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theriveroflight) wrote2024-05-06 09:02 pm
theriveroflight) wrote2024-05-06 09:02 pm
Entry tags:
Timelapse retrospective
So according to the account Twitter, it's been a year since we got serious about making Timelapse: a Ranlay Zine happen. (The zine's full release happened a few days ago, you can check it out via Twitter or Tumblr @ranlayzine if you're into Professor Layton.) Um. I saw someone else doing one of these sorts of retrospectives on zines, so I'm going to give it the old college try.
Personally, when it comes to zine participation, I'm fine with the general "artbook" sorts of large productions as a participant, especially the charity projects. I'd consider partaking in a split-profit project, but definitely not a full-profit one. I do, generally, agree with the sentiment that zines should be someone anyone is capable of participating in, which is why I much prefer the "free digital-only" format. If I ever try to produce anything physical, I'd probably only charge at production cost. I think...a while ago in the Ace Attorney fandom there were some things flying around about elitism within zines, and it's true that I do see the same few people pop up time and time again, there's also a decent amount of fresh blood imo, artists or writers I've never heard of. And as someone who has been "fresh blood" in that space once upon a time (thank you, Pillars of Love) I do actually really like the more ""professional"" zine community in the fandoms I've been in thus far.
I...really wish we had someone with zine experience on our team, though. While myself and one of my co-mods (on art) had participated in zines before, I was the only person to have serious experience with fandom events -- I've run many exchanges and prompt-based events, as well as a couple big bangs up to the point of Timelapse. I like to get involved; if you see an event, I will probably make an attempt at participation, unless it's about a subject that I'm not really into. I really do still feel like I had dragged us all into the deep end, though. We mostly managed to keep our heads above water. There were a couple setbacks schedule-wise, but overall, I'm fairly happy with how things turned out. I think...I could have afforded to be clearer with some of my expectations, but it was a big learning experience for me. The other thing I really wish we had done better was on the end of promotion. We didn't have enough applicants to really have a lot of pinch hitters, and I got really lucky that none of the writers dropped out, or else we would have been screwed over. As it is, I do think it kind of sucks that our fun little digital items team almost entirely dropped. And I wish I had harped on the check-ins more; there were some people I really should've messaged earlier to nip it in the bud earlier. Or maybe I just should've delegated work better. That could've helped. That's not one of my strong suits, especially when I'm head of a project like this. A lot of the events I run are either me playing a relatively small role (e.g. I'm currently the social media moderator for the PL Big Bang, which is a smaller role compared to the admin roles of Mimca and Ultimate) or me being the solo mod (all of the exchanges I've run thus far). So I'm not the greatest at delegating work, even though I worked harder to do so here.
To my fellow mods, on the off chance that you stumble upon this entry: Thank you all so much <3 I couldn't have accomplished any of what we did without you helping me out. Toof, you provided the catalyst for this whole project -- Timelapse wouldn't exist without you. Morf, I really appreciated your dedication in the necessary steps to make sure this got started. And Theta -- I know I might have come across as short with you in the final hours, but I really do appreciate all the work you did for the zine. The Table of Contents came out gorgeous.
And, obviously, we wouldn't have anything without the artists and writers that contributed an entry to the zine.
I think in the future I'm just going to focus on my other events. I promised some people that the sign-ups for the RWBY Rarepair Exchange would be open soon, so that's next up on my list. I have another exchange I want to give a shot, too.
It took almost a year from the conception to our project to actually have liftoff, by the time we get through all the steps. And what a year that has been.
Personally, when it comes to zine participation, I'm fine with the general "artbook" sorts of large productions as a participant, especially the charity projects. I'd consider partaking in a split-profit project, but definitely not a full-profit one. I do, generally, agree with the sentiment that zines should be someone anyone is capable of participating in, which is why I much prefer the "free digital-only" format. If I ever try to produce anything physical, I'd probably only charge at production cost. I think...a while ago in the Ace Attorney fandom there were some things flying around about elitism within zines, and it's true that I do see the same few people pop up time and time again, there's also a decent amount of fresh blood imo, artists or writers I've never heard of. And as someone who has been "fresh blood" in that space once upon a time (thank you, Pillars of Love) I do actually really like the more ""professional"" zine community in the fandoms I've been in thus far.
I...really wish we had someone with zine experience on our team, though. While myself and one of my co-mods (on art) had participated in zines before, I was the only person to have serious experience with fandom events -- I've run many exchanges and prompt-based events, as well as a couple big bangs up to the point of Timelapse. I like to get involved; if you see an event, I will probably make an attempt at participation, unless it's about a subject that I'm not really into. I really do still feel like I had dragged us all into the deep end, though. We mostly managed to keep our heads above water. There were a couple setbacks schedule-wise, but overall, I'm fairly happy with how things turned out. I think...I could have afforded to be clearer with some of my expectations, but it was a big learning experience for me. The other thing I really wish we had done better was on the end of promotion. We didn't have enough applicants to really have a lot of pinch hitters, and I got really lucky that none of the writers dropped out, or else we would have been screwed over. As it is, I do think it kind of sucks that our fun little digital items team almost entirely dropped. And I wish I had harped on the check-ins more; there were some people I really should've messaged earlier to nip it in the bud earlier. Or maybe I just should've delegated work better. That could've helped. That's not one of my strong suits, especially when I'm head of a project like this. A lot of the events I run are either me playing a relatively small role (e.g. I'm currently the social media moderator for the PL Big Bang, which is a smaller role compared to the admin roles of Mimca and Ultimate) or me being the solo mod (all of the exchanges I've run thus far). So I'm not the greatest at delegating work, even though I worked harder to do so here.
To my fellow mods, on the off chance that you stumble upon this entry: Thank you all so much <3 I couldn't have accomplished any of what we did without you helping me out. Toof, you provided the catalyst for this whole project -- Timelapse wouldn't exist without you. Morf, I really appreciated your dedication in the necessary steps to make sure this got started. And Theta -- I know I might have come across as short with you in the final hours, but I really do appreciate all the work you did for the zine. The Table of Contents came out gorgeous.
And, obviously, we wouldn't have anything without the artists and writers that contributed an entry to the zine.
I think in the future I'm just going to focus on my other events. I promised some people that the sign-ups for the RWBY Rarepair Exchange would be open soon, so that's next up on my list. I have another exchange I want to give a shot, too.
It took almost a year from the conception to our project to actually have liftoff, by the time we get through all the steps. And what a year that has been.