Part Three: Keeping Your Act Together By Doug Lawson May 1, 1997 Now that you've put your ezine's first issue together, what do you do? That depends on what your own goals for your magazine are. Is it a zine for your own writing, and your friends' art? You might be happy just to let your friends know where to find it, and to have them tell their friends (and so on, and so on...) If you're looking for a larger audience, though, there are some specific ways to reach out and draw in both readers and potential contributors. If you've decided to publish on the Web, swapping links with like-minded publications is a great way to start. Create a links page, and then look for magazines with content and production values very much like your own. Drop them some e-mail and see if they'd be interested in exchanging links — most small magazines are looking to do the same thing, so it shouldn't be a problem. Then, set out to hit the newsgroups. Alt.ezines is the place to start, of course — here you can also swap notes, get advice, flame a few people (that seems to be what most time is spent on here) and get a good sense of what's out there in ezineland [All encouragement to flame should be taken with a grain of salt, —ed]. To make an ezine, you should read ezines; it's the ezine spiritual code. You might also find some new contributors here — so you should post your guidelines while you're at it. Look for, and post specifically to, newsgroups which directly relate to your ezine's focus. No one likes a spammer. Spamming also isn't terribly effective in this case — your aim is to seek out places online where like-minded people hang, and start hanging there, too. This way you'll attract people to your zine who'll come back again. Banner exchanges are yet another good way to start things running. While high-end online magazines sell these for various amounts of money, for the small publisher these can be a great way to draw interest. The Link Exchange has a great system set up — you display a banner of theirs in exchange for having a banner of yours displayed at another site. All this promotional stuff can sound like a chore. And it is a chore, some days, one that can seem unrelated to what probably drew you into putting together your ezine in the first place — the creative stuff, the great writing, the art, the late nights at the computer working on your own Thing, rather than somebody else's Thing. But the promotion brings you an audience, and an audience brings you great contributors. And for me, the exciting thing has always been being able to publish great writing, and knowing that people from several continents are reading what I and my writers have brought online. I'll end here with links to a few of my favorite ezines; check out these places to get you started on the possibilities! Then, drop me a note when you're up and running--I'll be your first reader. Doug's Favorite eZines ATPM (About This Particular Macintosh): You guessed it--personal thoughts about personal computers of the friendliest sort. Web del Sol: an infinitely hot and dense dot's worth of great writing, with dynamic layouts, art work, and a bit o' jazz to boot. And of course no ezine surfer should miss John Labovitz's E-zine List: a jumping-off point for more than 800 online zines of all sizes, shapes, and colors. Tripod's Favorites Click here for a list of some of Tripod editorial's favorites. Doug Lawson is not appearing in a theater near you, at least not anytime soon. He edits The Blue Moon Review, though, and is a Producer for BJP Interactive's Gameshows.Com.