Writers Pitch 3 - Trekzine Publishing

As I've said earlier, the backbone of the Twelve Trek Days is going to be twelve fanzines that will cover a wide variety of commentary and reviews of 2010. Star Trek fandom was at the forefront of the development of science fiction fanzines and traditionally there is a subset of fanzines known as Trekzines which basically take the part of anthologies of Star Trek fan fiction. What sort of an editor would I be if I didn't do my part to give you a selection of holiday reading to enjoy?

I want to keep the 'zines to an acceptable length though and for this I will need to limit the submissions for this to short stories – a work of under 7,500 words as defined by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The pitch is much the same as the last two...

What do I want from you? A word processor file copy of your story in either MSWord or OpenOffice .doc format that is formatted the way you want it to appear and that has been edited for style, spelling and grammar.

What will we deliver in return?

• Your story in an issue of the Twelve Trek Days of Christmas fanzine, which will be presented as a pdf file lodged online on Issuu and independently as a pdf download.
• Illustrations are optional but especially welcome.
• The fanzines will be released every second day during the period of the Twelve Trek Days of Christmas on a variety of Star Trek forums. Last year we released on the Trek United, Starfleet International, Star Phase II, Star Trek Hidden Frontiers and Star Trek Intrepid forums.

I should perhaps stress that your work always remains your own. Its fan fiction so you can't own the copyright except for the original characters you create. However one thing that I am strong on is that you can always exercise your moral right to be identified as the creator of the work.

As editor and publisher all I ask is that you do not publish your work elsewhere for one month prior and one month after the publishing date of the fanzine. If there are extenuating circumstances - a competition, a gift for a friend - talk to me. Underneath this hard exterior beats the heart of a push-over for a sob-story!

All graphics and files will be made available to you, and if you want to involve your self in the publishing of the 'zine I will make every effort to explain what and why I do what I do so that you can create your own fanzines if you desire.

Just to add a bit of spice to the 'zines however, each day will have a different focus...

1 Pre-Enterprise
2 Enterprise
3 The Original Series
4 The New Movie
5 Before The Next Generation
6 The Next Generation
7 Deep Space Nine
8 Voyager
9 The Second Movie Era: Generations to Nemesis
10 Post Nemesis and Non Canon
11 Gaming
12 Treknology

Do you have a short story that will fit in one or more of these categories? If so I'd like to hear from you!

Writers Pitch 2 - Trek Pdf Publishing

There have been some notable entrants into the field of pdf publishing of fan fiction since 2008, most noticeably Banshee Squadron by R.A.Merk, and whilst I especially want work for ePublishing, I would also like to add to the slowly expanding library of Trek fiction on Issuu.

What do I want from you? Same deal as the ePublishing! A word processor file copy of your story in either MSWord or OpenOffice .doc format that is formatted the way you want it to appear and that has been edited for style, spelling and grammar. I would particularly like to see longer works, such as a Novel (>40,000 words), Novella (17,500 - 40,000) or Novelette (7,500 - 17,500).

What will we deliver in return?

• Your story as a pdf file lodged online on Issuu so that it will be available for download.
• It will be formatted to an agreed standard with a cover, title page, Table of Contents, Chapter headers etc.
• If you don't have a cover I will help you get one done, probably by artists on Deviant Art.
• I will create a 3D book cover image and “Dust jacket notes” for distribution and publicity purposes
• The pdf books published will be released on alternate days to the ePub books as part of the Twelve Trek Days of Christmas on a variety of Star Trek forums. Last year we released on the Trek United, Starfleet International, Star Phase II, Star Trek Hidden Frontiers and Star Trek Intrepid forums.

All graphics and files will be made available to you, along with the instructions on how they were created so that you can create your own fan fiction on Issuu if you desire.

Writer's pitch 1 - Trek ePub Publishing

Media has always been where the Twelve Trek Days has tried to break new ground, with full-cast audio books in 2007, ePublishing on Issuu in 2008 and music videos last year. This year, mobile computing has finally come of age with the new generation of netbooks heralded by the eponymous iPad. What better way to show Star Trek's continuing fanservice to geekdom by releasing the Twelve Trek Days of Christmas as a true eBook on the ePub format?

What do I want from you? A word processor file copy of your story in either MSWord or OpenOffice .doc format that is formatted the way you want it to appear and that has been edited for style, spelling and grammar. I would particularly like to see longer works, such as a Novel (>40,000 words), Novella (17,500 - 40,000) or Novelette (7,500 - 17,500).

What will we deliver in return?

• Your story as an ePub file lodged online so that it will be available for download.
• It will be formatted to an agreed standard with a cover, title page, Table of Contents, Chapter headers etc.
• If you don't have a cover I will help you get one done, probably by artists on Deviant Art.
• I will create a 3D book cover image and “Dust jacket notes” for distribution and publicity purposes
• The six books ePublished will be released on alternate days as part of the Twelve Trek Days of Christmas on a variety of Star Trek forums. Last year we released on the Trek United, Starfleet International, Star Phase II, Star Trek Hidden Frontiers and Star Trek Intrepid forums.

All graphics and files will be made available to you, along with the instructions on how they were created so that you can create your own fan fiction on ePub if you desire.

What to give as a Present

So how do you fit in? Just about any way you want to!

The Twelve Trek Days of Christmas has always highlighted for me the diversity of Star Trek fandom and our contributions during the season of Goodwill stand as a living testament to the reality of IDIC in the twenty first century!

Your contribution could be something that you have done that has never been seen before or something existing that has never seen wide distribution. It could be some small thing, such as a video teaser, that could lead fans to your existing work, such as a fan fiction series. Or you could throw caution to the wind and venture out into a whole different media – write a script, voice an audio book, create a graphic artwork, work with someone else to create a webcomic!

It could be something old or something new, an appropriation, a pastiche, a satire or an Andorian Space Opera! Don't be shy, I have niches for small contributions as well as pedestals for the major league productions. Do whatever you feel comfortable with, or as some have in previous years, really push the envelope! Above all though – have fun!

The Twelve Days

I'll not labour the point but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I didn't feel responsible for the Days in previous years that I have failed to deliver on. Therefore I've had a re-think about how we are going to deliver the content this year.

The 'prime deliverable' for this event is to make sure that I have something available for every day and just looking at my on contributions, the best way to do this would be to combine the various reviews and listings that I have done into twelve instalments, a dozen fanzines, spread over the course of the twelve days.

The eight presents I did last year come to 75 pages of text which, divided by twelve, equals a half-dozen pages a day without graphics. Add to this a two page short story, one page of commentary by a guest writer, cover art and you are looking at a reasonable fanzine available for every day without much extra work than was done last year. Twelve fanzines released over twenty four days seems a big undertaking but in fact, as long as I use the same formatting, it should be doable.

What it is and how it works

I say it every year, but who doesn't like getting presents? Books, comics, audio productions, games, models – over the years we've had plenty to share with you! The event is evidence that there is something in the human condition that likes to give presents as well, because every year we have people coming forward to offer their work for free to others!

The event is a major collaborative project between a wide variety of Star Trek fan groups to celebrate the season of goodwill and giving. It’s primarily a fun activity by Star Trek fans, for Star Trek fans however there can be no doubt that it not only generates a lot of publicity for the participants but creates and maintains good relations between the groups. It certainly has for me! I have made some great friends and struck up some valuable acquaintances with this event.

Looking back now over the last three years of the Twelve Trek Days of Christmas is uplifting in that there were some real achievements amongst them. Browsing through the list on your right, you'll see some flamin' good work, some of it individual efforts by people who have used the TTDoC as an event to launch their 'fan careers' but most of them group efforts.

Participation in the project is not competitive in that anyone can submit a "present", however one of the lessons learned is that I will not be giving advance notice of content so that failure to launch for anyone will not entail embarrassment. Everyone - from the individual fan to the largest fan production group - is invited to participate.

Credit will be prominently displayed for your work, in truth one of the reasons I do this is to bring the work of fan producers to the notice of Trek fandom and, hopefully, the wider media. Whilst I act as executive producer for the event and we provide a cohesive delivery and publicity network, the individual works are usually on your website, where we link to them, so that not only do the fans see the feature but can sample your other work as well.

Although some professional and licensed productions will be linked out of respect for the copyright owners, the majority of the work will be fan productions and labeled at our end as such with a warning that "any attempt to sell, rent or otherwise make a profit from any of these projects will be reported to the copyright owners or their licensees for their action." All original work remains the property of it’s producer who reserves the moral right to be identified as its creator.