Thread: New idea sprouted: statrting a BD-zine

I love public radio...a show called the State of Things had an episode about zines today. It got me thinking about the belly dance community...there a few magazines, and tons of online stuff, but wouldn't it be cool if there was a local zine all about your community? I've always done newsletters as a part of my day job and I think it would be cool to have something like that for belly dance. It seems more fun and more personal than blogging or forums.

Here come the logisitics...keep in mind this idea is still in its embryonic stages.
- Should I charge a subscription/purchase fee?
- What's the most cost-effective way to distribute?
- What area should this be limited to: NC or just my metro area?
- Who is my primary audience (dancers, duh), but should it be for performers or amateurs?
- Should I find advertisers or underwriters? It would be great to get a grant for something like this.
- How often to publish?

Ok, then there is content to think about. Here are some of my ideas:
- Listing of upcoming haflas, workshops and galas
- Listing of places where local dancers regularly appear
- Reviews of local venues or events
- Interviews with teachers and performers, and visiting workshop instructors
- Local vendor listings
- How tos
- Feature articles, ie Bellly dancers as feminists, finding the perfect costume, cultural diversity and/or ethnocentricity, historic perspectives, first-person essays.

As usual, any and all input is welcome. Grazie.

(can you tell I studied journalism in college? )

great idea! check out LA Raqs - Los Angeles Belly Dance for some design/content ideas. :)

ETA we don't charge a susbscription fee, but dancers listed as "for hire" pay to be there, and we are getting some nice ad dollars for our site and mailing list of 1000+ local dancers.

Also, you can check out Middle Eastern Dance in New England. Amy charges a subscription fee, but she puts out a print version and an online version...and it's more of a magazine than a newsletter!

Wish there had been something like that when I was living in Raleigh! (actually, I wish there had been *anything* dance related when I lived there...)

good luck!
Mira

Originally Posted by mira

Wish there had been something like that when I was living in Raleigh! (actually, I wish there had been *anything* dance related when I lived there...)

OMG, You wouldn't believe how much there is now. I mean there is a hafla practicially every weekend. My friends and I have to divide and conquer when it comes to workshops because there are so many you can't get to every one.

This area is growing so fast, and with that comes all of the relocating belly dancers. ,r:; It's great, but it can be overwhelming. Of course, there still are only a few places where you can get paid to dance. Most of those have regular dancers already and they can be a little territorial about them. If only there were more gigs, then it would be perfect here...sigh.

I'm thinking of calling the zine, "The Golden Triangle." Isn't that cute?..l;,

That's good to know...I may have to move back there when Maine ends up going bankrupt. (wonder if we're the first state to ever do that??)

Mira

LOL I've been throwing around the idea of moving to Raleigh or Charlotte from Cleveland :) Your economy seems to be much better than ours; it sounds like a lot of other bellydancers are doing the same. It's good to know there's a flourishing community...there is such a thing as market saturation though

I think a newsletter is great! I would probably not subscribe to something unless it was an actual magazine. Maybe you could work with whoever does the NC Bellydance website if you want to make it statewide?

I think it's so great to have a local resource. Keep us posted and let us know how it goes.

Yes, I think a magzine-style format will work best. I like the idea of a zine though.

Does anyone know where you can get grants for such things?

I'm the treasurer for our local dance organisation (Organisation for the Middle Eastern Dance in Australia, Inc. (OMEDA)) and we publish both a print newsletter and fortnightly e-bulletins. The former sounds a lot like what you're proposing, the latter gives out info on upcoming events organised by our members. We create 4 issues of the newsletter per year and it's really enjoyable to receive and read, but we are having to push for more distribution via email (ie: pdf) because the costs of printing and mailing are too high. We send out just over 100 copies so there's not much economy of scale. It's really hard to charge enough to cover costs (if we raise costs, some of our membeship may drop off), or to charge enough of our advertisers (because circulation is not massive). We're very restricted in the number of articles we can fit in because of costs - we print on big sheets of paper that are then folded in the middle, so you need to get everything to fit in multiples of 4 pages - front, back x 2 on each sheet. That means that you might have one excellent article that you can't run because it won't fit in print.

All this is to say - I strongly recommend developing an e-based mag rather than print! Then it can be colourful, beautifully laid out and as long as you want.

Quarterly is always a good way to start. You can always add more publications later if needed. Good Luck and keep us Bhuzzers posted on your progress!!