It came to me the other day. Was I playing or working in Second Life? While some of what I do is fun and allows me lots of creativity without the pay, of course, the hours I spend both in SL and through email with my colleagues from SL, adds up to a lot of unpaid time. Now I'm not complaining particularly because this is what I want to do. I love to write, so my work on the Metaverse Messenger Newspaper and RezLibris Magazine help me fulfill some of my real life interests. But I also do writing in real life (have recently self published a romance featuring a virtual world, "Cloudy Rainbow.") For those who do writing themselves, you know how time intensive it is, fiction as well as non-fiction writing. And since most writers, unless you are exceptionally lucky, do not make a living out of it, a full-time job is usually necessary.
So how can someone balance their real life with their Second Life? Most people agree that real life should take priority, the quality and quantity of time you devote to family and career. But in some people, Second Life begins to compete for attention with real life pursuits and concerns. How does this happen? Well, if you joined solely for fun and spend your time at clubs and dances, you could get hooked on the social aspects of meeting people from all over the world without the commitment of having to interact with them in person. There's definitely some danger in this, as you become more isolated in a crowd of avatars. But what if you choose to get involved in volunteering or working in Second Life, starting a business, offering a service, etc.? You might end up making some real life money and will also meet some virtual friends. But chances are this will also take up a lot of your time, and would that time be better spent at a real life job? Possibly but not necessarily. It depends on what you are doing and what you are gaining (not only in monetary rewards but also in experience and pleasure).
So we need to weigh our real life and Second Life jobs and leisure activities to see if the time we spend in each is equal to the benefits we are receiving and make necessary adjustments. There's no reason why we can't enjoy both worlds a little bit at a time.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Marketing your writing in virtual worlds
When I announced to some of my friends and colleagues in Second Life that I had written a novel, I was surprised to receive several offers to talk about the book at different reader's groups and events. Although I am involved with the AVL (Alliance Virtual Library) in Second Life and am a librarian myself, I didn't realize how many opportunities there were to promote books in a virtual world.
So far, I have spoken at the Reader's Garden on Cybrary City focusing on the virtual theme in my book which is a romance but includes a virtual world (not SL, but a fictional one very much like it), and Sonja Morgwain the Estate Manager there has also kindly asked me to do a talk for her real life library through SL. The Reader's Garden speech was also recorded as a vodcast and appears on YouTube as well as in the January issue of RezLibris, the magazine for Second Life librarians.
Next, was my book talk for my own group at Rainbow Garden's Pet Memorial Center on Cybrary City II where I focused on the pet loss theme in my book. I was very touched to "see" some avatars crying afterwards and have to admit that tears came to my eyes as well during some of the exerpts I read which were fictionalized scenes based on true experiences with my cat, Floppy, who I lost a year ago and who provided the inspiration for the book, as well as for Rainbow Gardens.
Coming up on my virtual book tour, as a change of pace from a book talk, is my discussion of publishing at a library buzz session on Info Island this coming Tuesday, January 13. At this event, I will provide information regarding the differences between traditional publishing and self publishing through POD (print-on-demand) publishers, the route that I took when publishing "Cloudy Rainbow." I will explain the pros and cons of both publishing methods and then answer questions from the audience.
On February 8, I will present another book talk for the romance month slot of activities lined up by the AVL. For this talk, I will concentrate on the romance in my book. Then, on February 16, I will appear at a Poet's Brain storytelling session and am thinking about covering some of the paranormal elements from my book which include a clairvoyant as well as a virtual seance.
My calendar will continue to fill in the spring, and I am considering moving my book talks off the Info Archipelago and maybe catch a stint at Book and Publishing Island or elsewhere in Second Life. Also, I will do a real life book talk at my own public library in April .
I am really surprised and pleased to know that book talks are so popular in virtual worlds.
So far, I have spoken at the Reader's Garden on Cybrary City focusing on the virtual theme in my book which is a romance but includes a virtual world (not SL, but a fictional one very much like it), and Sonja Morgwain the Estate Manager there has also kindly asked me to do a talk for her real life library through SL. The Reader's Garden speech was also recorded as a vodcast and appears on YouTube as well as in the January issue of RezLibris, the magazine for Second Life librarians.
Next, was my book talk for my own group at Rainbow Garden's Pet Memorial Center on Cybrary City II where I focused on the pet loss theme in my book. I was very touched to "see" some avatars crying afterwards and have to admit that tears came to my eyes as well during some of the exerpts I read which were fictionalized scenes based on true experiences with my cat, Floppy, who I lost a year ago and who provided the inspiration for the book, as well as for Rainbow Gardens.
Coming up on my virtual book tour, as a change of pace from a book talk, is my discussion of publishing at a library buzz session on Info Island this coming Tuesday, January 13. At this event, I will provide information regarding the differences between traditional publishing and self publishing through POD (print-on-demand) publishers, the route that I took when publishing "Cloudy Rainbow." I will explain the pros and cons of both publishing methods and then answer questions from the audience.
On February 8, I will present another book talk for the romance month slot of activities lined up by the AVL. For this talk, I will concentrate on the romance in my book. Then, on February 16, I will appear at a Poet's Brain storytelling session and am thinking about covering some of the paranormal elements from my book which include a clairvoyant as well as a virtual seance.
My calendar will continue to fill in the spring, and I am considering moving my book talks off the Info Archipelago and maybe catch a stint at Book and Publishing Island or elsewhere in Second Life. Also, I will do a real life book talk at my own public library in April .
I am really surprised and pleased to know that book talks are so popular in virtual worlds.
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Perils of Virtual Publishing
This is reprinted from the December issue of RezLibris Magazine
Hopefully, by the time this issue is uploaded, my first novel, "Cloudy Rainbow" will be on its way to be published. It is a romance that features a virtual world. And while it refers to Second Life briefly, the virtual world that is described is one purely of my creation. I am writing this to share some of my experiences as a first-time author and some of the challenges I faced with real life and virtual world issues related to my book's publication because I know there are others out there who may want to pursue either non-fiction or ficiton writing about Second Life or other virtual worlds and may not realize that the hardest part of publishing isn't the writing or the editing, even though they are definitely both time consuming and intensive.
Let me start by giving some background about myself. I am not a stranger to writing or publishing. In Second Life, some of you may know me as Dulcie Mills, a staff writer for the Metaverse Messenger newspaper and, more recently, the Associate Publisher of RezLibris Magazine for librarians. In real life, I am Debbie De Louise, a reference librarian at a public library on Long Island. All my life, I’ve been very involved in writing. In college, I was Features Editor of my student newspaper and also published the library school newsletter. After college, I combined my love of writing and cats to begin writing articles for cat magazines. My dream was still to write a novel. When one of the major magazines that I wrote for went out of business, I began to grow disillusioned with article writing. I submitted a short story to a mystery anthology, and it was accepted. However, it did not sell well, and as my full-time job and home responsibilities increased, I began to devote less time to writing.
In the spring of 2007, I joined Second Life and, because I had no interest in or talent for building and didn’t want to use my own money to play, I applied for a job with the Metaverse Messenger as a staff writer. I also became involved with the Alliance Virtual Library group, then known as Second Life Library 2.0. Both the newspaper and the library community gave me the support I needed to get through those first tough months of SL’s learning curve. I also found that, through my work for Katt Kongo, the publisher of the Metaverse Messenger, I had gotten back some of my enthusiasm for writing. When my beloved 15-year old cat, Floppy, passed away in October 2007, I was inspired to start writing a novel that he would be a part of, but as people usually write best about their own experiences, I also decided to include a virtual world in this book as well as my college experiences on a student newspaper. I took all of these elements and wrote for a short time each night after work. By the following spring, I had a 90,000 word manuscript that was fictional but also incredibly personal and heartfelt, something I wanted to share with others who have lost someone they really loved whether it was a relative, friend, or pet.
I spent several months editing the manuscript and then began the process of submitting it to agents, as I knew that first-time novelists have a slim chance of being published without one. Most replies I received were form rejections. I tried not to take these to heart, as I knew many famous authors received dozens or more rejections for their first books. Yet I felt frustrated that no one would even ask to read the book. Then I began to consider self publishing. I’d read about the big explosion in POD (Print on Demand ) books. I knew there were pluses and minuses of going this route. The main minus, of course, was that I would have to pay for the publishing and might not even recoup the expense. But, to me, the time and effort of soliciting agents while my manuscript grew old, was a big factor in my decision. I did not have dreams of fame and fortune. Most first novelists are more realistic than that. What I wanted to do was simply print the book.
I investigated several POD publishers. Initially, I had signed up with one of the big ones when they’d offered a good price deal. But after some research, I felt my needs would be better served with a smaller but more customer-oriented company called Booklocker.com. I had also received recommendations about this company from some colleagues in a writer’s group to which I belonged. So I emailed my manuscript to Booklocker, and they replied in just a few days that they would accept it. That was another thing that I liked about them. While many POD companies print anything accompanied by a check or credit card number, Booklocker screens all the manuscripts they receive and only selects about 35 per cent of their submissions.
After signing up with Booklocker, I was offered the opportunity to work with a cover designer to create a cover for my book. I was very pleased with the first design he created based on the elements I wanted to illustrate – surrealism, a virtual world, mystery. However, the keyboard overlay he used did not seem quite right, and after seeking some opinions from a few friends in Second Life, I decided to ask if my avatar could be used on the cover. The designer had no objection to this, but I wasn’t sure if I needed any special permission from Linden Lab. That’s where the situation got sticky.
Although I’d seen avatars on other book covers, I decided to play it safe and read the Terms of Service for Second Life to see if it addressed this issue. Like most legalese, it was hard to understand. I was aware, and my publisher brought to my attention, that a trademark designation needed to be made in the book for the first time I used the term, “Second Life.” This was accomplished easily. But since there were no clear guidelines about avatar photo use, I contacted a Linden to ask. I was then referred to an employee of Linden Lab who I emailed. She sent me back information regarding the copyright policies and procedures for both text and photography. Although the trademark designation had been done properly, she indicated that a footnote needed to be added. My publisher complied with this, even though it is not a usual thing to use for fiction. But this was not enough. Linden Lab also requested to see the final PDF file of the novel to make sure that I had not described Second Life in any way that might be seen as negative. Although I had only mentioned Second Life twice in the whole book, I felt a “search and find” wasn’t sufficient, so I went back and read through all 360 pages to make sure. Of course, as I did so, I found additional errors to correct, so I wasn’t truly upset at this point.
Regarding the avatar photo, Linden Lab also needed to see the cover. That wasn’t a big deal. I just emailed it to them. To their credit, I received a prompt reply. But while they okayed the cover, they added a caveat that they could not give permission for any of the Second Life residents who may have created any of the clothing or attachments that the avatar was wearing. When I presented this information to my publisher and the cover designer, they requested I contact each person for email permissions. Now, I ask you hypothetically, how far was I supposed to go for this? I was wearing an outfit with shoes and hair from different designers. Contacting them proved to be more of a trial than I imagined. The very nature of Second Life is that people are from different time zones, spend varying amounts of time in-world, and most are protective of their privacy. Also keep in mind that I was trying to meet my own deadline of having my book available to give as gifts to some of my friends and relatives for the holidays. This added to the frustration of the situation, and there were times when I was angry with myself for having opened a can of virtual worms by contacting Linden Lab to begin with.
But I couldn’t give up. The book meant too much to me. It was a memorial to my cat but, even more than that, I knew it would give a message to others, beyond any religious beliefs, that might console them after a loved one’s loss. So I went about sending IM’s and dropping notecards on the designers and creators of the clothes and attachments I wore in the photo. I had one quick reply, but my publisher wasn’t happy with it. While the person who sent it provided both her real and SL name and gave me permission to use the photo of the shoes she made, my publisher requested that she also needed to include a line that it was okay for me to make a profit off the photo. I emailed the shoemaker, and was relieved when she sent me her revised permission. I started feeling better about things but not for long. With one permission to go and the days approaching Thanksgiving coming quickly, I ran into another virtual snag. The hair maker sent me a permission, but it was on a note card. The publisher and cover designer needed an email permission. I tried to explain that note cards in SL are time and date stamped with the names of the creators embedded into them, but they weren’t taking any chances. I had a promise from the hair maker that she was sending an email, but when two days went by without one, I began to wonder if she was having reservations about her permission or if she didn’t want to share her personal email. When I explained the situation to my publisher, she insisted that I needed the permission email before any further work could be done toward publishing my book. I didn’t blame her. She had a reputation to uphold and couldn’t afford a lawsuit, as slim as that possibility was.
Feeling very frustrated and more than a bit upset with the whole situation, I spoke with a SL friend who tried to help but couldn’t really figure out a way to do so. He suggested, rather than redoing the entire cover or just taking my avatar off of it, that I might consider signing an agreement with the publisher and cover designer absolving them from any liability in case of a lawsuit, no matter how unlikely that might be. I was tossing this idea around in my head all night while I couldn’t sleep, but the next morning the permission email was in my inbox.
I learned two lessons from all of this – 1. Writing and publishing require more persistence and patience than anyone can imagine. 2. Sometimes it’s better just to keep your mouth shut.
For those who might be interested in reading my book to see if it was all worth the trouble I went through, it is now available as an ebook and trade paper from Booklocker.com or as a trade paper only from Amazon and other booksellers.
Hopefully, by the time this issue is uploaded, my first novel, "Cloudy Rainbow" will be on its way to be published. It is a romance that features a virtual world. And while it refers to Second Life briefly, the virtual world that is described is one purely of my creation. I am writing this to share some of my experiences as a first-time author and some of the challenges I faced with real life and virtual world issues related to my book's publication because I know there are others out there who may want to pursue either non-fiction or ficiton writing about Second Life or other virtual worlds and may not realize that the hardest part of publishing isn't the writing or the editing, even though they are definitely both time consuming and intensive.
Let me start by giving some background about myself. I am not a stranger to writing or publishing. In Second Life, some of you may know me as Dulcie Mills, a staff writer for the Metaverse Messenger newspaper and, more recently, the Associate Publisher of RezLibris Magazine for librarians. In real life, I am Debbie De Louise, a reference librarian at a public library on Long Island. All my life, I’ve been very involved in writing. In college, I was Features Editor of my student newspaper and also published the library school newsletter. After college, I combined my love of writing and cats to begin writing articles for cat magazines. My dream was still to write a novel. When one of the major magazines that I wrote for went out of business, I began to grow disillusioned with article writing. I submitted a short story to a mystery anthology, and it was accepted. However, it did not sell well, and as my full-time job and home responsibilities increased, I began to devote less time to writing.
In the spring of 2007, I joined Second Life and, because I had no interest in or talent for building and didn’t want to use my own money to play, I applied for a job with the Metaverse Messenger as a staff writer. I also became involved with the Alliance Virtual Library group, then known as Second Life Library 2.0. Both the newspaper and the library community gave me the support I needed to get through those first tough months of SL’s learning curve. I also found that, through my work for Katt Kongo, the publisher of the Metaverse Messenger, I had gotten back some of my enthusiasm for writing. When my beloved 15-year old cat, Floppy, passed away in October 2007, I was inspired to start writing a novel that he would be a part of, but as people usually write best about their own experiences, I also decided to include a virtual world in this book as well as my college experiences on a student newspaper. I took all of these elements and wrote for a short time each night after work. By the following spring, I had a 90,000 word manuscript that was fictional but also incredibly personal and heartfelt, something I wanted to share with others who have lost someone they really loved whether it was a relative, friend, or pet.
I spent several months editing the manuscript and then began the process of submitting it to agents, as I knew that first-time novelists have a slim chance of being published without one. Most replies I received were form rejections. I tried not to take these to heart, as I knew many famous authors received dozens or more rejections for their first books. Yet I felt frustrated that no one would even ask to read the book. Then I began to consider self publishing. I’d read about the big explosion in POD (Print on Demand ) books. I knew there were pluses and minuses of going this route. The main minus, of course, was that I would have to pay for the publishing and might not even recoup the expense. But, to me, the time and effort of soliciting agents while my manuscript grew old, was a big factor in my decision. I did not have dreams of fame and fortune. Most first novelists are more realistic than that. What I wanted to do was simply print the book.
I investigated several POD publishers. Initially, I had signed up with one of the big ones when they’d offered a good price deal. But after some research, I felt my needs would be better served with a smaller but more customer-oriented company called Booklocker.com. I had also received recommendations about this company from some colleagues in a writer’s group to which I belonged. So I emailed my manuscript to Booklocker, and they replied in just a few days that they would accept it. That was another thing that I liked about them. While many POD companies print anything accompanied by a check or credit card number, Booklocker screens all the manuscripts they receive and only selects about 35 per cent of their submissions.
After signing up with Booklocker, I was offered the opportunity to work with a cover designer to create a cover for my book. I was very pleased with the first design he created based on the elements I wanted to illustrate – surrealism, a virtual world, mystery. However, the keyboard overlay he used did not seem quite right, and after seeking some opinions from a few friends in Second Life, I decided to ask if my avatar could be used on the cover. The designer had no objection to this, but I wasn’t sure if I needed any special permission from Linden Lab. That’s where the situation got sticky.
Although I’d seen avatars on other book covers, I decided to play it safe and read the Terms of Service for Second Life to see if it addressed this issue. Like most legalese, it was hard to understand. I was aware, and my publisher brought to my attention, that a trademark designation needed to be made in the book for the first time I used the term, “Second Life.” This was accomplished easily. But since there were no clear guidelines about avatar photo use, I contacted a Linden to ask. I was then referred to an employee of Linden Lab who I emailed. She sent me back information regarding the copyright policies and procedures for both text and photography. Although the trademark designation had been done properly, she indicated that a footnote needed to be added. My publisher complied with this, even though it is not a usual thing to use for fiction. But this was not enough. Linden Lab also requested to see the final PDF file of the novel to make sure that I had not described Second Life in any way that might be seen as negative. Although I had only mentioned Second Life twice in the whole book, I felt a “search and find” wasn’t sufficient, so I went back and read through all 360 pages to make sure. Of course, as I did so, I found additional errors to correct, so I wasn’t truly upset at this point.
Regarding the avatar photo, Linden Lab also needed to see the cover. That wasn’t a big deal. I just emailed it to them. To their credit, I received a prompt reply. But while they okayed the cover, they added a caveat that they could not give permission for any of the Second Life residents who may have created any of the clothing or attachments that the avatar was wearing. When I presented this information to my publisher and the cover designer, they requested I contact each person for email permissions. Now, I ask you hypothetically, how far was I supposed to go for this? I was wearing an outfit with shoes and hair from different designers. Contacting them proved to be more of a trial than I imagined. The very nature of Second Life is that people are from different time zones, spend varying amounts of time in-world, and most are protective of their privacy. Also keep in mind that I was trying to meet my own deadline of having my book available to give as gifts to some of my friends and relatives for the holidays. This added to the frustration of the situation, and there were times when I was angry with myself for having opened a can of virtual worms by contacting Linden Lab to begin with.
But I couldn’t give up. The book meant too much to me. It was a memorial to my cat but, even more than that, I knew it would give a message to others, beyond any religious beliefs, that might console them after a loved one’s loss. So I went about sending IM’s and dropping notecards on the designers and creators of the clothes and attachments I wore in the photo. I had one quick reply, but my publisher wasn’t happy with it. While the person who sent it provided both her real and SL name and gave me permission to use the photo of the shoes she made, my publisher requested that she also needed to include a line that it was okay for me to make a profit off the photo. I emailed the shoemaker, and was relieved when she sent me her revised permission. I started feeling better about things but not for long. With one permission to go and the days approaching Thanksgiving coming quickly, I ran into another virtual snag. The hair maker sent me a permission, but it was on a note card. The publisher and cover designer needed an email permission. I tried to explain that note cards in SL are time and date stamped with the names of the creators embedded into them, but they weren’t taking any chances. I had a promise from the hair maker that she was sending an email, but when two days went by without one, I began to wonder if she was having reservations about her permission or if she didn’t want to share her personal email. When I explained the situation to my publisher, she insisted that I needed the permission email before any further work could be done toward publishing my book. I didn’t blame her. She had a reputation to uphold and couldn’t afford a lawsuit, as slim as that possibility was.
Feeling very frustrated and more than a bit upset with the whole situation, I spoke with a SL friend who tried to help but couldn’t really figure out a way to do so. He suggested, rather than redoing the entire cover or just taking my avatar off of it, that I might consider signing an agreement with the publisher and cover designer absolving them from any liability in case of a lawsuit, no matter how unlikely that might be. I was tossing this idea around in my head all night while I couldn’t sleep, but the next morning the permission email was in my inbox.
I learned two lessons from all of this – 1. Writing and publishing require more persistence and patience than anyone can imagine. 2. Sometimes it’s better just to keep your mouth shut.
For those who might be interested in reading my book to see if it was all worth the trouble I went through, it is now available as an ebook and trade paper from Booklocker.com or as a trade paper only from Amazon and other booksellers.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The Perils, Pleasures, and Persistence of Publishing
For those of you who don't know, and that's probably a pretty high number right now, this past Sunday marked the launch of a new library magazine in Second Life, RezLibris.
Like publications that start up in real life, those that are created in a virtual world, begin with just an idea that grows. To make that bud of inspiration bloom into a flourishing flower, though, takes a lot of hard work and as RezLibris publisher, Clark Abismo, stated in the first issue editorial, a major amount of persistence.
All the concerns of real life publishing need to be addressed when launching a virtual publication whether it be a magazine, newspaper, or other type of in-world or website informational and/or entertainment source. These concerns range from hiring procedures to staff policies from editorial decisions including copyright, content, and coverage to design issues such as layout, photography, and graphics.
PERILS
Publications are a communication medium. What is conveyed through each article needs to be clear, interesting to its target audience, and free of typos, grammatical errors, and other mistakes. Proofreading is important, and this is best done by more than one set of eyes and can't be left to the unreliable spelling and grammar checkers of word processing programs. Names and titles need to be correct. Quotes need to be appropriately attributed. Photo captions need to be right. Headlines should grab the reader. So many small details are what make up the perils of publishing and also make the difference between a professional publication and a "rag."
PLEASURES
Bylines are a unique kind of flattery. Most people like seeing their names in print. at least for stories they write. Most journalists are not paid well, and this is an understatement for virtual journalists. So there has to be some other perks to a "job" that requires so much hard work. Psychiatrists have profited for ages by being aware that most people like to talk about themselves and have people listen to what they say. Unlike journalists, shrinks make a lot more money from this knowledge. What is it like to command an audience for even the short time someone reads your article; to have your words archived in print that someone may come across them through a google search or while browsing a news or magazine stand; to reach people from around the world who you have never met and may never meet but who can get to know you very well through the views you express? These are the some of the pleasures of publishing.
PERSISTENCE
So what does it take to keep a virtual or real life magazine or newspaper going? How do you keep the editors and writers motivated? How do you stay sane between deadlines and last-minute crisises? How do you promote your publication and keep readers interested? How do you generate new ideas and plan productive work schedules on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis? How do you allocate tasks and delegate projects? Team work and communication are essential, but the main ingredient is persistence. If you want something, you work to make it happen. You persevere despite all the pressure. Mostly, you keep in sight your goal -- the lovely printed version of your publication.
Like publications that start up in real life, those that are created in a virtual world, begin with just an idea that grows. To make that bud of inspiration bloom into a flourishing flower, though, takes a lot of hard work and as RezLibris publisher, Clark Abismo, stated in the first issue editorial, a major amount of persistence.
All the concerns of real life publishing need to be addressed when launching a virtual publication whether it be a magazine, newspaper, or other type of in-world or website informational and/or entertainment source. These concerns range from hiring procedures to staff policies from editorial decisions including copyright, content, and coverage to design issues such as layout, photography, and graphics.
PERILS
Publications are a communication medium. What is conveyed through each article needs to be clear, interesting to its target audience, and free of typos, grammatical errors, and other mistakes. Proofreading is important, and this is best done by more than one set of eyes and can't be left to the unreliable spelling and grammar checkers of word processing programs. Names and titles need to be correct. Quotes need to be appropriately attributed. Photo captions need to be right. Headlines should grab the reader. So many small details are what make up the perils of publishing and also make the difference between a professional publication and a "rag."
PLEASURES
Bylines are a unique kind of flattery. Most people like seeing their names in print. at least for stories they write. Most journalists are not paid well, and this is an understatement for virtual journalists. So there has to be some other perks to a "job" that requires so much hard work. Psychiatrists have profited for ages by being aware that most people like to talk about themselves and have people listen to what they say. Unlike journalists, shrinks make a lot more money from this knowledge. What is it like to command an audience for even the short time someone reads your article; to have your words archived in print that someone may come across them through a google search or while browsing a news or magazine stand; to reach people from around the world who you have never met and may never meet but who can get to know you very well through the views you express? These are the some of the pleasures of publishing.
PERSISTENCE
So what does it take to keep a virtual or real life magazine or newspaper going? How do you keep the editors and writers motivated? How do you stay sane between deadlines and last-minute crisises? How do you promote your publication and keep readers interested? How do you generate new ideas and plan productive work schedules on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis? How do you allocate tasks and delegate projects? Team work and communication are essential, but the main ingredient is persistence. If you want something, you work to make it happen. You persevere despite all the pressure. Mostly, you keep in sight your goal -- the lovely printed version of your publication.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Finding Stories in the Pumpkin Patch
So what exactly does one write about for a vitual newspaper or magazine? In traditional journalism, there are various ways to find story ideas. Almost anything can be made into a news or feature article, but you have to keep your eyes open and your creativity sparked. The same holds true for virtual journalism. Traditional reporters and editors read newspapers and magazines besides their own for story sources. Add to that blogs, websites, and basically anything that is printed. That doesn't mean that they copy articles, but many articles can be told from various viewpoints and often follow-up pieces or similar-themed articles can grow off the same "idea" tree. And if you look in the pumpkin patch, you can also find a good story. Seasonal pieces are always popular, especially told with a twist or special angle. A real life article on the best Halloween-decorated house in the neighborhood could be easily transformed into a virtual piece on the spookiest Second Life sim. So look around, read, listen, and don't forget to check the pumpkin patch.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Virtual Publishing Myths
People who work in certain fields or pursue a particular career are subject to stereotypes in real life. For instance, and I'll use my profession as an example, librarians are still pictured to some degree as eye-glass wearing, prudish, elderly women who spend their lives reading books. No matter how wrong this may be in light of younger and male library students, the stereotype persists. But in a virtual world, stereotypes are less typical because avatars can be so different in appearance and characteristics than their real life counterparts. But are they different in nature? I personally believe that most virtual world residents, while probably using younger and thinner avatars, are not much different personality-wise than the character they create to represent themselves. Further, these people often hang out with members of their real life professions or those who have similar interests. Like "birds of a feather," avatars of a group mingle together. That's why, when I first joined Second Life, I navigated toward librarians and found Info Island.
So what about publishers, journalists, writers, and reporters? If I made a survey of the staffs of virtual publications, I'm sure that a good percentage are either employed in similar fields or have pursued these occupations in some manner in real life. I worked on my student newspaper and graduate school newsletter. While I was never employed professionally as a journalist, I have published articles and a short story in real life.
Determining that virtual journalists tend to have experience from their real lives and that they like to be among other people with writing/communication interests, it is easy to see why the Virtual World Press Club that Holman Tibbett created, and other such press clubs in other virtual worlds, is a good idea.
Taking it one step farther, here are a few vitual publishing myths that should be debunked:
1. Publishing and writing in a virtual world can be fun but isn't very useful. After all, who cares what happens in a game?
This is totally untrue. Most virtual world residents take their Second Lives or Active Lives or whatever very seriously and do not think of the time they take part in these "worlds" as participating in a game. And while avatars like to have fun, they also want to keep informed of news, events, and other happenings.
2. Publishing a virtual newspaper or magazine is easy. All you do is sit down at your computer and write.
This couldn't be farther from the truth. Just like in real life, articles and stories for virtual publications involve interviews, editing, layout, photography, etc. if you want to put together a decent product. Although, just like in real life, there are publications that aren't worth reading, tabloids and such, most virtual world journalists work to create professional publications, and this takes time and effort.
3. Virtual publications come and go, so they never really develop a readership.
This is also untrue. While things do change quicker in virtual worlds than in real life, some publications expand and grow developing readers and adding staff as time goes on. This is a tribute to the dedication of the founders and the hard work of the staff.
So just as in real life, certain stereotypes and myths abound in virtual worlds and, also like real life, it's often up to the virtual press to enlighten the public and inform them of truths. We do not need to roleplay professionalism if we are professionals, and that goes for all worlds.
So what about publishers, journalists, writers, and reporters? If I made a survey of the staffs of virtual publications, I'm sure that a good percentage are either employed in similar fields or have pursued these occupations in some manner in real life. I worked on my student newspaper and graduate school newsletter. While I was never employed professionally as a journalist, I have published articles and a short story in real life.
Determining that virtual journalists tend to have experience from their real lives and that they like to be among other people with writing/communication interests, it is easy to see why the Virtual World Press Club that Holman Tibbett created, and other such press clubs in other virtual worlds, is a good idea.
Taking it one step farther, here are a few vitual publishing myths that should be debunked:
1. Publishing and writing in a virtual world can be fun but isn't very useful. After all, who cares what happens in a game?
This is totally untrue. Most virtual world residents take their Second Lives or Active Lives or whatever very seriously and do not think of the time they take part in these "worlds" as participating in a game. And while avatars like to have fun, they also want to keep informed of news, events, and other happenings.
2. Publishing a virtual newspaper or magazine is easy. All you do is sit down at your computer and write.
This couldn't be farther from the truth. Just like in real life, articles and stories for virtual publications involve interviews, editing, layout, photography, etc. if you want to put together a decent product. Although, just like in real life, there are publications that aren't worth reading, tabloids and such, most virtual world journalists work to create professional publications, and this takes time and effort.
3. Virtual publications come and go, so they never really develop a readership.
This is also untrue. While things do change quicker in virtual worlds than in real life, some publications expand and grow developing readers and adding staff as time goes on. This is a tribute to the dedication of the founders and the hard work of the staff.
So just as in real life, certain stereotypes and myths abound in virtual worlds and, also like real life, it's often up to the virtual press to enlighten the public and inform them of truths. We do not need to roleplay professionalism if we are professionals, and that goes for all worlds.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Editing for a Virtual World
Any writer can tell you that editing is much more difficult and time consuming than writing. But, often, under deadlines, a journalist ignores a few commas or relies on spellcheck more than he or she should. What's interesting is that editing an article for a virtual publication has some additional challenges. Here are some that I have found in my veteran experience (over one year in a virtual world is a long time) writing for the Metaverse Messenger newspaper:
Never assume the sex of the person/avatar you interview by chat or email. Names are quite often unisex, and even profile photos can be misleading.
Speaking of names, don't rely on traditional spellings or phonic guessing for virtual world residents. Due to restrictions on personal names, many people choose unusual spellings to be able to use a certain first name, and others like to express their creativity and freedom with long monikers that are spelled nothing like they sound. John Smith's are not common at all in virtual worlds.
As with names, always check titles. In virtual worlds, these tend to change fast. So if you've written a story about someone previously, don't take it for granted they are still in the same position.
As quick as titles change in a virtual world, so do locations. If you list a Slurl for a Second Life place, for instance, it is always a good idea to teleport there first to make sure the place is still there.
Another tricky aspect of virtual world editing is using real life information. If you are covering an event that crosses over into real life, some of the people involved may actually want their real identities known. However, you should always ask permission when revealing any real life information.
Lastly, and this one is really very tacky, never try to print a private chat log. This will definitely get you the virtual pink slip. When in doubt, always ask permission. It's common sense in any world.
I hope you find some of my tips helpful. Editing isn't easy in any world, but it does have its unique challenges in virtual worlds.
Never assume the sex of the person/avatar you interview by chat or email. Names are quite often unisex, and even profile photos can be misleading.
Speaking of names, don't rely on traditional spellings or phonic guessing for virtual world residents. Due to restrictions on personal names, many people choose unusual spellings to be able to use a certain first name, and others like to express their creativity and freedom with long monikers that are spelled nothing like they sound. John Smith's are not common at all in virtual worlds.
As with names, always check titles. In virtual worlds, these tend to change fast. So if you've written a story about someone previously, don't take it for granted they are still in the same position.
As quick as titles change in a virtual world, so do locations. If you list a Slurl for a Second Life place, for instance, it is always a good idea to teleport there first to make sure the place is still there.
Another tricky aspect of virtual world editing is using real life information. If you are covering an event that crosses over into real life, some of the people involved may actually want their real identities known. However, you should always ask permission when revealing any real life information.
Lastly, and this one is really very tacky, never try to print a private chat log. This will definitely get you the virtual pink slip. When in doubt, always ask permission. It's common sense in any world.
I hope you find some of my tips helpful. Editing isn't easy in any world, but it does have its unique challenges in virtual worlds.
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