by the U.S. government. Immediately I am seeking the support of the American public and progressive news media; the representation of a listed creative agent; contract negotiations with book publishers and the motion picture industry; a university initiative with an accredited school of journalism to include lecturing options and the sanitized conversion of my college records; and communication platforms with Ms. Oprah Winfrey and Mr. George Clooney via the Smoke House Studio.

By comparison to the physical injuries that I have endured from trauma and other accidents, the lasting effects of psychological torture are far worse. This form of torture is sourced from the fascist mindset of the named agents and agencies of the U.S. government under the Bush-Cheney administration through their commissions of actionable offenses and political retributions. As a veteran of voluntary covert government service who operated undercover for five years while contracted by the FBI as an agent of the federal government, I state unequivocally and categorically that the U.S. government does torture human beings. As an American citizen and non-criminal federal witness let the record show that I am declaring myself as a torture victim of the U.S. government. With my soul dying and the body giving signs that it wants to follow I offer that no truer words have ever been written than “give me liberty or give me death” or that “the worse death is a life without hope.”

Having previously been blessed with an out of body experience during trauma that was caused by the U.S. government and prior to my recovery in advance of relearning how to walk, I am not frightened by a natural death. The experience of dying for me confirmed the Socratic belief that the human soul is made of two parts with one half being a physical finite and the other a non-physical infinite. Life as seen from the eyes of the body is an illusion or one half of a duality. It was possible to see from two separate and paralleling perspectives at the same time. The physical world appeared normal while my body felt the tremendous force of being pulled into the earth. Initially from within the spiritual realm there was no ugliness, no beauty, no gender, and only muted colors with humanoid forms. Before I lost the sight of my physical body, the last human emotion that I felt was an all encompassing global pity that literally enveloped the earth with my living sentient energy. Soon I was sitting in space and the beauty of the earth returned with the comforting tenderness of a loving mother and at my back was the warmth of wisdom and strength from a fatherly sun. A few moments passed and my two halves were made whole again to continue the journey that brought me to this place of inhuman suffering.

In self-definition I am a Humanitarian-Universal-Infrastructuralist or a person who has spent a lifetime identifying and interrelating the commonalities between myself and all known sentient beings and other components within the universe from which to become more human.

My views of the current U.S. President and Vice President find them culpable for treason, egregious crimes against humanity and international terrorism while wearing a mask of insipid divinity. Clearly these judicially selected ten cent millionaires are criminal sociopaths who function from a series of learned behaviors used to produce a desired result while being incapable of recognizing any genuine sense of right and wrong.

These individuals and their followers bare the marks that brand their names with the gamatria of the most inhuman and deceptive beings that walk among us on the earth in legion with what some would call the antichrist. Although I have never considered myself worthy of the blessings, respectfully I believe that throughout my life there have been a number of occasions when my being was touched by the many faces of G-d. With all of that said, one should never confuse spiritual currency with political capitol since the latter is most often sourced from the abyss of false profits, which brought the genocide over six million Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals in Nazi Germany; the slaughter of tribal nations in America; the turning of human beings against their brothers and sisters throughout history; the selling of children, women and men as slaves; the gang rape and victimization of Arabic women who are then whipped as criminals; and the 911 terrorist attacks used to perpetuate war profiteering and oil piracy for those who drink from a rivers of human blood and suffering. Considering my temporary acquaintance with death, I believe the purest form of spiritual worship that collectively joins us with the universe is simply the individual act of at least attempting to recognize the human being in all people.

BLACK FILE 7001:

“Black File 7001” is a work of investigative journalism that began in 1994 as an academic prospectus with the goals of publishing books, producing movies, film documentaries, and developing a lecture syllabus with the thinking who better to teach than a person with skin in the game. While in a fulltime academic setting and shortly after beginning this protect, I discovered actionable intelligence that was brought forward for case installation at the federal level. Already possessing an inactive law enforcement background and specialized skill sets where few if any training manuals exist, the FBI requested my voluntary assistance for a projected twelve months. Five years later I completed the FBI undercover group one investigation having successfully penetrated four organized crime groups while never being afforded one day off for that entire period of time. Since other federal law enforcement agencies are not equipped to handle long duration personal security operations, I entered the Federal Witness Protection Program (WitSec) as a Non-Criminal Federal Witness in 1999. Nearly immediately after entering the WitSec the named agents and agencies of the U.S. government under the Bush-Cheney administration unthinkably began outing my active covert status. Since exiting the WitSec in good standing early in 2001, political retributions by the U.S. government have continued to terrorize me with actionable offenses and the tactics of psychological torture. These culpable acts additionally serve as a passive sanction for the assassination of an American citizen and a former covert agent of the federal government. This story is uncharted territory and I am unaware of any other writer/journalist who has actually penetrated this fraudulent clandestine federal program, which shrouds itself beneath an undeserved veil of secrecy that exists in the absence of public scrutiny and meaningful congressional oversight. The latter might explain why multiple action notices regarding this investigation have gone unanswered by the craven Democratic Congress that I helped elected to office with their false promise of ending the corporatist money laundering operation in Iraq.

Within the next 30 day or by New Year’s Day 2008, I will publish an extensive sanitized report that has been redacted from a much larger work. Please communicate with me and contact your local election campaign committees to demand that your congressional members take action in this matter.

American citizens are being used as the unknowing test subjects in a clandestine torture experiment shrouded within the Federal Witness Protection Program (WitSec). Non-Criminal Federal Witnesses (1,080) are a special minority class of American citizens in title only who are being used as a laboratory control sample for the applied tactics of terrorism and psychological torture (psyops) on a U.S. civilian population by the U.S. government.

Writing remains one of my two fragile anchors holding me to this world and a federal agent (L.H.M.) directly under the Bush-Cheney administration has telephonically communicated “you have a lot of people in high places afraid to death that you are going to destroy their programs…and if you publish a book, the government will invent a criminal charge against you.” After refusing not to publish with an invitation to that federal agent’s handlers to “go pound salt up their asses”, a series of actionable offenses were committed against me in political retribution under state, federal and international law. These same entities on several occasions have outed my classified status that with each culpable act, serves to intensify what has become a standing passive sanction for the assassination of an American citizen and former covert agent of the federal government.

As a physically disabled person from two trauma accidents caused by the federal government or incurred in the line of duty during covert government service, I applied for Social Security Disability Benefits (SSDB) through the required classified channels. This process required that I utilize my second WitSec Inspector (A.S.) and the Social Security Administration’s Sensitive Operations Division (SOD) that was established for persons in covert-ops, the CIA and the U.S. State Department working oversees. The Social Security Disability Benefits were authorized, but following my refusal not to publish the WitSec and SSA’s SOD conspired to punitively withdraw my SSDB. This occurred prior to beginning treatments for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma cancer in 2004. The government’s own federal court judge who heard the SSA case issued several letters of complaint to the Sensitive Operations Division, charging that office had provided the court with erroneous information and that the SOD’s delay in responding was contemptuous to the point of preventing a fair hearing. Two months past while the SOD and WitSec crafted their evidence and my SSDB’s claim entered the appeals stage. During the initial SSDB process, repeated telephonic conversations had been made with and between the WitSec and the SOD to insure that the production of the SSA documents would not out my covert status. After multiple assurances that complete security would be maintained, the WitSec and SOD deliberately or at the least through total gross incompetence filed documents that outed my covert status by commingling my identities in violation of several federal laws and a federal court seal. After the matter was sent to the SSA Hearing and Appeals Board where it remained for two years that federal agency notified my private attorney they had lost my classified government file in violation of the same laws allegedly protecting my covert status. A copy was returned by my attorney and two weeks later my benefits were denied again. The SSDB matter is pending on civil appeal to the federal court where I am certain it will be again denied by the government’s crafting of the evidence. Lastly the WitSec and SOD conspired to deconstruct my only viable work history by purging a covert front business located in Texas from the regular SSA computer system and additionally failed under contract to sanitize and convert my previous Social Security records into my new Jewish name. Allegedly I had been employed by that Texas front business for over a decade as a construction estimator that for all I knew might have found Dick Cheney answering the telephones on an earlier occasion. Following the WitSec and SOD’s punitive acts of political retribution, during two subsequent visits to the local SSA office the computer screen was so void of information that the office staffers contacted their supervisors to report they believed their computer system had been penetrated by hackers.

Prior to 911 and before the USDOJ had been prostituted by this corrupt administration, I was able to assist in the covert criminal prosecution of my first U.S. Deputy Marshal/WitSec Inspector (J.D.) for his theft of government funds.

After 911 and following my refusal not to publish under threat of the invention of a criminal charge by the U.S. government that same former WitSec Inspector/federal felon was released from prison and allowed to stalk me. While near death from chemotherapy and radiation treatments for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma cancer that same federal felon physically accosted me by the arm inside of a warehouse superstore. Thirty-six security notices went unanswered by the U.S. Marshals Service’s Federal Witness Security Program Headquarters.

The second WitSec Inspector (A.S.) eventually came to my home with a regular deputy marshal who did not have a WitSec security clearance, which further outed my covert status and sarcastically laughed that he had forgotten to tell me that the WitSec Headquarters’ mailing address had been changed after 911 and that under the new U.S. Patriot Act my only means of communicating with headquarters was directly through him. That WitSec Inspector continued to smile while stating that my classified information and security notices had been circulated by several staffers without WitSec clearances before it got to where I thought it was being sent. When asked about the other Deputy Marshal’s security clearance, the WitSec Inspector stated “owe I use non-WitSec personnel all the time to handle WitSec matters.” This same WitSec Inspector has committed multiple actionable offences and has outed my covert status numerous times while creating a growing mortal threat environment around my geographic location.

Many of the public self-aggrandizing claims and testimonials given before the U.S. Congress and published by the Federal Witness Protection Program will soon be debunked within my Black File 7001 report.

Following the WitSec and SOD’s removal of my work history with their deletion of the covert front business from the SSA computer system and even though I am a very capable and multitalented individual with strong skill sets, given this act and the government’s failure to perform under written contracts, I have been unable to find employment after submitting over 3000 job applications. However by comparison and in direct contrast to my own personal situation, the first WitSec Inspector (J.D.) after his release from federal prison for the theft of several thousand dollars in U.S. government funds is now gainfully employed and processing the private financial records of American citizens as a mortgage loan officer. Under this administration criminals and traitors are rewarded and the good servants of the American people become part of a disposable population.

Out of 18,000 federal witnesses, 16,920 are criminal and custodial federal witnesses and 1,080 of that total number are “non-criminal federal witnesses.” The six percent who are non-criminal federal witnesses are comprised of honorable American citizens from every cultural identity within our society. These same veterans of voluntary covert government service took that extra step above and beyond the call of duty to participate in our system while defending our constitutional democracy and the American people. Within that minority of six percent I am an even smaller number of non-criminal federal witnesses who entered covert government service with an inactive law enforcement background and specialized skill sets of a nature that possess few if any training manuals.

The ACLU of which I am a member has tried to bring four previous cases involving non-criminal federal witnesses through the Washington, D.C. office. With each lawsuit brought by the ACLU, the Bush-Cheney administration has issued national security letters to prevent the legal discovery of evidence and thus subverted the rule of law. However, in my possession is the actual physical evidence that includes but is not limited to federal court documents proving the outing of my covert status; the federal court documents of the first WitSec Inspector (J.D.); lawfully produced audiotape recordings of WitSec personnel and others; and the proof of warrantless wiretapping, data mining, the electronic theft of intellectual property; et al. One should remember General Douglas MacArthur’s island hopping campaign during WWII. As that relates to this matter, I am bypassing a slugfest with Goliath that would only serve to hold me in stasis with my foot in the courtroom door. Instead I invite all freethinking human beings to a Greek debate in the court of public opinion. Criticism and contemplation are necessary to keep a flourishing democracy alive. Let the U.S. government bring forth its best criminal cowards to stand on the square with me in open examination before the American people and the world.

THE TREASON OF CONDOLEEZZA RICE:

It is also my intention to challenge the blatant lies told before the U.S. Congress by Condoleezza Rice regarding the administration’s knowledge of events prior to 911 – the FBI and CIA did have operational joint counterterrorism taskforce offices since the mid 90s.

“A litany of lies about 911, Iraq and now Iran – There is one point that I am compelled to insert within this document beyond the scope of its primary focus and here seems as good a place as anywhere. A covert FBI Special Agent and former teammate in charge of two special operations groups who worked in the field with me and whom I supported in the hunt for Eric Robert Rudolph also known as the Olympic Park Bomber, revealed during the mid 90s that both the FBI and CIA had established joint counterterrorism taskforce offices to exchange foreign and domestic intelligence. This fact directly contradicts Condoleezza Rice’s testimony before congress regarding the August 6, 2001 PDB Briefing Report titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”, during which Rice stated that a fractionalization existed between federal agencies, which prevented intelligence information from being communicated to the Bush administration. The most blatant lie came when Rice stated that no joint FBI/CIA taskforce offices existed before or during that time, while alleging joint taskforce offices were being established forthwith. Further supporting a charge of perjury against Condoleezza Rice and I believe grounds for treason, appears to be former CIA Director, George Tenet’s public testimony regarding actionable intelligence in July 2001 regarding Osama bin Laden’s plan to attack American targets using commercial jetliners. July 2001 marked the last time that I flew on a commercial aircraft on my way to lecture at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia and an occasion when I exchanged passing remarks with former U.S. Senator Gary Hart sitting near me. The actionable intelligence was clearly suppressed by the Bush-Cheney administration. In other words, given these facts and the known associations between the 911 Terrorists; the family of Osama bin Laden; the Saudi Arabian Royal family; the United Arab Emirates (poised to purchase 25% of Citibank and 40% of the U.S. and British Stock Markets); and the oil trading partners, personal friends and business associates within the Bush-Cheney syndicate it appears that the United States of America was allowed to be attacked by a foreign enemy to act as a protagonist event for the perpetuation of war profiteering and oil piracy. Therefore I strongly believe that if the unveiled enemies of the American people were not politically shielded, they would have already been prosecuted for treason, conspiracy, racketeering, money laundering, operating a continuing criminal enterprise, international terrorism, and crimes against humanity.”

SPECIAL NOTE CONCERNING IRAN:

Before the 2006 election the U.S. Intelligence agencies already knew that Iran did not have a “secret nuclear weapons program.” That report was presented to the Bush-Cheney administration and was politically suppressed with instructions given between the lines to craft new evidence. The facts are that Iran’s nuclear enrichment program has not been able to achieve a greater rate than 3.8% enrichment, which is even a lower percentage than what is required to bring a peaceful nuclear power plant online and far less than the enrichment level needed to produce a nuclear weapon. The psychology of substituting sexuality for the creation of illegal wars with oil rich sovereign nations, seems the iconic aphrodisiac of this administration when laminating that over sixty-eight elected Republican politicians have been charged and convicted of sexual crimes against children; that George W. Bush, a known cocaine user (sexual stimulant), deserted his post in the Air Nation Guard when they began drug testing; that both Bush and Cheney took multiple deferments from military service during Vietnam so that other Americans could die in their places; that Dick Cheney made use of a Freudian phallic extension in the form of a shotgun to shot his friend in the head during a hunting expedition; that Dick Cheney has a pneumatic penile implant to achieve an erection; and that the nude photograph of George W. Bush in college displays an unremarkable penis. Add these factors together with the absolute power over the U.S. military and the world will recognize a six headed monster with twelve hearts that numbers 666 and produces the political fodder that destroys the sovereign thought process, creates a toxic society and consumes the collective human soul. Plainly stated devil cannot exist without followers.

MY REQUEST TO MEDIA, UNIVERSITIES, PUBLISHERS, MOVIE PRODUCERS, AND THE WORLD OF HUMAN BEINGS:

While my reaching out might become the closing scene in a lifelong journey to become more human, knowingly I choose my own death over remaining a torture victim and slave within an uncultivatable existence where self-nurturing and remaining true to one’s own nature is an impossibility. The Democratic Congressional members that I helped elect have remained silent with the full knowledge of this matter and only a handful of good human beings seem to be listening for the moment. Already a subordinate federal agent directly under the Bush-Cheney administration has telephonically threatened that if I publish a book the government will invent a criminal charge against me. This is not the America that I defended and have nourished. Nevertheless if we are to remain a world of human beings, we the people must publically exam the U.S. government’s ongoing psychological torture of up to 1,080 Non-Criminal Federal Witnesses who are American citizens and your good neighbors. Currently I have established online locations on YouTube, Tribe.net, Comcast, and have posted on the message board at The Ed Schultz Show website where these American citizens can share their stories with other human beings and possibly begin to reclaim their individual sense of self-identity through these communication platforms. One non-criminal federal witness has already communicated they are hiding outside the U.S. to protect themselves from U.S. government torture. Recently I attempted to communicate with a well known actor’s movie studio and was informed that I must have a listed creative agent to represent my story before they will be legally able to communicate with me. Therefore and in as much that I would dare to hope to restore my own life back to the place where it should have already been, I am seeking the representation of a listed Creative Agent, Business Negotiations with members from the Publishing and Motion Picture Industries, and a University Initiative from an accredited School of Journalism where I might combine all of these components within a flourishing academic setting to create a lecture syllabus and continue writing. Please do not think me a selfish person, because I have remained one of the most extroverted and giving human beings you could ever know. This academic and professional prospectus has endured as my long-range plan since beginning this journalism project and is one of the few reasons why I have not ended my own life after experiencing something cousin to an extraordinary rendition to a clandestine blacksite torture facility that exists invisibly within the plain-sight of American society. Please do not let this story die with me and challenge the validity of any member of the Democratic Congress for their repeated failures to respond to several action notices regarding this matter.

Beyond the above I wish to offer one final piece of personal information. When I relocated to this area I had no intention of becoming involved with anyone and had anticipated reclaiming my academic standing to achieve my goals in life. While visiting a local bookstore and coffee house, I met the finest human being whom I have ever known and today that person is my wife. Together we raised our young child from her previous marriage and I have been blessed by the experience of being a father. Had it not been for my wife’s medical insurance I would not be here today writing this story. My wife retires at the end of this year and our child is now attending a university. What that means for me living on a fixed monthly annuity income and having been waited out by the WitSec while my saving depleted is that I will not be able to afford the additional $600.00 a month for my portion of the medical insurance policy. Further I have been unable to move in any direction to build the life that I wanted from the resulting harms caused by the WitSec cocoon that I will address in detail within the redacted report that follows. To protect my family and legally separate myself from my wife in the event of recurring illness, I am preparing to file the divorce papers on my desk. Never will I forgive or forget that the U.S. government under the Bush-Cheney administration has systematically deconstructed my family and prevented my equality as a person and an American citizen while psychologically torturing me in ways that have already killed other Americans who are non-criminal federal witnesses through suicide and medical neglect. This deconstruction of my family unit is comparatively symbolic to the overthrow of the U.S. government infrastructure by the international crime consortium and the same coconspiratorial war profiteers who attacked the United States of America on September 11, 2001. Having lived so long as the shell of an American citizen in title only, if I am unable to be made whole again in America, then as a torture victim and dissident under political persecution I am prepared to request asylum from the government of Canada. Should that fail and if I cannot be restored then I am ready to leave this world for the peace of oblivion and wish each of you mozel tov.

THE QUESTION HAS BEEN ASKED BY A GROWING NUMBER OF HUMAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP YOU?

First please do not attempt to send any money I believe that it is possible to earn a living with the years invested in this story and I prefer paying my own way, which has remained the purpose of my labors while enduring U.S. government torture. Profoundly from a place of extreme isolation your concerns are priceless gifts that have touched me deeper than words could possibly express and I truly feel your human warmth and compassion.

Beyond that human inclusion the most important act of support is not to let this story die from a lack of response or another empty promise by the congress just so this matter will be “disappeared” like the 1,080 American patriots who are non-criminal federal witnesses in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Please meditate for the good energy of the universe to encompass the lives of all human beings and continue to contact any person or organization who will if nothing else at least feel the truth of this torture story: Democratic Party headquarters around the nation; elected representatives who truly wish to remain in office; U.S. and international human rights organizations; members of the progressive news media (The Ed Schultz Show, Air America Radio, Democracy Now, The Nation Magazine, I.N.N. International News Net, Studs Terkel, the ACLU, Civil Rights Attorneys; etc.); the free and independent sovereign nations of the world (Vancouver BC, Canada, UK, Italy, Spain; etc.); the International Court of Justice aka the World Court and Cour internationale de Justice; and any other conduit of communication that might wish to know, share or actuate this true story.

Ms. Oprah Winfrey and Mr. George Clooney are two people whom I admire for their humanitarian and creative contributions to the world. With their support this story will not be silenced and human lives will be saved. Please send each of them “one” simple note requesting their support of the “Black File 7001” story and include my website and e-mail addresses. The movie “Syriana” spoke to me at a very personal level with Bob’s betrayal by the government he served that ultimately resulted in his death. Oprah Winfrey's all-girl leadership academy in South Africa is only one of the endless humanitarian contributions made to the world by this great human being. The education system has played a significant part of my life with a trilingual professional educator in my immediate family, a child currently attending a university and my own employment with the FBI in the third year of a fulltime academic curriculum. The purpose of that covert government service was initiated to prevent national and international organized crime organizations from distributing methamphetamine within the public school systems and throughout the United States of America.

For a time I prevented the false prophets who professed a love of children and humanity from preying on the innocent, but the “war on drugs” like the “war on terrorism” are only political mantras meant to perpetuate and fatten the cash cows of government profiteers.

PLEASE CONTACT MR. GEORGE CLOONEY WITH ONE LETTER ONLY:

Agent:
Mr. George Clooney
C/o Bryan Lourd
Creative Artists Agency
2000 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067
424.288.2000
424.288.2900 fax

Publicist:
Mr. George Clooney
C/o Stan Rosenfield & Associates
2029 Century Park East
Suite 1190
Los Angeles, CA 90067 USA
310.286.7474
310.286.2255 fax

Movie Studio:
Smoke House
Attn: Mr. George Clooney
C/o Warner Bros.
4000 Warner Blvd., Bldg. 15
Burbank, California 91522 USA
818.954.4840
818.954.4860 fax

PLEASE CONTACT MS. OPRAH WINFREY WITH ONE LETTER ONLY:

The Oprah Winfrey Show
Attn: Ms. Oprah Winfrey
http://www.oprah.com/email/email_landing.jhtml

BLACK FILE 7001 CONTACT INFORMATION:

E-mail:
BlackFile7001@comcast.net

Tribe.net:
http://people.tribe.net/49395906-0c49-4c98-b92a-79f37b7927cb

You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/BlackFile7001

Comcast: Currently blocking my ability to establish a website online.

The Ed Schultz Show (Message Boards – “The Media” Section)
http://www.bigeddieradio.com

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

Zine Wiki

ianthal — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 02:21:03 GMT

I just came upon this attempt to create an open source encyclopedia of the independent and small press:

http://zinewiki.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

new zinester, any advice on trading?

peachkc — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 17:44:14 GMT

i used to volunteer at the IPRC (independent publishing resource center) in portland, oregon. they have an amazing 5500+ zine/comic library that i raided weekly during my shift, taking home huge stacks at a time. HOWEVER, i just recently produced my own zine that i am really excited about and would like to start trading with people.

what's the trading protocol? send other authors an email and ask if they are interested? just mail 'em a zine with a note saying, "wanna trade"? or simply mail them your zine, no trade innuendo necessary? you are all probably old timers, so what do you like?

OH and my zine is called "my friends and their tall bikes". it's primarily drawings. speaking of which, anyone interested in trading?

if so! my interests aside from bicycles:
1. general DIY culture
2. free fun!
3. creating community places and encouraging local participation
4. building shelters on your own (i lived in a yurt i built most of last year!)
5. juggling/circus (the yurt was on a 'juggling farm'!)
6. beautiful/simple sketches and daily comics (ex. clutch!)

yeah! thanks for existing!

love,
kelly peach

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 1 reply

New Comicbook fanzine: The Original Universe

jeffboman — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 19:32:20 GMT

(Sorry for the short lead time)

INFORMATION (FAQ) ABOUT THE ORIGINAL UNIVERSE

I figured I’d share some Q&A on a new venture:

Q: So what is The Original Universe?

A: It’s close to the works produced by Dr. Jerry Bails, Roy Thomas in the first incarnation of ALTER EGO, and the zines that Len Wein and Marv Wolfman contributed to in their early lives -- except that I only compare in kind, not in quality! I don’t think that big of myself.

A fanzine has a much smaller financial requirements from its membership -even no cost. In fact, the Usual could require nothing more than a regular Letter of Comment [LOC] (I’ll explain both of these later in this missive).

Q: Where’s “The Original Universe” name come from?

A: A few years ago DC Comics used this name to promote some of their product, to separate it from Elseworlds stories.

I found the name ironic; the original universe at DC was really the original multiverse pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths. DC now has another multiverse after 52, but the damage has been done to many characters as different writers tried to tack on more origin ideas. It also lead to calling characters ‘radioactive’ when too much messing around made them untouchable, as well as the dreaded ‘retcon’ (retroactive continuity) word, when everything about the characters was changed yet again for new continuity. A prime example: The Legion of Superheroes now in its fifth history rewrite - although there are seeming originals in the present day at the moment.

Many of us in this zine were readers before Crisis, so we know where everything came from. Parts of this zine will hopefully celebrate that past.

Q: Who are you?

A: In 1990 I originated COMICOPIA, a comicbook APA. This I contributed to for 100 issues, more than 16 years. I began writing for APAs 6 months earlier, and at one time was a member of 4 of them.

I’m a 4-time winner of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) [so far; it’s 2007 when I write this]. As of June 30th I added 1st-time Script Frenzy winner to my resume. I got a BfA in Cinema: Animation Option in May 1990, so it’s about time I used it! :)

I’ve had 13 letters published in comics to date, and so far have 5 tabletop roleplaying game publishing credits (as of July 2007), 4 of them in super-hero games. At least 2 more will come out this year.

As you can read, I have a lot of know-how here... not to mention collecting comics for more than 26 years!

Q: Just what is “the Usual”?

A: This is a tradition with zines, in ways similar to Minac. It takes several forms:

i. Letters of comment (LOCs). My fellow APA-folks will be familiar with this. They are like MCs, only shorter. Often they are about 2-3 pages of text before the font size is reduced. They can be comments on the zine itself, comments replying to other LOCs... they tend to share the vibrancy of MCs like that.

Even if you contribute other things to the zine, you’re encouraged to still LOC for this reason.

ii. Cover art / illustrations

There’s a zine tradition called “fillos”: small illustrations to go as fill between long blocks of text.

Likewise, I hope contributors can provide artwork for covers. Some such artists have gone on to wider exposure and awards.

iii.articles

One zine I’m a part of prints several pieces by others. Some are reprints from FAPA (the now-legendary F/SF APA that’s been around for over 50 years so far); some are columns from his mom on the incredible travels she’s gone on worldwide... and one deals with the life of a man as he went through WW 2 as a soldier.

The Original Universe deals with comicbooks, so pieces will most likely cover that. Some of them may be original fiction, from me or others; I print them up at no additional cost to readers (if from others, obviously), but please be mindful the length isn’t too great (4 pages max).

Some of it can just have a link to comics as thin as the fact all who write for it / read it are comic fans. I’m not going to push for anything more strict than that -- and since we all are fans anyway, that will not come into question. I hope for more comicbook content, but if I’m the sole provider for that, it’s fine.

iii. Letters of Comment (LOCs)

As I said, these can be similar to the MCs we APA folks are accustomed to.

LOCs as e-mail are fine. I send my LOCs to my 2 other zines that way. You don’t have to worry about formatting; that’s my deal.

iv. zine exchanges

This is another longtime tradition for zines: trading your zine for mine.

Q: Is this an electronic zine?

A: No. I’ve already spoken at length over the years on how I have a dislike for electronic-only zines. There’s an archive of electronic zines at efanzines.com , and I may well store zines after the fact there, but the originals will indeed be printed and mailed first.

Q: Are there rules for flame wars?

A: Nothing official, just a simple guideline: I read everything before I print it. If it’s just there to start a fight, I leave it out. In general we’re mature enough not to pick fights anyway, so I likely won’t even need to use this guideline.

Q: Is there a subscription fee?

A: Not an enforced one. There is a voluntary one (another form of “the Usual”), but it isn’t a necessity. It’s not a huge dent: $3 US per sample issue, $12 for a year. I’m staying with a bi-monthly schedule.

Would I like people to subscribe? Of course! Any subscription funds will go straight to paying for photocopies and mailing.

Q: Are there MinAc rules? (Minimum Activity. An APA term)

A: Yes and no. Yes, because you have to contribute the Usual every 2 issues or you drop out. No, because subscribers still receive issues until their subscriptions run out (if they’re subscribed). I’ll let you know an issue before, so you’ll have approximately 2 months to re-subscribe. You just don’t get feedback unless you LOC as well.

There are no concepts like Member or Waiting lists. If you contribute non-flames, I print you.

Q: How long in pagecount will this be?

A: Well what I’d love is a 32-page zine, but the ones I’ve seen at that length are 15-20 years old. I’ll be starting at 12 pages. More will just be gravy, but 32 will be the maximum for now. I just received one in early May that was 46 pages, but for me that’s just crazy.

(I just realized: it may be shorter for financial and content reasons.)

Q: When will this all start?

A: The mail-out date for issue 1 will be July 16th. It might be a few days later because of schedule logistics, but I’ll make a huge try.

I hope you all join in! Contacty: theoriginaluniverse(at)gmail(dot)com

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

Hawthorne High School Comic Book Convention

Big Apple Convention — Tue, 08 May 2007 21:00:30 GMT

The Hawthorne High School Comic Convention
arrives this Saturday with many new comic creators
added to the guest list!

The Hawthorne High School Comic Convention arrives this Saturday May
12th from 10am â€“ 4pm. With a guest line up all but the biggest comic
conventions would be envious of, the school looks forward to its
greatest convention ever.

Here are some of the most recent additions to the guest list:

Mike Oeming (Powers, Cross Bronx)
Mark Texiera (Black Panther)
Ivan Brandon (NYC Mech, Cross Bronx)
Andy MacDonald (NYC Mech)
Rags Morales (Identity Crisis)
Tom Raney (Civil War, Uncanny X Men)
Rich Buckler Sr. (almost every character at DC & Marvel!!!)
Dennis Calero (X Factor)
Bob Smith (Batman)
Mercy Van Vlack (Richie Rich, Evolution Comics)
Ken Gale (Creepy, Good Guys, Nuff Said)
Chris Moreno (Sidekick, WW Hulk: Frontline)
M. Sean McManus
Rob Granito
Louis Small Jr. (Vamparella)
Bob Hardin (Sgt. Rock)
Buddy Scalera (7 Days to Fame)

This is in addition to the amazing guests we already booked:

Gene Colan (Dracula, Daredevil, Batman)
Jim Salicrup (Editor Papercutz, Marvel)
Danny Fingeroth (Editor Marvel, Write Now)
Mark Schultz (Cadillacâ€™s & Dinosaurs, Prince Valiant)
Joe Sinnott (Fantastic Four, Spiderman)
Ian Dorian (painter, penciller, sculptor)
Guy Dorian (painter, penciller)
Scott Roberts (Pattycake, Nickelodeon, Prince Valiant)
Tania Del Rio (Sabrina)
Joe Giella (Tent.) (Batman, Green Lantern, Flash and Americaâ€™s
sweetheart Mary Worth)
Rudy Nebres (Vamperilla, Creepy, Eerie)
Doug Baron (penciller, Kubert School teacher)
Tommy Castillo (Batman, Toe Tags, duCret School teacher)
Paulo Rivera (painter Marvel)
Daniel Reed (Retro Dead)
Mark Romanowski (painter, duCret School instuctor)
Mark Sparacio (painter, Miss Liberty)
John Workman (Heavy Metal, letterer extraordinary!)
Bob Wiacek (inker Marvel, DC)
Paul Banono (penciller)
Dave DeVries (painter, creator of Monster Engine)
Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art
Students from the Joe Kubert School
Melissa Goldberg (independent creator)
Caitlyn Flynn (independent creator)

The guests are not the only activity at the convention. Ken Gale will
be moderating a panel at 3pm featuring comic creators from every era of
comics. The panel will include comics great Gene Colan and be held in
Room 111.

We will have our yearly auction featuring original artwork, books and
prints from some of the attending artists and items generously donated
by Fantagraphics Books (a limited edition signed book by Neil Gaiman)
and Eva Ink Publishing (items from Arthur Suydam and Michael Golden).
Winnerâ€™s names will be drawn at 2:30 pm at the auction booth. You must
be present at the time of the drawing to win!

Here is the schedule of art lessons being offered at the show. Art
supplies will be supplied by the school, except for painting supplies
(you must bring your own).

ART LESSONS held in Room 122:

10:30am ANATOMY taught by Kubert School instructor Ian Dorian

11:30am CREATING COMICS FROM A â€“ Z taught by editors Danny Fingeroth
(Write Now and Marvel) and Jim Salicrup (Papercutz, Marvel and Topps)

12:30 pm DRAWING MANGA taught by Sabrina the Teenage Witch artist Tania
Del Rio

1:30pm PAINTING COMIC ART taught by duCret School instructor Mark
Romanowski

There are a few dealer tables still available.

Here is all the info you will need to get to the convention:

Hawthorne High School Comic Convention
Saturday May 12th, 2007
10am â€“ 4 pm
Hawthorne High School
160 Parmelee Avenue
Hawthorne, NJ 07506

Admission is only $3!

If youâ€™re driving MAPQUEST is great for directions. You can get to
convention from NYC by taking NJ Transit from Penn Station, just a
30-minute ride from midtown.

Wonderful food is available within walking distance in Hawthorne and
with so much going on plan to stay for the day.

This will be a very special day for the school and students, for the
comic creators and for you the fans. For more information, or dealer
tables contact Allan Rosenberg at: alllal@aol.com.

Our web page is at the Big Apple Conventions website: bigapplecon.com.

We send our get well wishes to our best friend Irwin Hasen!!!!!!!!!!

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

Big Apple Convention Tribe!

Big Apple Convention — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 15:07:09 GMT

ANNOUNCING BIG APPLE CONVENTION TRIBE

The longest-running comic book/sci-fi/fantasy/horror/pop culture convention in New York now has its own Tribe! The Big Apple Convention invites you to join this tribe and share pictures and discussion. Updates on the coming conventions will be posted there. Feel free to comment on your experience at the convention and let us know what you would like to see there! Artists and exhibitors are welcome to spread the word of their presence at the convention here as well.

Captain Zorikh
http://www.captainzorikh.com
http://www.bigapplecon.com

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

New tribe for discussion on ezine and newsletter publishing

jopajopa — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:28:11 GMT

Hi peeps,

We have a new tribe for anyone already publishing an ezine or newsletter or people that want to learn how.

This is a place to share ideas, ask questions, get answers or anything else to help our community evolve in ezine and online newsletter publishing tactics.

Please come join us at tribes.tribe.net/ezines

Peace,
Jopa
~~~~~~`

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

OK, Your Book is Printed … Now What!

psynaut — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 11:13:29 GMT

Many years ago when I worked in camera store, a customer came in one day with a very old roll of unexposed B&W film. He wanted to buy a camera that would fit that type of film so he could use up the film. The film was so old, all camera manufactures had long since quite making cameras that would take that type of film. I explained to him that the roll of film was worth maybe $2.00 (if it was still any good) and suggested he throw out the old film and consider a new camera and wooowooo “color” film. He thanked and left with is old roll of film.

I think about this story quite often when I am dealing with authors and writers. They have such knowledge and enthusiasm for their ideas and topics, unfortunately many of them, especially new writers and authors seldom give little if any thought to who will be buying their books and where and how they will be getting them.

I often ask these writers, “who is going to be the recipient of your book?” Most writers simply tell me “they are going to sell them”. My next question is “where will you sell them?” Most people respond with “bookstores and the Internet”. Then the tough question, “and how are you going to go about doing this?” That’s when I get met with a blank stare.

Many writers, especially new ones, have often given little thought to where and how they are going to go about selling and distributing their books. When you think about it, most new authors and writers are so absorbed in their manuscripts they have little time to even think about selling their books, aside from a few fleeting thoughts. I tell all of them, the purpose of printing your own book is to get it into the hands of readers. Getting books into the hands of readers can be done many ways.

Some people write and print small runs of books, solely for immediate family and friends. Others have more lofty regional, national and international distribution ideas. Both ideas of getting books into reader’s hands are good, but one takes much more thought and much more work than the other, but both have the right idea.

I was interviewed by a television Creative Director a short time ago; she asked me “what advice could you pass along to anyone thinking about writing their first book.” My answer was immediate and definite “think about who the audience is for your book and how you will go about getting that book into the hands of your audience”. I went on to tell her, if every author thought about who their audience was, and how they were going to market their book, they would have a much better chance of having a more successful book project, that everyone would benefit more from … the author, the printer and most of all the readers.

What I hate seeing, are talented authors with wonderful manuscripts or books, trying to determine after the fact how and were they can sell their books. In many ways they are no different than the young man I encountered years ago who had a roll of film and was looking for a place to use it, the film, just like a manuscript … not matter how good it is, needs to have place for it to fit in.

About the Author
Colin Knecht is a co-founder of Bookmark Self Publishing, a revolutionary new company dedicated to help authors achieve the dream of printing and selling their books.
Find out more at http://www.bookmarkselfpublishing.com

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 6 replies

electric dreams manifestation

libramoon — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 01:43:13 GMT

Hey Visionaries,

Electric Dreams, Emerging Visions #6,
is now online at:

http://emergingvisions.blogspot.com/

be there

Electric Dreams Manifestation

I'll see you in your dreams
other Autumns, other Springs
after the changes have made us
what we have been becoming.
I see you seeing me seeing you
in dreamtime.
If I greet you,
on the other side,
see me in my dreams. ...

Submissions will be solicited again in the latter days of March 2007
for Emerging Visions #7, Sacred Earth
expected to emerge after the ides of April

~ old issues are available in the archives ~

Share and Enjoy

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

new visions emerging soon

libramoon — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 01:56:50 GMT

http://emergingvisions.blogspot.com/

Welcome to Ritual Journeys, Issue #5 of Emerging Visions, visionary art ezine

Share and Enjoy

new visions slowly moving toward the horizon (submissions no longer needed for this one)

Issue #6, Electric Dreams

(aka Revolution of the Imagination)

tentatively due online February 3, 2007

see you there!

http://emergingvisions.blogspot.com/

Submissions will be solicited again in the latter days of March 2007
for Emerging Visions #7, Sacred Earth
expected to emerge after the ides of April

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 1 reply

ExperiMental Psychedelic Novel-Blues4Kali

amana — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:57:31 GMT

Reality Exchange Program
"Makes DMT seem like a whip-it."

Crazy Bear said there'd be days like this. As usual, no one believed him. Now, all I want to know is: where IS that lifeboat, and how do I ditch this ship of fools, without any of these bliss ninnies noticing that I'm already gone?

Captain, my ass. We are equal in this sea of madness.

That iceberg is looking awfully big.

Amana Mission is on a quest to save the world, and the only problem is, she can't remember why she got involved with such an obvious scam in the first place. Jesus saves. Christ. What a loser.

Kali kills first, and recycles later.

Hitchhikers, load up for a ride to the Other Side. You may wish you had gone Greyhound.

"What the...?"

*A cranky band of prankster peace warriors who absolutely cannot resist messing with each other's minds, no matter the cost.
*Cocky alchemy-dabbling quantum surfers, navigating the Ethersphere with hand-held computers, seamlessly switching timelines to find a better party vibe and swap tips about the best temporary toilets for use as interdimensional portals.
*A burnt-out visionary hippie millionaire on a mission from Gaia to build a better "communitopia" by underwriting busloads of telepathic priestesses.
*A wheelchair-bound mindpilot propelling a crystal-powered Seed Bank toward the post-Apocalyptic Garden, with psychic precision...and a predilection for high-velocity extreme driving.
*Hermaphrodite time-jumper fleeing a fate worse than death.
*Anarchist ghettoes where anything goes-except escape.
*Ancient Principals vying like sweatsoaked carpetbaggers for our loyalty as the Final Vote is tallied.
*Long-haired security patrols collecting a cannabis tribute tax from all pilgrims to the Valley of Fun.
*And an underground meat mafia bringing a black magic revival to a bloodless dreamworld gone bland.

All brought together by a secret psychedelic superdrug that tunes users in to reality through the eyes of another archetypal avatar inhabiting a different state of space and time. Mahayana made easy. Budding Buddha natures are running amuck on a virtual superhighway where all roads lead to the Bo tree and singularity.

Twenty-first century Tantra is about more than sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

Confronting the Karma of every wasted breath is only the first step.

Welcome to the End Times. Kali awaits. She already knows who you are.

Do you?

The 21st century counterculture is even weirder than it appears on the surface. This is not your mommy’s MTV Road Rules.

Ride along on this mesmerizing, metaphor-packed bus trip toward ecstasy and enlightenment, as three real-time guides-Amana, Sissy, and Deva, let you in on what they learned when they asked what It was really all about, after all.

Entire eBook available at www.blues4kali.com
Blues4Kali by Indi Riverflow

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

Audio Tapes Wanted

glasshopper — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 20:19:07 GMT

Hey everyone,
I'm working on a project that requires several hundred audio cassette tapes (yes, those clunky objects that held our music in the days before iPods, CDs and .mp3 players).

I know a lot of people have a stash of old tapes in a box in the basement that they've forgotten about. Why not get rid of the tapes and donate 'em to a good cause?! I will recycle the tapes (via true recycling, not downcycling) and use them as part of my upcoming album.

If you or anyone you know is interested, send me an e-mail or visit http://www.myspace.com/glasshopper for more info.

Thanks!
Jess

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

Call for Papers: Small Presses/Little Magazines/Mimeo Revolution

ianthal — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 12:28:21 GMT

�Small Presses/Little Magazines of the Mimeograph Revolution: Their Audiences and the Role of Printing Technologies�
Proposed Panel for The Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP) Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota July 11-15, 2007

The readership for twentieth century little magazines and small presses has often been considered a narrow one, with the majority of readers being those interested in experimental or avant-garde literature. The Mimeograph Revolution of the 1960s resulted in an explosion in the number of little magazines and small presses, particularly in the United States, Canada and the UK. While the focus continued to be on �new writing,� the community of publishers and writers of this movement brought a grassroots ethos to literary publishing in opposition to what was perceived to be the domination of academic criticism and the commercialization of mainstream publishing. As Curt Johnson and Diane Kruchkow have stated, the 1960s small press �provided an environment�in which one could discover literature first-hand.�

In recognition of SHARP�s 2007 theme, �Open the Book, Open the Mind,� this panel seeks to explore how this discovery took place for readers of these publications by examining the role of different printing technologies and production methods employed during this �revolution� and how they affected the target audience for these publications. Exactly what were the production methods used under the banner of the Mimeo Revolution and how did they differ from each other and from publications of earlier eras? What, if any, divergences were seen in the traditional audience for literary work produced by little magazines and small presses? How did this grassroots effort differentiate itself from the more conservative academic quarterlies and commercial publishers? The panel encourages papers that take a historical look at literary publishing with a focus on the publication and production of these works, rather than a critique of the work within, or how the styles of writing originating during this time affected the publication of that work. Papers may examine individual presses or magazines or take a wider view of the era.
Send a one page abstract and brief CV by November 20, 2006, to Christopher
Harter (charter@uiuc.edu).

Christopher Harter
Pathwise Press/Bathtub Gin
PO Box 1164, Champaign, IL 61824
pathwisepress@hotmail.com
pathwisepress.com

FORTHCOMING BOOK: from Scarecrow Press: "An Author Index to Little
Magazines:
The 1960s/70s Mimeograph Revolution" -- contact pathwisepress@hotmail.com for information.

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

Scales, Veils & Tales ev4 has emerged

libramoon — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:40:38 GMT

Hey Visionaries,

Emerging Visions Issue #4 Scales, Veils & Tales is now online at:

http://emergingvisions.blogspot.com/

be there

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

Paper Question

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 02:38:02 GMT

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to create my first book this month. I'm going to be printing it myself, and I'd like to just do it on my deskjet printer, keep it simple. The only thing is, I'm not sure what kind of paper to go with. Are there any good kinds of paper that any of you know of that would be good for double-sided printing and come at 8.5" x 11"? Should I go with some kind of cheap cardstock? Thanks.

-Jon

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 2 replies

Is it "selling out" to ask for advertising or sponsors for your zine?

Tue, 16 May 2006 16:17:14 GMT

Just wondering. Like if a skate zine get's advertising from local shops, is that bad?

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 5 replies

on-line humor/punk rock zine needs some kick ass writers

Mitch — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 22:58:04 GMT

Hey everybody. I am starting a new on-line 'zine sort of thing called 'i dunno'. it's mainly an outlet for funny/creative writing, as well as pop culture and punk rock. It's a pretty goofy website, and I'm hoping that the strength of the writing on 'i dunno' will be enough to make up for my lack of web design skills. Basically, it's a forum for making fun of anything and quite possibly everything.

But the problem is, I need some help with the writing duties. i just started the website a few days ago, and already I'm extremely anxious to get some content to it, so that I can start trying to get people to come check this shit out. But having a lot of content is hard to do if you're just a one-man operation. So any strong funny/creative writers want to help a brother out?

www.idunnozine.com

That's the address. Check it out and let me know if you're interested. Please keep in mind it's a new endeavor and there's not a lot on the site yet. But I'm working on that.

Thanks a bunch.
- mitchell t
mitchellt@idunnozine.com

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

aloha

squintz — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 19:29:16 GMT

Denver artist/writer saying hello. Please visit my blog(s) for my work. My profile pretty much says it all. I'm looking to meet the 'right' people and learn whatever I can.

cheers

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

June New Moon Emerging Visions has risen

libramoon — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 01:00:15 GMT

Emerging Visions Issue #2 is now online at:

http://emergingvisions.blogspot.com/

enjoy the visions
spread the word!!!

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

New Dark Fiction Available Now

magdalenos — Mon, 22 May 2006 20:59:23 GMT

I am very pleased to announce that my short story Collection, "Shaytan Rising" is now available from Lulu Press.

From the press release:

"Shaytan Rising is a collection of five short stories which examine the dark sides of the self. Kyle Sennett wrote Shaytan Rising , compiling five of his best short works. The title story SHAYTAN RISING tells the tale of a man who finds himself inexorably drawn to a dark force that he cannot identify until he becomes that dark force himself. SHE is the tale of the Old Gift and the terrifying creature who is its keeper. CONFESSIONS OF A DJINI takes a more humorous tone, exposing the secrets of the wish-granting spirits eternally tied to their lamps. In BACKLASH we meet Jessica, who has returned to her family home and her family's secrets. And finally in THE CIRCLE we meet a coterie of magicians who are plagued by an urge demon, Abraxas, and the machinations of their own superiors within their secret Order."

PLEASE SUPPORT A NEW AUTHOR AND BUY MY BOOK. IT'S ONLY $14.99

http://www.lulu.com/content/311163

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

gather.com rewards for publishing

libramoon — Thu, 11 May 2006 00:50:22 GMT

http://www.gather.com/home.jsp
Cash Payments and Points Redemption Now Live on Gather
by Tom Gerace to group(s):Gather Tips and Tricks, Building a Better Gather

Today is a great day for Gather.com members. Since our launch, we have been compensating members in Gather Points for the content they share on the site and for growing the Gather community by inviting new people to join Gather. Members also earn compensation for general site activity as well.

Today we are pleased to announce that Gather members earning points may now redeem those points. Our most active members are eligible to start earning cash instead of points (see details below), and receive payments via PayPal or check. We are excited that the Gather Earnings system is now fully operational and look forward to your feedback.

As I explained in my recent article, Showing You the Money, Gather's compensation program lets us share Gather's success with the Gather members that drive our growth. From a strategic perspective, we see it as a critical part of our effort to create a disruptive economic model for media that supports user-created content. And for you, well, it means you get paid for doing something you already like to do.

Below, please find a few answers to frequently asked questions about our compensation system. Please feel free to contact us at feedback@gatherinc.com if you have others.

Will I earn points or cash? Gather members all start-off earning points on the system. Points can be redeemed for Gift Cards that you can use to shop online or in some of your favorite stores.

Professional and freelance writers tell us that they prefer cash compensation. We will therefore invite any user earning more than $50 in a month (a little over 3,000 points) to switch to cash compensation going forward. Gather members earning cash can receive payments via PayPal or check, as often as they would like them (a $2 per payment processing fee applies).

What can I do with my points? Starting today, Gather Points™ points can be redeemed for gift cards at Barnes and Noble, Uncommon Goods, CruisesOnly, and Sunburst Vacations (there are more on the way!). Points may also be donated to charities that recruit more than 100 new members to Gather.com. Currently these include Minnesota Public Radio, Southern California Public Radio, and Ryan's Run (again, more on the way).

Will people make real money on Gather? They already are. Based on current earnings patterns, some members may earn about $1,000 in May alone. Hundreds will be earning hundreds of dollars annually at today's rate. That's real money. And as the community grows, and as the advertising revenue grows, compensation will grow accordingly.

How does cash compensation work? As of today, if you fit into the category of those Gather members that earn more than $50 per month, you will be invited to join the Gather Cash program. As a Gather Cash participant, you will see your compensation show up in US dollars, so you'll know exactly how close you are to cashing in. Check out our update FAQs to understand the specifics of the program.

How can I earn more on Gather? There are several things you can do earn more on Gather:
1) Keep inviting your friends, family, and colleagues to join Gather
2) Belong to a social or professional group? Create and host a space for them online with Gather groups. (For more information, join David Woodrow's group, Gather Group Management 101, on how to run a Gather group)
3) Keep sharing interesting and diverse articles, stories, and images
4) Help other users feel appreciated and help them improve through your thoughtful, constructive, and occasionally playful comments.

Can international members earn compensation? We are recording compensation for all Gather members, but need to do more work on understanding international tax requirements (country-by-country, I am afraid) before we issue payments. We will look at countries with the highest concentration of Gather members first, and keep you posted as we start to meet the requirements for international payments.

How do I build my own audience and media brand on Gather? Our members are compensated based on the quality and popularity of what they write. To maximize your earnings, you need to build your own media brand inside and outside Gather. A few simple tips:

1) Include the URL for your Gather page (username.gather.com – for example, mine is tom.gather.com) in the signature of every email you send.
2) Use your Gather page (username.gather.com) as your URL when you post to other blogs online, driving more traffic to your own content
3) Increase your audience size using the tips above for inviting friends, family, or colleagues, or by growing your own group online
4) Post links to your own content in appropriate places on other sites you own or control, driving traffic to your content.
5) If you have an existing blog, consider re-pointing the URL for that blog to Gather. This will bring your current audience here where you earn a return for your work.
6) Publish regularly on topics you know well. Playing to your strengths helps ensure that people will like the content they read from you.

Thanks to all of the early members who took us on our word that today would come! And to those of you just about to start earning, thanks for joining Gather. We look forward to growing with you.

http://www.gather.com/about.jsp

About Gather.com
A Message from the CEO

Do you remember that thing the other day that really caught your attention? You heard it on the radio on your drive home, or perhaps at a dinner party last weekend. It made your heart beat in excitement or made your blood boil. You were distracted by it all night long, and kept coming back to it the next day. Maybe it was a lyric in a song, just one phrase that connected. Perhaps it was a sound bite from your congressman, or a court ruling that affects you, your family, your church or your friends. Whatever it was, it touched you. It clicked with you. It mattered.

Well, it mattered to a lot of other people, too. And you can meet them on Gather. Gather is a place where you can share the things that matter to you with the people that matter to you, too. You can connect around a Supreme Court nominee, an Umbrian chicken recipe, a new album by Aimee Mann, or your child's soccer game. You can share your thoughts with the entire world, or exchange ideas, photography, audio (even podcasts), or video with just your friends, your family, or your work colleagues. You can connect with your book club, your PTA, your management team, or your committee to elect a new great leader in town on Gather. We will give you a place where your group can share information with one another or with the world.

And the dreaded question: how much does it cost? How about if we pay you for a change? No, really, no kidding. You will be creating great content on Gather, for audiences large and small. Some of the things you contribute might be brilliant, novel, and interesting to a lot of people. Some might bring people from around the web to try Gather for the first time. That creates real value for other Gather users and we want to reward you for doing it.

Gather will make money by displaying advertising to people who use Gather's services. It just seems fair that we share our advertising revenue with you based on the quality and popularity of the content you contribute on Gather. We will also share some of our revenue with you if you choose to use the site actively, exploring content that others write, searching on Gather and on the web, and inviting your friends, family, and colleagues to use the site. We will pay occasional users in points that you will be able to use to purchase goods and services from Gather partners in a few months. We will pay frequent users, who write great content consistently, in cash if they choose.

That's it in a nutshell. Gather is a place for you to connect with people who share your passions. It's a place where you can contribute thought, art, commentary, or inspiration. We will reward you for all the great things you will share with others in your communities of interest. And together, we think we will create a pretty special place to hang out online.

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

Emerging Visions

libramoon — Mon, 01 May 2006 01:57:11 GMT

last chance to be part of issue #1
The newly forming Emerging Visions visionary art e-zine is getting ready to launch. Got visions? Send them to me:

libramoon42@mindspring.com

www.emergingvisions.blogspot.com/

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 1 reply

CARTOONIST CENTRAL

arnomation — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:49:59 GMT

A large resource database with links specifically geared toward the cartoonist, comic and small press artist

http://www.cartoonistcentral.com

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

inspiration update

libramoon — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 01:54:14 GMT

I've been feeling through this intuitive thing, because that's what it is, a feeling through like swimming through the ambient waters of events and emotions. This relates to the idea of indecisiveness, and procastination. It's that feeling our way through, rather than having some set of rules saying either/or, and about being in the waters of time, in the moment, rather than putting it in compartments for accountability.

I have been self-brainstorming about recreating my "Emerging Visions" visionary art zine project on a blog platform. I can give up the idea of making it a paying venture, and simplify the whole process. This way, once the platform is established, I can solicit pieces that I like and provide a cohesive framework for showcasing (hopefully written work together with visual) and build up a network of people who can work together.

I started a Delphi group as an administrative platform for my Flash Utopian Fiction project. I have two stories, plus the one I wrote and the idea for another I just need to focus on. I'm hopefully getting out the word on a variety of fora. Perhaps a blossoming season is at hand.

I've been spewing out like a poem a day for around a month, with nowhere to send them other than long-suffering friends and occasional zines that want all kinds of bureaucratic bull requirements to give away my heartfelt craft. Apparently I have opened a conduit to my deepest psyche, and all the faeries and demons are flying out.

the colors of dawn
complement your dowry
passionless pearls and saphires
catching life-giving sunbeams
drinking in dewdrops
breathing bright breezes
whispering in the new day
becoming precious jewels.

Polarities reverse
under the waxing light of Spring
and poetry blooms
in the city cafes
and the hinterlands, under the heroic moon,
adventurous stars.
So much inbound emotion
bursting forth
allowing for the opening to sharing
to loving
to knowing
to healing.
Magickal portals abound.
Let us enter
dancing
open hands, hearts, minds
embracing.

Pray for peace
Pray for union
Pray for the love
that knows no dominion
Pray for hope and life and light
Pray for our souls through
this transcendent night
Pray for acceptance
between the old and the new
Pray for our visions
to emerge into view

as the early evening mist cascades into darkness
here on the lower foothills we embrace the sky
ecstatic refrain, celestial entrainment
dancing, dancing, dancing
eyes blackened to the night
no dimension, no tomorrows
no fear

Bless me with your bliss
Do not deny our connection
So much in this callous world
denies me.
Anger seethes, convoluting into
anxiety, depression, fatigue.
What I have to reach out to
That little voice of happy singing
moving through my soul
I can recognize
in your singing eyes.

Peace,
libramoon

http://people.lulu.com/blogs/view.php?user_id=38353 libramoon's observatory

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

flash utopian fiction project update

libramoon — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 22:34:30 GMT

Check out my blog to see what's happening with the project -- I finally came up with an example story, but please, do not let my imagination limit yours. Let me know if you find you have a story for the project:

http://people.lulu.com/blogs/view.php?user_id=38353 libramoon's observatory (blog)

Peace,
libramoon
libramoon42@mindspring.com

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

please just have a try:

culturalman — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 08:26:40 GMT

I made a group: "American English", I want to put an introduction article and an introduction poem there. Any 1 can have a try, please reply the invitation I posted in my group. I 'll let my group members to vote and decide which one is the most suitble. thank you very much indeed! you can refer to my introduction writing, of course that is not good.^_^

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

"Free College" Blog for College-No-Gos Or for Those Who Dislike the Politics of Academia

sweetajuma — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 17:51:34 GMT

Hello Friends,

Please check out this link:

http://freecollege.blogspot.com/

The link will bring you to a "blog community" that I am trying to
start. The intention is for the participants to speak from their truth
regarding common themes that we may often think about such as: one's
work vs. one's calling, individual endeavors vs. ethical
responsibilities based on family or your values, the artist's vision
vs. general uniformity. I am hoping that these "themes" will have a
life of their own based on the nature of inquiry, wanting to know
something because you are led to it!

I created the blog to try and create a sort of "free college" for
those who are through with school (or not), and those who would like
to browse through the thoughts of others to join in "equal inquiry"
(that means being open to others' different points of view with the
goal of many ways of seeing a subject rather than arguing "your side"
of a topic).

Recently, I have felt the need to create this sort of forum for free
expression and different perspectives based on "your truth" from your
opinion, discipline, culture, or interests. In this way, we will be
teaching each other what we know...and it will be free to all!!! No
grades, no judging, and no tuition.

I hope you find it to your interest!

Eddie Ling

PS As of now, this blog is a sort of creative writing journal...come check it out!

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

How I plan to publish my book

Kalanu — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 23:50:25 GMT

Howdy,

i am 40,000 words into my novel; my first. I thought about getting it published the conventional way, briefly. Then i thought about vanity press, POD or what have you. But, I decided to go with the seriously unconvential route, the one that will ensure I'll only ever make a fraction of the money i would make otherwise.
I'm going to print it myself on a laser printer and hand bind it. A few editions will be labour intensive leather covers, some will be handmade recycled paperboard, some will be old licence plates, some will be spiral bound, some staple. Each will be different and unique. I'm not even all that egotistical or stubborn, but this is my art, my heart's work, and I WILL control every aspect of it. I demand tree-free or post consumer recycled paper. I want the artwork that I feel truly represents my work, and I want these books not to be dispoable items, I want them to be art in of themselves.
I know that without an ISBN number or barcode I wont get into libraries or bookstores, but I want to sell my book direct anyway. I won't let a retailer, publisher or distributor take a huge percentage even if it does mean i will sell more and make more myself. So maybe i am stubborn.

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 20 replies

A possible reason why some say success equals failure if you don't conform

Yul — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 15:45:29 GMT

In this so-called "society", many people believe that the primary purpose of the individual is to conform to some standard "normal" way of being. Because of that, many people believe that not conforming to the standard "normal" way of being constitutes failure. For example, consider my recent web comic success. I mentioned this success on a comics-themed message board a few weeks ago. Most of the responses I got there were statements that claimed I'm still a failure or will fail or haven't provided any evidence of success. This may be my opionion, but I suspect that these people are saying I'm a failure as a web comic artist because the theme of my web comic does not conform to the standard "normal" way of being. And what theme is that? The theme is LONG TOENAILS ON WOMEN! (Yeah! Really, man!)

Yes, the notion of long-toenailed women is not popular in most comic strip areas. But it is very popular in the area of long nail fetish web sites. Thus, my new web comic is featured on a LONG NAIL FETISH WEB SITE. THAT'S why I say my web comic is a success! Especailly since it probably gets more views than all my other web site endeavors combined.

I'm of the mind that creativity is mainly about changing the world. It has little if anything to do with the standard "normal" way of being. Any and all changes to the world go against the standard "normal" way of being. Consider this outragous statement that may have been made some 50 years ago:

"Rosa Parks, your protesting of the segragation laws contradicts the standard 'normal' way of being. Therefore, you're a was a failure."

Needeless to say, the same people who say I'm a failure because I won't do my comics in the standard "normal" way of being won't say that Rosa Parks was a failure for also going against the standard "normal" way of being.

"But that was years ago. Segreation is no longer part of the standard 'normal' way of being."

That proves my point exactly. The world won't stay the way it is forever. It's possible (no guarantee, of course) that long nail fetish comics may become more popular in the future.

"But now you're saying that the standard 'normal' way of being will be a good thing if your ideas become popular."

No. I'm just saying that change is one of the few constants of life. And the standard "normal" way of being is only wrong in my view if it's being forced on people when they have a right not to take part in it. I mean, there is no law that says that all web comics should conform to the standard "normal" way of being. People have the right to do comics -- web or otherwise -- any way they want, be it the standard "normal" way of being or otherwise. Success, basically, is whatever you want it to be. And in my case, success is expressing new ideas to a sizable audience. With my latest web comic, that's exactly what I got. I'm a successful web comic artist whether you don't like it or do. Yeah, baby!

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 8 replies

publish this

asailboat — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 06:33:36 GMT

twisted at misty the habits just hit me quick as they come i am gone
long drwan out song to tweetle to,
dumbdumbdumbdumb
i like how the dee and bee colide
concious to the tickling at my toes and my noes smells something sweet and it lingers.
fingers collecting at the bones my tone is earth brown.
down around my eyes pour frowns
the meeting street cleaning at four fifteen and the sun is still underground
shadows and bright clowns and earthquakes and buddha dreams inside my closet alone.
the gallery is closed and no one watches the doorframe
eht ned dyslicic

-----------------

the nomes no no
grow how slow
a hundred years and i puke
cause i don't care.

------

sitting on fists of morining bliss i missed the kiss the night should have left,
instead of whats right i stood out all night my mind will ignight and burn down the sight
a crime of confusion, oh doctor dilsloutioun was the controbution that broke the weak camles back.
racked all but senceless I attack when i'm restless and to my defencess i'm cute, and aloof.
the spoof on life the mad mans side i step in a glide with pride, piss off.
find fourtiouns a foot and feet in my mouth and this is my spout that i'm spewing.
aluding to what, becides the missed bus my fists and sleve cuffs cumbust.
crumbs and bread cover my head what's more to be said theres more to be blead form my juice.
convay and collide headbuts are my bride and my skull fucks a pain inside.
a dance with the devil with the trebel turned down the bace puffs my face insideout.
clout couldn't cover what's been uncovered and no mother could smother but sisters and brothers could look away.
strange days,
the phrase at the end.
my friends.
jim who?

-------

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

Pimp yer stuff

www_wantedhero_com — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:15:59 GMT

I have started a thread on my comic book site to show off other works by creators of comics/comic strips. I had over 500,000 visitors to my site last month, so this might send some viewers your way.

If you're interested, then come place your link on this thread:
http://www.wantedhero.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=270#270

Jaime D Buckley
www.wantedhero.com

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 1 reply

Mahfood and Crosland!

Chris — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 17:49:53 GMT

STAPLE! The Independent Media Expo is proud to
announce those very Silky Bureaucrats themselves, Jim
Mahfood and Dave Crosland! Jim (www.40ozcomics.com)
and Dave (www.hiredmeat.com) will be bringing their
own unique brand of artistic madness to STAPLE! Come
see the Bureaucrats at the show on March 4, 2006 in
Austin, Texas, and then check out one of their now
famous Live Art performances later that evening
(location TBA)!

More Quick Questions!

The newest installment of Quick Questions at the
STAPLE! website – www.staple-austin.org features Tom
Beland (www.tombeland.com) creator of True Story,
Swear to God. Tom talks inspiration, digital tools,
and life experience in our second Quick Questions
interview.

Tables running out!

Only about 15 spots left! Tables are $55 for an 8’
full table and $30 for a half table. In order to
appear in the official program your registration must
be received by December 31st, 2005. Download a
registration form at www.staple-austin.org/register.

STAPLE! The Independent Media Expo is Texas’ first and
only convention for independently produced comics,
zines and graphic arts. The second annual expo will be
held Saturday March 4th, 2006 in Austin, Texas. For
more information go to www.staple-austin.org or email
info@staple-austin.org

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

What web sites need web comics?

Yul — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 18:27:26 GMT

What web sites need web comics and how can I submit comics to them?

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 3 replies

www.ezmagazine.nl - Brand New Emagazine

saNne — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 10:21:30 GMT

Brand new dutch e-zine, check it out!

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies

New update

AlexBanchitta — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 17:44:08 GMT

Hey,

Well the site's first week is over, it went much better than I expected so thanks to all the readers who checked it out (and thanks for the comments!). New comics all across the board up this week, following update schedule will be monday wednesday and friday. So to all the returning readers incase you didn't bookmark the site and the new readers who are willing to check it out go to www.crashtestpress.com

Thanks to everyone on Tribe for the support

Alex~

posted in Self-publishers unite! - 0 replies