Ramblings about newslettering

[ziasudra]

skuf has an interesting poll here about fandom newsletters. I read the fill-in answers and the anonymous discussion threads with interest, and noticed that a reoccurring "complaint" seems to be newsletters tend to favor toward certain things, be they genres, pairings, or overall bias in reccing.

This got me thinking — and in fact I've had thoughts about newslettering for a long time now (and was great to get to talk about this with other fellow newsletter editors at r_becca's newsletter roundtable at Phoenix Rising) — why do people assume newsletter editors have the time to read every single fandom LJ account in the intarwebs? I'm glad the daily_snitch is not a rec newsletter, because I simply don't have the time to read all the fics that are posted in a day, never mind sifting through them to select recs. But even doing the meta/news/non-fic links alone, each issue takes me hours do compile. I almost always (barring RL busyness) go out of my way to look for links outside of reading my own flist or the Snitch's watcher journal. But I'm just one person, I can't know that someone who posts about RL stuff 99% of the time just happens to post something fannish and linkable today, and oops I missed it but instead linked to posts by "popular" LJers or slashers.

I've said this before, and would probably say it again in the future: if you see something that might be of interest, e-mail the links/recs/suggestions to the appropriate newsletter! Seriously, newsletter editors don't bite. In fact, every single one of them that I've met has been of the nicest group of HP fans I've had the pleasure to get to know.

</rant> (not directed against anyone in particular; in fact, I'm feeling more amused than annoyed)

Comments

[zoepaleologa.livejournal.com]

The Snitch is news. As I understand it, it posts links to actual Potter news outside of lj, or discussion that is considered interesting (the key words are considered, and interesting). Fics only get "hot recced" if there are umpteen recs all over lj for one. Snitch is NOT a fic list! Everyone should know that. Hogwarts Today and the Quibbler Report ARE. As are the character specific newsies. Not the Snitch.

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

Yup, you're correct. The Snitch does meta, news, and anything noteworthy related to HP-themed comms and/or activities.

And I really like how the Snitch, Hogwarts Today, the Quibbler Report, and other pairing-specific newsletters can happily coexist because all serve slightly different purposes within a very large fandom. I'm one of those people who follows lots and lots of newsletters (probably too much for my own good, heh) and I love them all :)

[coffee-n-cocoa.livejournal.com]

I wish I'd been able to attend PR, if only to sit in at the roundtable. I only edit a small newsletter (longbottom_wkly), but I imagine I share at least a few of the problems of the editors at larger newsletter. I watch a bunch of comms , fic exchanges, ficathons, etc. that I think have any chance of posting something Longbottom-centric, and even then I know I've missed things on occasion, or fics that were only posted on personal LJs or crossposted to a comm I hadn't heard of until then.

And it's true that we don't bite! In fact, I'm grateful anytime I'm linked to a fic I might have otherwise missed for an issue.

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

The PR roundtable was a lot of fun :)

Character-centric newsletters are cool because whenever I get a craving for fics featuring a certain character, I get to hop on over and voilà, a list of fics featuring that character! :D

And you're one of the nicest people in LJ-land. Can't imagine you biting, ever!

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

WORD.

And people can always email us and ask to be placed on the watcher list, and we'll pretty much always do it. It amazes me how many people get peeved when their fic doesn't get recced, when they didn't put it on any comms and they don't know anyone yet. Posting to comms is how you *get* people to read your stuff when you're new.

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

I'm still amazed at how you guys manage to go through your ginormous watcher's list. *is impressed*

I always like to get to know new people, and I came home after Phoenix Rising and logged on to LJ just to check out some new people's journals. But you're right, it's really difficult to get to know new people outside of comms.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

It bugs me like nothing else. I've left my main newsletter and at least for now stopped my involvement with my other one, b/c I just got so tired of the constant complaints and the entitlement attitude. If you don't post in a com and don't leave a link at the newsletter, how in the world should we ever find it?

*headdesk*

[lyras.livejournal.com]

I guess I always feel a bit pushy if I email the newsletters, even if the post I want to pimp isn't my own. So thank you for your rant!

But still, I think you lot do a great job, and a difficult one. *is grateful* Yes, sometimes I notice that a recs letter is heavy on a particular pairing, and I look at the editor and think, yeah, they're active in, say, H/D fandom. But I figure it evens itself out eventually - it doesn't bother me :).

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

Nope, not pushy at all. If only you can see my "yay, a link e-mail!" reaction every time the Snitch account gets something *g*

The way I see it: bigger ships have more readers, and chances of having more recs are naturally higher, so it's all the more important to self-pimp when, say, you know your Slughorn/Squid fic gets three recs and becomes linkable.

Hmm... are there any Slughorn/Squid fics out there? ;)

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

*nods* And then sometimes there's a fest going on that stacks the deck a bit. Like if snarry_games is going on or something. There might be more Snarry then just because everyone is writing it for the fest.

And sometimes a pairing will 'splode and I can't even figure out why. I notice this especially with the femslash newsletter. One week all the fics will be Hermione/Pansy, the next week it'll be Blackcest, then Ginny/Luna, and I can't figure out any rhyme or reason to it.

[snegurochka_lee]

why do people assume newsletter editors have the time to read every single fandom LJ account in the intarwebs?

Thank you for that! I was reading those comments too and starting to feel a bit hurt at all the complaints, until I realised it is, of course, not about me. :) But really, do people think that news/recsletter editors are these omniscient clouds of smoke that waft over fandom, selecting The Best Things according to criteria everyone agrees on, not missing a single post, and generally making everyone happy?

:/

It takes me 3-4 hours to compile the quibbler_report. I read everything on the watcher list that day. When I have the day off from work on my posting day, I've been known to sit leisurely ALL DAY and scroll around, trying to find the best stuff and trying to ensure I give every fic and art that day a fair shake. When there are fests running, like right now, they often post 2-3 stories each, often 10K or more. I'll tell you right now that I tend to rec shorter one shots only out of time constraints. I actually try really hard to rec some slash, some gen, some het, and some femslash in every issue, but that's just not always possible. And I could get into my criteria, I suppose, but I'll save that for my own post about this, perhaps. ;) But I do have criteria.

I'm sorry if some people feel such hate at the 'biased' news/recsletters, but jeez. Give us a bit of a break, too. We're not a clique at QR (or I'm the odd-woman out of it, if we are), I don't just rec my friends, I don't just rec slash, I don't just rec BNFs, and frankly, reading the comments at that post felt a little bit like putting together the best damn breakfast tray I could, carrying it upstairs to present to guests, and having them tell me the toast is cold, and they want grape jelly instead of strawberry jam, and the eggs need salt, and the juice has pulp, and the coffee should have two sugars, not one. :(

Ah well. Impossible to please everyone. I do it because I enjoy it, and hopefully some people do actually like my recs. But, eh, maybe not. :)

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

♥♥♥

I love pulp in my OJ. ;) But seriously, you rock and I really appreciate how much you work your ass off for the QR.

But really, do people think that news/recsletter editors are these omniscient clouds of smoke that waft over fandom, selecting The Best Things according to criteria everyone agrees on, not missing a single post, and generally making everyone happy?

Yes, of course. And we can magically see everything that gets posted, and we never accidentally overlook anything, and there's somehow a magical standard that is the same in everyone's head so no personal discretion or taste ever creeps in. ;)

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

I have so much respect for you editors who spend the day reading all the fics/arts that are posted on a given day. I can't imagine how long that must take. I personally love your strawberry jam, unsalted eggs, and pulp-y juice.

I totally do it because I love it too. I love the feeling of having something to look forward to every Tuesday after work :)

[xingou.livejournal.com]

::pets you::

XD

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

*purrs*

:D

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

Also... dinner tomorrow night?

I'll be there ^_^

here via metafandom

[ruuger]

A big fat word from another newsletter mod. Since my newsletter is for a small fandom (Babylon 5), I fortunately don't have that problem (since I already already had pretty much the entire B5 fandom on my f-list when I started the newsletter *g*) but it frustrates me to see people complain how they are ignored by the evil BNF mods of their fandom's newsletters. C'mon people, running a newsletter doesn't make you omniscient!

Re: here via metafandom

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

People complain about universe_today? But it's awesome, and some weeks I think it's holding together B5 fandom all on its own. Oh, fandom.

[gloss]

(Here via metafandom)

Thanks for this post - ages ago, I did fill-in work for the BtVS newsletter and I have nothing but *massive* respect for the editors who regularly put out updates. It's hard work, done out of love, and the entitlement on display from irked readers drives me *batty*.

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

Compiling a newsletter is fun, which is why I do it. It takes a lot of work, but it's a different kind of work. Sort of like writing an essay for class feels like pulling teeth, while typing away at a fic would give me the biggest squee ever :)

[elance.livejournal.com]

It feels...presumptuous, hubristic, even, to email about my own stuff, and I'm not usually thinking about the newsletters when I read my friends list (or assume if it's worthy it's already been done, I guess).

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I totally don't see any problem with self-pimping. Or even people sending in links anonymously or via an email account that doesn't give away their LJ username. If a post is legit, then no matter who sends it in, it's link-worthy.

It's interesting, I have the exact opposite mindset when reading my flist. I'd subconsciously pick up that something is good for newsletter X or recs letter Y, even if it's not my day of gathering links ;)

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

Yes! I don't know how many ways I can say in my newsletter and watcher journal that I want your links, and still people get put out when I don't find *everything*, even though they haven't posted it to any communities. WTF? My watch list is pretty good, but I am sure there are comms that I haven't noticed that could be added. But I don't know them if nobody tells me about them! Full time job, offline life, run the newsletter all by myself, not omniscient. Add it up, people.

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

*nods*

From reading the comments and responses to the poll, it seems like there's an assumption that if something is link-worthy, then chances are it's going to be "automatically" noted by editors. Not an unreasonable assumption if scouring all of LJ for links is a paid job. But I too have a full life outside of fandom, so unless I start having 30 hours in a day, I'm going to have to rely on other people sending me links and alerts.

(And running a newsletter all by yourself? Wow, you get a super gold star!)

[that_mireille]

why do people assume newsletter editors have the time to read every single fandom LJ account in the intarwebs?

I don't. But I also know that in certain "selective" newsletters, there have in the past been days of the week when - despite being on the watch list - any fic I posted would not be listed. Period. It did not matter how good it was; it did not matter if there were only two stories listed that day and the editor wailed that no one was posting any fic in the fandom.

If a newsletter doesn't bill itself as being "selective," though, I assume that any overlooked link is that the editor either didn't see it at all (I'm not on the watch list, and didn't post it to any comms), or just overlooked it by accident.

(I used to work on a fannish newsletter, too, and there was also reason #3: I had no clue what some people had behind their cut-tags, and wasn't going to bother to look. If you say the pairing is "a surprise," then I'm not going to bother to look and see if the fic fit that (character-specific) NL.)

[arby-m.livejournal.com]

Right and then what if the newsletter claims to be INclusive, but when you post your link, it doesn't get picked up? More than once (because I did give them the benefit of the doubt). Then you just start feeling like a jerk. I mean, maybe I suck and my comm's so lame no one would want to join, but don't pretend your newsletter is so inclusive and then exclude me.

[arby-m.livejournal.com]

PS and by post my link I mean commented on the newsletter itself.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

Hooray for you! I edit comicstore_news one day a week - it's an inclusive newsletter, not one with recs, and we link everything that is posted to us except for friendslocked posts. We still get flack for overlooking people and not "giving love" to certain posters!

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

All-inclusive posts must take so much work! I watch a few all inclusive newsletters and the editors do a great job at scouring everywhere for fics and art for a certain pairing. You all deserve so much love.

[jennem.livejournal.com]

It drives me crazy that fandom would rather complain about something than a) do it themselves and do it better, or b) assist the people who are actually wasting their own important time to do something for fandom.

People are so damn annoying sometimes.

:P

I've said this before, and would probably say it again in the future: if you see something that might be of interest, e-mail the links/recs/suggestions to the appropriate newsletter! Seriously, newsletter editors don't bite.

Brava!

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

I think part of the outspokenness of the commenters was due to the fact that they could speak their minds anonymously. Which has a place and time like everything else -- I didn't know some people felt so strongly about the issues they complained about, for example. I only wished they didn't do it with so much hostility :\

And you make an excellent point (or two points, rather) about how to be proactive about making newsletters better. Thanks, and hopefully this latest bout of debate is going to spark some interest for people to do either a) or b).

[linaerys.livejournal.com]

I have so much admiration and appreciation for people who run newsletters. It seems really thankless, so have my thanks here. I can't even believe the people who bitch about it.

[ziasudra-fic.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the encouraging comment! As I said to some people above, I think the outspokenness of some of the commenters was due to the fact that they could voice their opinions anonymously. People tend to be more blunt when they can be anon :p