11 replies to this topic

[Quack]

Every hobby seems to have a series of magazines that are enjoyable to read and a helpful source of information. What I think would be kind of cool is if we had a magazine for the NIC. I made a sample issue on this site called lucid press which allows you to create digital magazines brochures etc. I am currently on a free trial but I thought that if the magazine would actually be created then the sponsers could split up the price based on what precentage of the ads they have. I would need a graphic designer (trust me I need help on that) for the covers and other design related things, 3 to 5 writers, and a proofreader/editor. I will contribute some articles but writing a full magazine is hard work. There is a poll for features that you would like to see every month. Any suggestions should be posted below. If you are interested in contributing, please pm me.

Edited by Quack, 01 April 2015 - 09:50 PM.

[Aeromech]

You have my attention.

Let me give you a rundown of the real world aspects of this.

First off, it wouldn't be a magazine so much as a newsletter. Monthly would be a little too much, even quarterly might be too often. The problem here is the utter lack of content. I say quarterly because new release info [read: NOT RANDOM SPECULATION] from hasbro might actually be available once per quarter or twice per year or something like that.

To supplant the lack of content, expand the audience. The NIC is not just mods, but homemade type blasters too, and the magazine sample you have submitted only mentions mods on Hasbro toy blasters. I am strongly in the realm of homemades these days, and to call it an "NIC" magazine or newsletter, that means all the NIC. Homemade blasters too. You can only add to your content here. This is a good thing.

Secondly, if you're trying to get people to pay money to advertise, we're going to need prices per page or per half-page. I'd certainly contribute an Aeromech Blasters ad if the price wasn't ridiculous. The other issue there is the small number of advertisers. But I'm sure there are enough "contractors" on here to get it done if need be. Plus, if you're good you can use MS word or something free. If we happen to use a "magazine software" that costs money, screenshot the price so we know exactly how much this stuff costs per month.

Lastly, we tried this with the Nerf Collaboration Channel. Three or four videos were submitted when it first started (including one even by me and I have a decent youtube following,) and then it fell off the face of the planet. If this is going to be serious, people need to be given hard deadlines. And I think this is the crux of the problem. People don't want to make theor hobby feel like work, as soon as you do that you strip the life out of it. Against my better judgement, I hesistatingly lend in my support with the small chance that this actually takes off. Please understand I am not trying to put your idea down, but I've seen this kind of thing literally die before my eyes in a month before.

Do all this shit and you might be able to do it. But it is a commitment.

[ravetrooper]

I voted for all the options on the first poll question, then realized: "wait, this would be like a paper nerfhaven..." I think the idea is really cool, but I have to ask what advantages would even a monthly magazine have over being able to just open nerfhaven.com on your phone wherever you are 24/7? Like I said, great idea. Just be sure to think about what unique and exclusive content would fit better in a magazine article than a forum post. Good luck!

~Rave

P.S. (I just had an idea! There isn't really a place here to showcase things like interviews with well known nerfers, so maybe you could do something like that?)

[Quack]

The goal of this magazine/newsletter is to have a reliable source of information coming from multiple blogs, forums, YouTube channels, etc. In addition I think it would helpful to new modders who find surfing nerfhaven for the first time sort of intimidating. I like the idea because unlike forums the information in a magazine/newspaper is that the information is update at the same time every month. Articles don't necessarily have to be current events. Like the sample article it could just be general information. Remember that was just a sample. I would like to include more information on homemades and such, but I don't have that much knowledge on them (why I need a diverse group of writers). What is great about the software I'm using is very helpful for collaboration. The document can be shared with other people for editing and proofreading. You can also place buttons like in the sample how the home buttons at the bottom of each page and the mail button next to author's name. The price of the software isn't that much (about $8 dollars a month) so I don't think it will be much of an issue. I hope this clears things up.

Edited by Quack, 02 April 2015 - 07:21 AM.

[Birch]

If this magazine happens, I would love to be a writer and contributor. Some things I would add to this magazine would be a few pages dedicated to pictures of great mods and homemades from the Mods/paintjobs and homemades pictures threads.

Honestly, I would probably rather read a monthly or weekly publication than reading everything that happens on Nerfhaven during a week or so. Many posts are either total garbage or are just paraphrasing what someone else said. If we could have a publication solely specializing in all of the interesting or constructive things that happen on nerfhaven, it would be much more appealing than nerfhaven itself.

[Quack]

If this magazine happens, I would love to be a writer and contributor. Some things I would add to this magazine would be a few pages dedicated to pictures of great mods and homemades from the Mods/paintjobs and homemades pictures threads.

Honestly, I would probably rather read a monthly or weekly publication than reading everything that happens on Nerfhaven during a week or so. Many posts are either total garbage or are just paraphrasing what someone else said. If we could have a publication solely specializing in all of the interesting or constructive things that happen on nerfhaven, it would be much more appealing than nerfhaven itself.

great if you could pm me your Email, I can share the next issue with you and we can get started. Think about some things you would like to write about

[Meaker VI]

Clicked this and was greatly disappointed that it wasn't about a dart-holding magazine.

Didn't Nrev try a newsletter? It seemed like a lot of work for minimal gain. Software cost shouldn't be an issue - buy Adobe Indesign or find an old version free or find a freeware equivalent (ala Inkscape or Gimp; I think there's an eq. for Indesign but haven't used it), then publish to .pdf or web and send that out. But, in my opinion, you'd need to do a proper 10-12 issue release to be a worthwhile magazine and keep your audience up (And you aren't in a position with enough authority to do an NH newsletter, so you'd need to start from scratch building up audience). And there really isn't enough content for that to be worthwhile - I can find everything you're planning to publish before you publish it at the rate anything interesting happens in the NIC. Which was the issue with the Nrev newsletter - not enough happens to keep readership up vs. just reading the forums & blogs.

Now, if you wanted to spend tons of your own time and money and document very well new and/or interesting techniques for doing every aspect of the hobby (ala Ryan et.al., only well-documented and photographed), be my guest. Just know that I won't 'subscribe' unless you're posting better content than what I'm already getting at NH and the various blogs I visit. Copying alone won't do.

[Kronos Nerf Mods]

I've been toying around with the idea of doing a weekly youtube update which would summarize forum happenings, any nerf releases, and any interesting posts on the blogs and on Youtube. It's definitely something that I think people want: a summary of the entire NIC hobby. The issue is making sure that the writing stays timely and topical, otherwise people would just read it on the forum.
Also why the digital magazine? It seems like this could be done just as well as a blog post or even with a downloadable PDF. It seems like the format would make sense if this was going to actually go into print, but that doesn't make sense for this small scale hobby.

[Quack]

Also why the digital magazine? It seems like this could be done just as well as a blog post or even with a downloadable PDF. It seems like the format would make sense if this was going to actually go into print, but that doesn't make sense for this small scale hobby.

The magazine format is just something everyone knows and is easy to navigate. This format isn't concrete and the software I'm using can be used to create all sorts of things. I don't know why it is not downloadable but it is probably because of the interactive software. This magazine/newsletter could be very helpful because it is a mixture of information separated into videos, pictures, and it is a selection of things that are valuable because often time the information we find is junk.

[Gears]

I would like to see a Nerfhaven Historia before anymore bullshit is made #knowyourroots

Edited by Gears, 03 April 2015 - 11:14 AM.

[TED]

Nerfhaven can't even handle posting timely front page update threads so I seriously doubt this would make it past a first issue.

[JackDC914]

Honestly, as ted was saying, nerfhaven has issues with updating its front page. So, why not make this a bi-weekly update for the front page? This seems like the best option, since I doubt more than a handful of people would subscribe to the magazine (although you could be sure I would!). I think a small digital newsletter with 2-3 articles would be the best bet, with small faq and quick reads being sprinkled in. However, there wouldn't be much room for ads and all that crap. In the end though, I don't see a magazine getting off the ground. So a front page article system would be the most feasible possibility. In the VERY end though, I don't see this getting off the ground, period.