Re: [announce] Invented Languages magazine

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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