Re: [announce] Invented Languages magazine

There is definite prestige to dead-tree publication - that will go
away in time, of course.  But we're talking about the value of
offering the magazine *additionally* in electronic form.  If it's
available only to paid subscribers to the print edition, I don't see
how that detracts from the magazine's value or prestige...



On 5/27/08, Fredrik Ekman <ekman@...> wrote:
> On Tue, May 27, 2008 6:56 pm, And Rosta said:
>
>> Now that pdfs are free and easy to create, hardcopy has no great
> typographical
>> advantages, either.
>
> As one of the contributing writers in the publication, I have to point out
> one argument against electronic distribution. A professional-looking print
> publication carries a lot more status than an electronic document, no
> matter how nice the typography is. Now, that status may not be important
> to you as a reader, but it certainly is important to me as a writer.
>
> I contributed my article purely as a non-profit undertaking. Now, I have
> wanted to write that article for a long time, and I could have just
> self-published it on my own web site. I did not do that, even though it
> would have given the article a potentially larger audience and longer
> lifetime. But when Rick came along and offered the possibility of having
> it in print, I jumped at the opportunity, partly because I know how good
> it feels to see my own words printed in a good publication. Without that
> venue, who knows if I would ever have written it. (Whether it actually
> DESERVED to be written and published is a completely different
> discussion.)
>
> Electronic publication, whether in html or pdf, definitely has its place.
> So does the printed word. The fact that the conlanging community has its
> own magazine should be heralded as a great achievement and something which
> raises the status of said community.
>
> That some people should choose not to purchase because they think the
> format is too expensive or too inconvenient is, naturally, their choice.
> And I respect it. But that does not in any way lessen the value of the
> publication. Just the contrary.
>
>   Fredrik
>
> PS. Rick himself may possibly have gone nomail, so if he does not enter
> this discussion, that is not due to lack of respect or anything.
>
--
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Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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