Monday, February 14, 2011

Become a Part of a New Spec Fic Ezine

When my friend Luis asked me if I wanted to be part of a new spec fic e-zine, I knew I'd say yes even though I was in the middle of packing up my family's apartment to move, nursing an infant with an ear infection, and preparing to go to Florida for my grandfather's impending death. It didn't matter that it was bad timing because I wanted in.

Luis, Eileen, and Adam are the kind of people who are always improving the writing communities they're apart of, whether that be by podcasting poetry critiques or designing indepth prompts to challenge their fellow writers. I knew that an e-zine run by people like that could be what I'd say right next to "I'm a writer" when I introduce myself. "Hi, I'm a writer and I help run Theory Train Magazine." Yes, I wanted in on this project at its start, and I knew that after life settled down I might even write rambling blog posts about how I'm part of this new e-zine that you should submit a story or poem to at theorytrain.com (See what I did there?).

I'm already glad that I'm part of Theory Train. I love experiencing the other side of publishing. It's one thing to understand theoretically that publishers have to be ruthless in what they accept or reject, and quite another to actually have that on your shoulders. We want Theory Train to be a magazine you can be proud to be published in. We want readers to sample our featured poetry and prose and decide that this is a publication worth reading. We want you all to be excited enough to tell your friends about it.

And the best part? From where I'm sitting, the best part is that this is just the beginning. We have our first issue out and are accepting submissions for our second. These first issues are your chance, as writers, to help define the magazine in terms of quality and diversity from the beginning. Those who submitted to the first issue have done us a great service by giving us pieces that we can show the world and say, "This is what we want." You could do the same by submitting now - or, say you're very busy, like I was when Luis first asked me - come back any time before the May 1st deadline to show your support for the second issue.

For readers, your feedback is essential to the future of the magazine. Whether you have comments about the site's look, navigation, or of course, content, feel free to post them here, on the Theory Train website, or contact theory train (at) gmail dot com. We know our stuff, but part of knowing our stuff is recognizing that it is you, the readers, that we aim to please. We can't tailor our e-zine to fit our readers if you don't tell us your opinion.

Lastly, if you have experience reviewing genre fiction, we'd love to talk to you about reviewing our magazine on your blog or on smashwords.com where our issues are sold. Because we're new, nobody knows about us yet. Help us change that. Email theory train (at) gmail dot com to ask about the paid content we're giving away for free to a limited number of reviewers and others who can help promote the e-zine.

"Hi, I'm part of Theory Train Magazine. Oh, you've heard of it? Great! I'm in their latest issue with my story..."

This is the future, people! Go forth and make it so!

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