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Zine-Thyme
by Judy Bridges
Welcome to Zine~Thyme. A column dedicated to interviewing E-zine owners, Authors, and Publishers.
For this interview I attacked an actual writer (and more) e-zine owner. Mitone Bennett has been on the net for quite some time, she has many subscribers, but her zine needs contributors.
Mitone seems to be one of those “up-beat” people. As fast as I threw questions her way, she had answers. Nothing complicated, just down home and honest.
On to the interview:
How long have you been writing?
My mom enrolled me in my first poetry class when I was in the first grade. I think I had written a poem about a snowman lamp I had or something. She was always enrolling me in those creative classes, but she wasn't pushy. I used to write in journals and dream of being like the Bronte's or Jane Austen.
Other than the ezines you run, have you been published?
Yes, but oddly enough, my published work has not been the literary missives I had hoped to give to the world. (Turns out my attention span is about an inch long.) I have been published in one slick glossy magazine after writing an article about a Bed and Breakfast I was doing some marketing for. I have had bunches of press releases published for other clients. And, I have had many of my marketing and business articles published in other people's ezines. I even had a naughty little 100 word story published at AmoretOnline.com under a pen name but we won't get into that. :)
How long have you been running your ezines for writing?
I started RedWritingHood.com about 3 years ago (I think!) and Writermelon.com and GreatWriteShark.com followed.
Why did you start an e-zine?
I just set up a newsletter-y thing for folks to get updates to all my crazy writing ventures. (No idea what I was doing!!) I wanted to run a writing contest and give writers a chance for publication, (I thought I was better at managing, marketing, and business writing than fiction writing). I must say, I never really treated it like an ezine. :) I didn't try to get subscribers and eventually my life got so confaluted (that's a mountain word I guess we use here in Southern Virginia) that I couldn't handle all three writing sites and regular letters never got published to the ezine. I let GreatWriteShark.com sink and Writermelon.com just sat rotting in cyberspace. I had trouble keeping the Hood going, but somehow, nearly 700 writers managed to sign up and stick with me and recently when I got my life back together, I decided I needed to make the RedWritingHood.com site and ezine a regular thing.
What do you hope to see happen with your ezines?
I've just got the one writing-related ezine (although I publish a few other zines for my business ventures) and I would like to see it get BIG. Lots of writer-subscribers, all sending their happy "I'm published" news, stories, and look-at-this-great-link-I-found. The RedWritingHood.com zine is basically the place where I go and talk to my 700 writer friends, boring them with the saga of my life and inviting them to submit work and news. I've debated on making it more like a business, but I think I'd just like to keep these guys and gals as friends.
How much work does it take to keep an ezine going?
TONS. If I took care of RWH like I should, I would be working about 2 hours every day, getting together articles and other content, promoting the newsletter, updating the website with this information, making sure I had a set regular publishing date, finishing publishing the anthology for the last contest...etc...But, this one is my hobby zine, so I manage to work on it about 2-3 hours a week.
How important is being creative to you?
On a scale of 1-10, a 100. I am not good at punching clocks and listening to a boss. When I have held a j-o-b, I always got mad when they didn't listen to my creative ideas. One of the last boss's I had respected and asked for my creative input and we got along fabulously. If I hadn't found the Internet, I'd probably be a shell of a human being. (Okay, I'd have probably painted or done some other artsy-craftsy thing.) But, I enjoy writing, marketing, advertising and designing graphics so much that my boyfriend has to seduce me away from the computer. When I'm not online, he and I paint old furniture real funky-like or cook gourmet food, so I'm always doing something creative.
Are you looking for contributions for your ezines and specifically what kind of contributions?
Absolutely, if I had enough contributions, I could establish a regular "Story Corner," "Marketing Ideas," "Contest Updates," and "Press Releases."
I am always looking for articles about marketing for my business zines, and I would like to see marketing articles from successful freelance writers about how they market themselves for the writer's zine. Writermelon.com has recently undergone a change and now exists as a place where freelancers can promote and market their work. I'm always asking for press releases from writers and other writing websites. Short-short fiction can be submitted as well.
What constitutes an update with your zine?
I send out press releases as I get them and also send out news about once a month on where I am with the contest publication. I'd like to see this grow to a once a week publication with all the aforementioned contributions.
We need to know what rights you expect for submissions. And, I assume this is a non-paying market but the author maybe gets a short bio and of course publishing credit???
Author retains right to his or her work. I only need permission to use their article in electronic form one time. It is non-paying. But author can have a generous bio with links to their site/email etc and byline.
What I would like at this point is a list of your zines, what they are about, which contributions are appropriate for which one, and links for them.
I have been going through the funky one and I love your business card info.
Okay, *deep breath like Ace Ventura, Pet Detective*
Biz Card Marketing
-published every Thursday, focuses on marketing with business cards and network marketing. Looking for articles on business card design and marketing, success stories from real people using business cards, and small tips-type submissions. Sign up at http://drbusinesscards.com
The Hungry Wolf (Love this name!)
-published monthly at this time, with frequent press release announcements. Looking for short stories (under 500 words) of any genre, articles on marketing yourself as a freelance writer, helpful writers links, press releases from writing websites and authors who have been published. This ezine will also publish announcements about its RedWritingHood.com writing contest. So information about other writing contests are welcome. Sign up at http://redwritinghood.com. This ezine covers content for Writermelon.com too.
The Funky Flamingo
-published monthly at the end of the month, looking for articles on color, home decorating, funny amusing tid bits, anything funky cool, nothing specific. I even published recipes in the last issue. If it's funky or cool, we'll probably want to publish it. Essays, ideas, observations, art, painting, comedy. Think James Brown. Think laughter. Think fun. Sign up at http://funkyfranks.com.
Bed and Breakfast Traveler
-this one is in development, although the website connected to it is up at http://freebandbdirectory.com. Will be needing articles about b&b's: reviews, press releases, recipes, travel logs, tips, anything related to B&B's. Audience will be both travelers and B&B owners. Sign up at moi@mitone.com with subscribe to B&B T in subject line.
Better Judgements (Yes, this is the correct spelling.)
-published monthly for a client of mine, a real estate agent in Kansas. We publish articles on home matters: mortgages, buying property, selling property, fixing up a home, decorating tips, making your home saleable, recipes, gardening, family, etc. Readers are home buyers and sellers, not realtors so articles should be in plain English, not realtor jargon. Sign up at http://terriajudge.com or email to moi@mitone.com with Subscribe to Better Judgements in subject line.
Links above will also give more info on the e-zines feel.
Ok folks, we have here lots of places to get our names out there, so to speak, check out the sites and submit something of value. Start your own column maybe, with the web all things are possible.
Disclaimer: Any resemblance to any fictitious character is purely coincidental and all interviewees are genuinely human and not a figment or fragment of this writers imagination.
All information is current at the time of submission to “The Stump”
© Judy Bridges
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