How important is the print option of your ezine?
SUW: Originally the zine was online only, because of time and financial limitations. But when it was brought to my attention that a) certain people did not have computer access and b) no one really likes to read text off a screen, I decided to go ahead and start up a print journal, whose content would be completely separate to the web. Admittedly I had to be talked into it as I didn't feel I would have the time or the cash to be able to keep something like this up. But it has proved to be just as rewarding as the ezine. As Sein und Werden is as much an art journal as a literary one, I wanted to keep the platform for that, as well as providing something rough and raw for the longer pieces of text, alongside some black and white imagery.
TT: Very important to me - and the majority of writers prefer to hold a hard copy with their works included.
GD: The print option is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, it provides a professional look and feel to Gold Dust. Secondly, contributors like to see their names in print, so we are more likely to sell to them with print editions. Thirdly, on the whole, readers prefer to read a magazine they can hold in their hands, so we are more likely to attract a wider readership with this option.
How will your ezine develop in the coming months and years?
SUW: I guess that mostly depends on where both authorship and readership takes us. I'd like to think I've always allowed the zine to wend its own way, right from the start. There are, however, other things that will influence its direction such as finances (applying for an Arts grant), contacts and links to other editors and writers etc. The main development right now and over the next few months is ISMS Press, through which we've just published a haunting new novella. This is a brand new venture, our first publication - The Garden of Doubt on the Island of Shadows by Mark Howard Jones (http://www.kissthewitch.co.uk/ismspress.html)
TT: Hopefully, I'll be able to pay for all contributions in the near future.
GIV: I have no idea.
GD: Over the past two years, Gold Dust has gone from strength to strength, from a very basic one-woman band to a professional, slick publication produced in QuarkXpress and a team of five. With so many talented people working on the magazine, I am sure it will continue to grow in the future.
What do you look for in a submission to your ezine?
SUW: I look for work that incorporates one or more of the ISMS, avoids religion, politics, romance, chick lit. I like the dark, edgy, erotic, bizarre, quite horrific, awfully strange and occasionally downright vulgar. I look for submissions that use the theme in some way. And the theme is always very open. I do accept non-themed work but I prefer a contributor to write something specifically for the zine. It interests me to see what original and Sein-specific work people come up with, how inventively they translate it. I am also interested in the creative process, the before and after, the little accidents that bring the opus to life. And I want non-fiction; reviews, essays about art, writing, creativity, etc.
TT: Something that shocks me. But, I do have a reading team and each person looks for different things - one looks for quality within the prose …
GIV: I'm totally subjective. If it doesn't suit me, I won't print it.
GD: Quality writing, which can involve many things. Originality, exciting work, unusual stories, all's very welcome at Gold Dust. From issue #10, it will also be important that all contributions stick to our issue-designated theme.
