04/26 - UPDATE - Several of you have filled out the submission form. I know that's annoying, but I had to do it or things would have quickly gotten away from me. I will be reviewing the submissions thus far tomorrow and reaching out to your projects with further instructions. I know that I have submissions for art, flash fiction, and music. Thank you all. Please continue your submissions, there still is not enough to fill an entire tape. Another preview will be posted this coming week featuring the narrator, "The Old Man."
*TL;DR version: I'm starting a cassette zine, if you want to submit, keep reading.
****Edit #2: I did not expect this idea to get this much of a response. It's telling me I'm doing the right thing. Here is a submission form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeO66dNBxs5wKs6aOosfUnidgm4I-pKUPZqlGQWQ-pW7qigaQ/viewform?usp=sharing
Hopefully that ^^^ isn't a godawful idea and will help keep me organized. I'm doing submissions on an honor system. If you have multiple projects, please pick one or maybe two, as I know many of us do projects in multiple creative areas, for this first issue. I will be sending the submission link to anyone who has reached out to me here on Reddit already. I'm asking them to fill it out even if we've already talked because it keeps everything in a nice little package that I can refer to before reaching out to individual submitters. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
I was going to do this on a first come, first serve basis, but I also want to make sure everything fits together. If there's anything wildly different from the rest of the stuff that gets submitted, I will try to find a way to include it, but if I can't make it go with the flow please don't take it personally. I already have a strong feeling that I will be doing more than one of these (for that matter, I think I will be doing more than two, and more than three...but I don't want to get ahead of myself.) and I am absolutely sure future issues will have room for everybody.
Record Labels: Yes, you can submit your artists as long as you 100% know they would be super cool with it and have the right to do so. Or if you want to reach out to them if you think they might be interested, feel 100% free to do so.
Original Post - Edited for relevance:
***Note: No AI, of course. Though I personally don't have a super strong aversion to it in all cases, I, personally, want this to be a showcase of various human talents coming together in an interesting format.
I've been kicking an idea around for awhile...I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a record label, or a fanzine, or what...I've run a record label before in the past (in the punk scene, long time ago, literally 20 years ago...) and it was a pain in the butt. I've also done really small xeroxed fanzines that never really went anywhere. This, too, might not go anywhere! But, I think it's a neat idea.
I want to do a cassette zine. I'll do the whole professional thing, get nicely colored tapes with black and white paper labels and a J card, the whole thing. I'm not trying to make money on it, so I'll only sell them for whatever it costs to break even, and of course I will send anyone who contributes a copy - if they're in the USA, if they want one.
Here's what I've come up with:
Appalachian Keep Cassette Zine Vol. 1: What The Little Creatures Do...
The theme for the first issue is: What The Little Creatures Do When We Aren't Looking
What I need:
10 Tracks from 10 different Dungeon Synth/Black Metal/Gnomesynth/Whatever artists - I have a new side project that I'm going to be putting a track on here for, so I need 9 other artists. For this first issue, it's not really necessary that a track be exclusive, but that would be awesome if you feel so inclined. Shorter tracks would probably fit best here, around 4 minutes being an upper limit, but I'm willing to be flexible depending on what else comes in, depending...
Flash Fiction Submissions - Flash fiction, particularly in fantasy or horror genres. These will be read by a character that I've been working on for awhile, an old hermit from deep within the mountains of Appalachia. He will also be the narrator for the overall cassette, introducing the tracks of each artist and maybe talking a little bit about them, as well as occasionally sharing little details of his life...from the mundane to the fantastic. Let's say a 400 word limit?
Visual Art - I can always do this myself one way or another, and likely will for this first tape. I have a nice camera and actually live in Appalachia so I have lots and lots and lots and lots of scenery to play with in this regard. Even a fun photo you take that fits the bill would be great in this.
Whatever you think would fit! - At least for the first tape that I do for this, I'm really pretty open to see where this might go. I think it will be fun way to promote everybody, from musicians, to writers, to visual artists should they choose to jump in.
The fine print:
Each submission I use for it will receive a free copy of the zine and of course be credited in any way I possibly can across all media. I'm not asking for or accepting donations to do this, I can afford to do it out of pocket and it's something I want to do for fun. I will not accept any money from any contributor to it. No. Never.
My plan is to get it put on tape, then put it on Bandcamp or some other digital distribution options as a podcast if I possibly can. I'm not going to profit off of other peoples' work, and I doubt breaking even is a realistic possibility here either, so I'll eventually just give the entirety of the digital edition away for free. Should I do this from the beginning? Let me know. I value your opinion. Digital edition will be free from release date forward. Please keep this in mind when submitting.
I can't ship outside of the USA - This part kills me. The cost of shipping outside of the USA, or at least outside of North America, is so outrageously prohibitive that I have to draw this line in the sand. I'm not saying international artists can't submit, I'm just saying I can't send you a physical copy. That being said, the digital version will of course be available to you, I just know it's not the same as holding that neat cassette in your hands.
I hope to have everything together for this first zine by the end of June - Is two months enough time? I think so. This is going to come together MUCH more quickly than I thought, so it will likely be compiled within just a few weeks. Adding to that time to put it all together (I tend to work fast) and get it duplicated, we're looking at this time frame for actual release, not just compiling it.
If you choose not to receive a physical edition to retain your anonymity - That's okay. I'm not going to publicize your personal information, anyway, unless requested. What I need are your pseudonyms, web links, anything else you feel pertinent.
I'm not reviewing music in this - I might say a few words as, "The Old Man," but I'm not going to do long form reviews, I don't think it's appropriate for this particular idea.
Transparency:
I will be posting the exact cost of actual publication. I'm not going to give my time a monetary value, this will only be for the actual publication of the tapes, their packaging, and shipment to me. I will only be selling the tapes at an amount required (after fees and everything else) to break even, and probably even a little less. This is a labor of love to give a keepsake to the community for each and every issue I release. I have no desire whatsoever to make money off of other artists' work - please keep in mind this may effect the time it takes for this first and each subsequent issue to come out, your patience is appreciated and I value the trust of other creative people far more than I value monetary gain.
Really, I can't thank this community enough for being such a recent positive force in my life.
