Hi all

I have just spent the last 5 hours straight on layout on the magazine.. while I could tell you my eyes feel like sandpaper and my ass has the imprint of the chair etched into it, its been worth it, every minute and every second

I have the layout done, the style, and overall tone of the mag set.

I have to add in a few articles, some of which, surprise, got left behind at work on that machine (I sometimes hate technology, guess it failed to copy over). My e-mail comes out both at work and here at home, to make sure I don't miss anything and I can respond timeously to stuff. In future I will streamline this process to make sure it all winds up on a stable hard drive somewhere.

So Monday is going to be a busy day... and there's one article still outstanding, the cosplay article. I need that!

Most of what I got, is in the mag as it stands. I still have a lot to do but I will get through it all soon, and then its off to Jay for proofing.

For those who love technical detail:
I am doing the mag in Corel X5... Everyone else in South Africa loves to do their magazines in Adobe InDesign (otakumag was no exception) with the result that every Joe and his dog's magazine looks somewhere the fucking same!!!! The same effects, the same bland page layouts (that program must be limited). Especially abuse of fonts such as Comic Sans MS and Square721BT. The latter font, I use sparingly... Corel thrives with vector art, which is my first choice in keeping file sizes small yet having stunning colours and sharp, crisp edges.

I got some nice proofing tools from Intrepid Printers today, so, if we ever go to print, expect nothing less than the best, NewType-esque publication you can get your hands on short of getting it from Japan. I also found out that JPEG ads and manga are okay, even if the text is part of the image, as the printing plates do up to 4800 dpi so you can't tell the difference except with a magnifying glass. Intrepid also showed me how to get it to look good in PDF (so disregard all my queries Oops!Insurance)

I've also been thinking about a printed copy of the magazine, but it seems you're way ahead of me there. Offering the option of getting a printed copy sent to you I think should be seriously considered, but it should be done on a subscription basis only.

Thanks Jay

This time I got it... I think the mail client at work gnarled up the attachments. Just one question, was bakasakura supposed to do photos too? I swear I never saw the cosplay article until today!

In any event I am going to go through everything tomorrow with a fine tooth comb. If I have any queries I will refer back here.

I've also been thinking about a printed copy of the magazine, but it seems you're way ahead of me there. Offering the option of getting a printed copy sent to you I think should be seriously considered, but it should be done on a subscription basis only.

I agree, the thing is I am not worrying too much about that now, as I don't get much joy out of the printing houses anyhow (quotes seem to be hard to come by without a digital copy of the mag, which in all fairness, is hard to quote upon, they need to see if there's spot colours and which process is going to suit as well as paper density)

Layout proceeds further today...

I've also been thinking about a printed copy of the magazine, but it seems you're way ahead of me there. Offering the option of getting a printed copy sent to you I think should be seriously considered, but it should be done on a subscription basis only.

I do not see a viable reason to go for printed media at this stage or the near future aside from the sentimentality of having a printed copy of the magazine.

Here are my thoughts on this matter and I hope we can lay this to rest until further notice.
I am more than happy to discuss this at length but as you will see I have thought about this in depth.

Print:
Printing requires a significant cost.
This cost will require us to charge for the magazine.
It will introduce a number of factors that will be beyond our control i.e. printing errors, over and under productio etc.
Limited distribution options.
Limited to "static" media.  We are unable to introduce "downloadable content" such as youtube links to reivews etc.
Requires infrastructure for charges for subscriptions.

Digital:
No or little cost involved.
No charge required for the magazine.
Full control.
Unlimited distribution options.
We are able to introduce "dynamic" media in the digital magazine i.e. youtube links, website links etc.
Electronic readers and e-books have made a digital media a viable source of income.

Yeah
Once the confusion settles, it becomes really clear as to what needs to be done

There's one outstanding issue, and that's the following:
I was under the impression that baka sakura was going to cosplay for us (She asked for a double-page spread)
I got the article, and some small pics of the FCBD event she was at. Did she mean to use these pics for a double spread, or is she dressing up and getting some high-res pics taken?

Once I get clarity on that, I can proceed. The problem with the FCBD pics is that the copies of them I got, have resolution issues and if I make them occupy even 1/2 a page there's going to be some awful pixelation. It's not going to look good at all unless I resort to upsampling the image using optical techniques.

Reshuffling is a piece of cake! Because its done in purpose-built software So don't worry about that, I just give Corel X5 a command and it does it for me, in some cases automatically.

Ja well that's what I thought she was going to do, so in my head I planned a page layout with her smack bang in the middle of the two A-4 pages.

So.... finally we're gonna see your Lust cosplay.....

Jason/ Jay:
Regarding the cost of the once-off prints. Please send me total pages in double-sided DPS. Will the mag be A4 in folded size (finished product)? If so, then I assume the spreads are A3 folded to A4?

Baka! I was going to throw that on the board as an option once I have all the facts in order.

Well, now that the neko is out of the bag!

There is an option we can look at regarding print media - "One offs" or "limited editions" of the magazine can be printed through Baka's company.

The limited editions will include exclusive promotions and discounts through the assistance of the online and offline retailers to make it viable.