Introducing My New Political Magazine, Zippererstrasse

One blustery fall day in 1983, the Soviet Union saw fit to shoot down a Korean passenger plane, KAL 007. That created an international crisis, and it was the talk of pretty much every news media organization, including a think weekly political magazine called The New Republic. I remember it well, because the KAL incident was the cover story of the very first issue of TNR that I ever received after a friend of the family gave me — a high school sophomore — a subscription because she knew my interest in politics.

She also got my political persuasion correct. She herself said she used to like TNR, but she had moved leftward and was more of a Progressive magazine person at that point. But TNR had me right from the start. It was waging a smart and feisty battle for the soul of the Democratic Party, arguing with Democrats, Republicans, and even its own editors and writers about the right policies. Hooked, I read TNR like scripture all the way through college.

The TNR of today is not the TNR of then. Sadly, there is a dearth of that feisty liberalism that believes it should be critiquing liberals as well as conservatives, subjecting every idea and claim to cross examination as the only way to ensure we come up with the best ideas, the best policies, the best proposals.

So my latest free digital magazine, the self-referentially named Zippererstrasse, is my experiment to try to revive that brand of liberalism. Please take a look. It's free (though you can of course throw tons of money my way should you be so inclined.)

Science Fiction TV Preview

Excited about all of the new and resurrected science-fiction TV programs coming out? Read my SF TV preview—learn about some shows you might not have heard about, learn more about some you know about, and wonder why the heck I left out some you already know about.

It's Out! Galaxis #5

The latest edition of my little digital free magazined devoted to science and science fiction is now out.

It's Galaxis #5, and it's a special science-fiction television preview issue, with a roundup of upcoming genre shows—Foundation, The X-Files, and more. We've also got an interview with author David Gerrold, a portfolio of Mandelbrot art, a report on the Hugos controversy, seasons 2 and 3 of our Star Trek: The Next Generation episode guide, and much more, including our big reviews section.

Galaxis 4 ... Is not the Last One

I've decided not to end my digital science/science fiction magazine Galaxis with the current issue, #4. I'm working up plans to have a fifth issue after all, and this one should appear in digital and in limited print editions.

So while I put the finishing touches on the first Galaxis Reader book and start pulling together the fifth edition of Galaxis magazine, it's a good time to remind everyone that Galaxis #4 is still available for you to read, free, online.

Read the magazine:

To 4,000 and Beyond – in a Flash

The latest (and last) issue of Galaxis, my free digital magazine of science and science fiction, was only released two weeks ago, but it has already been seen by more than 4,000 people. By way of comparison, it took many months for each of the previous three issues of Galaxis to hit those numbers.

So as an individualist, as much as it pains me to suggest you join the crowd: Join the crowd — because I think you'll find that this personal journey through the worlds of science and SF is thought-provoking, fun, and inspiring. And in a few months when I release the first book-form Galaxis Reader, I hope you'll come along for that evolutionary form of my Galaxis project.

Magazines Digital and Print, Latest News

Two reports worth thinking about, if you're at all interested in media in digital and print forms.

First, there's news in Folio: of a survey of users of tablet computers that finds that about 25 percent of them prefer to read magazines in digital format on their tablets rather than in print form. This is being reported as a large number for digital, but frankly my response is: Isn't a quarter kind of a low amount? We're not talking about the public at large, just tablet computer users. And at this late date, when more than a third of American book-buying is for e-books, only a quarter of tablet owners would prefer a mag on their tablet? I seriously would have expected that number to be well over 50 percent. Huh.

In other news (also from Folio:), there's a report on print magazine readerships largely being either flat or up.

Now, as I've noted here on this blog (and here) before, I'm a fan, producer, and user of both digital and print. Love 'em both. But I always love counter-intuitive data like these two reports, especially when it can be used to argue against the people who swallow the hype kool-aid without contemplation.

3,000 and Counting!

Have I mentioned that this issue features my reviews of Prometheus, The Long Earth, Measuring the World, and more? Still don't care? Then how about a visit to CERN? An extensive episode guide to the original Battlestar Galactica? A quirky look at the wuxia strains in the Star Wars films? What are you, a robot? How can this not get you excited? Read Galaxis!

That's 3,000 views of this third issue of Galaxis, BTW, in case you were wondering about the blog post headline.

2,000 and Counting

Galaxis, the free digital magazine of science and science fiction, just topped 2,000 views so far. Take a look.

The Art of Making Magazines

Ten minutes ago, I finished reading my copy of The Art of Magazines, a fun and fascinating book from Columbia University Press. A slim book (Amazon calls it a 200-pager, but this paperback has just over 180, even if you count the blank pages at the end), the book is subtitled "On Being an Editor and Other Views from the Industry."

Page count aside, it's a book every aspiring and practicing editor and writer (and publisher and entrepreneur) should read. Forgive the occasional typo (an odd failing to find in this type of a book, especially considering its chapters on fact checking and copyediting) or some of the out-of-date comments in the chapters; this book's central messages are applicable to every writer, editor, and publisher in print and online. For that matter, it should also be mandatory reading by those Silicon Valley types who are eager to drive a stake through the heart of magazines, when what they're really saying is that they want to drive a stake through the heart of professional journalism.

The Art of Making Magazines is comprised of 12 chapters, all but one of which is a speech given by a high-profile magazine industry professional as part of the George Delacorte Lecture Series at the Columbia School of Journalism. The one exception is a Q&A conversation between moderator Victor Navasky and Vanity Fair Design Director Chris Dixon.

The speakers range from writer John Gregory Dunne to editors Ruth Reichl, Robert Gottlieb, Michael Kelly, Roberta Myers, Peter W. Kaplan, and Tina Brown; from fact checker Peter Canby to copyeditor Barbara Walraff; from art director Dixon and publisher John R. MacArthur to publisher/businessman/poet Felix Dennis. Get this book and read every one of those chapters; they will not only tell you how magazines are really put together (for better and worse), they will give your professional and creative imagination a boost for how to do things differently and better.

Reichl provides a pretty exhaustive run-through of what a high-powered magazine editor's day is like (and how little of it actually has anything remotely to do with editing), and as such she gives readers a good sense of how the editor-in-chief position has changed as technology and markets have changed. At the far end of the book, Felix Dennis also touches on the technology-and-changing-markets theme, but his is a more inspiring (albeit over-the-top) take on the subject; he says there will be a continuing need for good writers and editors even if ink-on-paper periodicals die off.

He also succinctly sums up something that is a theme through many of these talks, but he says it better (hence my use of "succinctly," I guess) than the others. He urges writers and editors and publishers to pay attention first to the reader, and only then to the advertiser. "My advertisers are welcome to attend the party. But they are not the guests of honor," Dennis writes. "They are welcome to a glass of champagne and piece of the cake, but I am married to my readers and not to my advertisers."

With that advice, along with his statements about the need to produce something the readers actually want to read and not something they're receiving simply because it's too much trouble to cancel their subscriptions, Dennis echoes a theme I've played on this blog numerous times, especially in its early years when I focused more on magazines; it's something that is central to a digital-only magazine I produced a couple years ago called Magma (hey, read it free).

Think about why people actually read magazines, or would read magazines if they're not; think about why magazines are failing even though the highly paid MBAs running them are doing everything by the book to cut costs and reduce article size and maximize revenues; think about why you would spend time reading a 5,000-word article and what you could get out of it that you don't get out of a 400-word blurb on a website; think about how many magazines have death wishes because their editors and publishers and owners don't know what they're doing or why readers should want to buy their publications, invest time and energy (and become emotionally connected) with it.

If The Art of Making Magazines has a major flaw, it is that it is very New York-centered in its chosen speakers; in fact, it is very Condé Nast-centered. What's missing, of course, is what most magazine writers and editors will experience: the small magazine, with no copyeditor, everyone including the publisher proofreads, and readerships in the tens of thousands rather than the millions. Also not included is someone speaking about the work of editors, writers, and publishers in business-to-business publishing, or in non-profit and associations publishing. There are some very successful publishers and editors in these ignored markets who could have given very valuable advice to the Columbia students and to readers of this book.

But in the end, the narrow focus is not any more of a hindrance to benefiting from this book than are the typos. The value is in the advice shared and stories told by the speakers – and in any degree of perceptivity that may be employed by the reader.

The Art of Making Magazines was edited by Victor S. Navasky and Evan Cornog, published by Columbia Journalism Review Books, an imprint of Columbia Journalism Press, and released in 2012.

Lucas and Musk and Weinbaum and Hatch and More

I've been hearing from readers near and afar about the third issue of my free digital science fiction & science magazine, Galaxis. Reminds them of the best of the old Starlog magazine. (Everyone knows I like to hear that kind of compliment.) Filled with great info. Give us more.

And so on. Blushing, I am appreciative of all of the people who have emailed, posted, and Facbooked about this third Galaxis issue.

And for those of you who have been waiting for an invitation, here you go. Here's a list of the entire table of contents (and you can click on the image below and see the entire magazine full-size on your computer).

FEATURES
Will We Ever See Blood & Chrome? The fans loved it, SyFy shelved it
Classic Battlestar Galactica Complete episode guide
SpaceX in Space Elon Musk makes private space travel work
The Magicians Meets the TV Gods Lev Grossman’s books get to TV – almost
The Wuxia Road to Star Wars Fans have heard the story’s roots lie in classic Japanese cinema. Look a little further west...
Star Wars in new media A guide to new generations of viewers catching the saga on Blu-ray & in 3-D
Can You Hate the Creator? Are the George Lucas-haters for real?
Another Earth There are those who believe that life out there began out there
FICTION: A Martian Odyssey 
Stanley Grauman Weinbaum’s pathbreaking short story about extraterrestrials
The View from CERN The center of the physics world—the center of the universe, in a way—is in Switzerland
The World According to Charles Yu The author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

DEPARTMENTS
Viewscreen Would Harry Potter lead you wrong?
Launch Tube Lucasfilm and Disney tie the knot, SF politicians, memories of Ray Bradbury, & more news
Imagery Patrick Stewart, and more Culture
Worldly Things Tablets, watches, and oodles of Google
Webbed Website resource
Compendium 
What to see, hear, and do
Game Set The Galaxis Crossword Puzzle and SF Quiz
ReviewScreen Prometheus, The Long Earth, The Incal, Chez Max, Measuring the World, Moebius & more
Next Issue 
The future in Galaxis

To read, click on the image below or go directly to issuu.com page for Galaxis 3.

A Little Page Design Moment

Just something I created for my Facebook page in an attempt to play with page spreads from the three issues of my Galaxis science/science fiction digital magazine (available free at issuu.com).

1,000 Points of Sight: Galaxis Number 3

Open publication - Free publishing - More battlestar

The third edition of my free digital science & science fiction magazine, Galaxis, has reached its first milestone in record time. Not even a full month since it was published on issuu.com, Galaxis #3 has racked up 1,000 views. That is, I believe, faster than the previous two issues or any of my digital magazines has reached that milestone.

My thanks to everyone who has looked at the issue, read it, shared it with their blog/Facebook/Twitter followers, sent me feedback, or showered me with offers of glory. Granted, none of the last has happened, but one can hope.

On to 2,000!

Print-on-Demand Edition of Galaxis 3 Now Available

Galaxis December 2012

By John Zipperer in Galaxis

84 pages, published 11/18/2012

A magazine of science fiction and science. Featuring Star Wars' mythic background, original Galactica episode guide, SF authors Charles Yu and Lev Grossman, a pictorial visit to CERN and the Large Hadron Collider, short fiction, events, reviews (including our extended Prometheus review), puzzles, and much more.

One week after the free digital version of my latest Galaxis issue came out, the print-on-demand edition is now available. Produced by HP's excellent MagCloud service, the print-on-demand edition is printed when you order it and mailed to you.

It's a tad pricey (welcome to print-on-demand and the post-newsstand world), but if, like me, you enjoy paper and digital magazines, it is a great option. Please note that the price for this print-on-demand edition is purely for the printing and mailing; I receive not a penny from the paper edition.

If you just want the free digital edition (which you can even download to your computer – desktop, smartphone, tablet, whatever), you might want to try my other digital publishing partner, issuu.

And many thanks to the folks who have already given me feedback on this issue. I'm blushing.

Now out: Galaxis #3 -- Free Digital Science Fiction and Science Magazine

Open publication - Free publishing - More battlestar

Newsweek Print, RIP

The least earth-shaking news story of the month: Newsweek will stop printing its magazine at the end of 2012 and go to an all-digital strategy.

It might wish it didn't print this issue:

Cue the wags saying "I thought Newsweek stopped publishing a long time ago ..."

Galaxis Hits 5,000

Open publication - Free publishing - More comics

The second issue of Galaxis magazine, my digital science fiction/science magazine, has reached 5,000 readers.

I'm still hip-deep in putting together the third issue; I clearly have missed the ship date for Galaxis three (or Galaxis drei, as I refer to it internally, keeping with the German name). But this third issue will be the biggest yet, and it will include an analysis of Star Wars' mythic roots, a complete episode guide to the original Battlestar Galactica (as a complement to my guide to the new Galactica in Galaxis two – or Galaxis zwei, if you're still with me), an update on Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, checking in with rising young science fiction author Charles Yu, a look inside the Hadron collider at CERN, presidential SF preferences, my review/analysis of Prometheus, the search for Earth-like planets, and a ton more. Look for it in the next couple months.

In the meantime, click on the image above to see/read/print/download the second issue of Galaxis, featuring the SyFy Galactica episode guide, a trip to Saturn, the world's first science fiction story, Lyle Lahey's Bunky comic, building the first real starship, German science fiction history, and – again – a ton more.

Keep reading!

Horror Film Mag in 3-d

I've written here in the past about the importance of magazines — especially higher-priced niche magazines — including specials in their issues to give people a reason to buy print editions rather than digital editions (though I'm not against digital magazines; I produce some myself).

So a tip of the hat to the folks at horror film magazine Fangoria, whose next issue will feature three-dimensional content, including a poster; 3-d glasses are included in the magazine. And a bigger tip of the hat (or a tip of a bigger hat) to whatever cheeky marketing mind put "Presented in FangoVision 3D" atop the cover.

Fangoria has been very worth reading this past year or so for horror film buffs. The best reason for that is not the posters or 3-d gimmicks, but the refreshing and quirky and surprising editorial coverage inside — the best reason to pick up a magazine. But the gimmicks are fun and in the spirit of the publication and the genre, so it's a well-done job all around.

If that's not enough for you, then note that they're also taking 3-d off the printed page to their website, where they will be streaming a 3-d version of Horrors of Spider Island soon.


Keep surprising the readers, and they'll keep coming back.

I'm Shrinking

A couple years ago, I complained on this blog about periodicals that published miniature versions of their magazines even while they continued to publish the normal-sized versions of their magazines. It seems to be a thing that fashion magazines are doing, for no reason I can figure out.

And yet, here I am today, to show off the new miniature version of my print-on-demand digital magazine Galaxis. A little background: I use issuu.com, an online digital publications platform. On Issuu, people can publish, distribute, and read digital magazines, all displayed wonderfully in high-quality formats that even replicate the visual appeal of a physical magazine. At the same time, I use MagCloud, an online print-on-demand digital publications platform created by HP, to distribute my magazines to anyone who might wish to purchase a hard copy. Print and digital: friends, not enemies.

But upon logging into my Issuu account recently, I noticed a new option, one only available for me to use on my own publications: I could order a print-on-demand hard copy. Among the options were to have the publication perfect-bound (with a square, glued spine instead of staples), color or converted to grayscale black-and-white, and even to shrink the publication and print it in a smaller format. I chose the latter, with color covers but converting the full-color interior of the second issue of Galaxis to black-and-white.

The mini-Galaxis arrived a few weeks later, sent from Europe, where Issuu is based. (See photo above.) It looks fantastic. It is still a ridiculous extravagance to have a mini version of a full-sized magazine, but since my digital magazines are largely a self-indulgent extravagance anyway, I'm pleased to have it.

I continue to believe that these digital platforms are great steps along the way to reinventing and saving magazines (in both printed hard copy form and digital form), but for now, the per-page cost is simply too high for someone to launch a commercial magazine through the print-on-demand options. And launching a commercially successful magazine (in print and digital) is my goal. MagCloud charges about 20 cents per page, which adds  up pretty quickly to eye-popping prices; Issuu's print-on-demand service is even more expensive.

I still think that the long-term resolution will involve greatly evolved print-at-home capabilities, but for most people, that would be science fiction. Hence, I love it.

• View and even download the digital editions of my Galaxis and Magma magazines.

            or

• Purchase print editions of Galaxis and Magma from MagCloud's print-on-demand service.

Is Your Business Ready for the Cloud?

My latest article in Smart Enterprise magazine provides "7 Ways to Determine Your Cloud-Readiness." The article gave me an opportunity to talk with some interesting people about key decisions, technology choices, and more that play into an organization's ability to move into the cloud or to expand its cloud presence.

Smart Enterprise is a custom magazine sponsored by CA and published by UBM. Its target audience is global enterprise CIOs.

You can read the entire article on the Smart Enterprise digital magazine site.

3,000 Very Smart Science Fiction and Science Fans Agree

Galaxis is the choice of the smart ones. The people who've read this free digital magazine – all devoted to science and science fiction – now number more than 3,000, which makes it even more popular than the first issue.

Open publication - Free publishing - More comics