[Linux-aus] Linux Magazine (http://linmagau.org/)

[Kimberly Shelt]

A quick follow up to Pias' post of a few weeks ago..
been busy with my son til now :) 
this is long.. sorry folks :)

On Fri, Apr 18, 2003 at 08:52:19AM +1000, Pia Smith wrote:
> My 2c worth :) (speaking as non-committee for most of this email :) )
> I think it'd be great, so long as the community contributed. The only
> problem with this kind of venture is the risk of not getting content. We
> certainly don't want it to start parroting other magazines.

Regards community contribution.. some days are dark.. others (likenow)
are light.. having received scads of input from many folks over the 
last few weeks.. 

The next edition (30th April) looks like being a bumper :)
All contributors (no matter what they do)..are mentioned on the
front page.. so you will be able to see then how many folks
"did" something :)
> 
> Having said this after several chats with Kim, I believe the linmagau
> team are pretty dedicated to getting interesting, different info and I
> think it'd be a great thing to get it hard copied.

Agreed.. I have a meeting with a couple of the folks tomorrow..regards
this, so will report back after.
> 
> I think it'd be great to get local news out there in another form. We'd
> have to keep costs down, but it could be sent en masse to LUGs and other
> interested parties for sale to members, or could organise posting it to
> members (throwing in ideas here).

This is a great idea.. and is of course the biggest bugbear.. 
distribution can cost a packet. 

I am sure there is a vast number of folks in .au who have limited 
bandwidth and there fore read hardcopy.. and would appreciate this..
however I am not sure that there is so many as to meet costs.. :(
there are other was to "balance" costs and revenue over various
spaces.
> 
> > Perhaps this is something worthy of consideration for financial
> > assistance according to previous discussions, although that could raise
> > all sorts of issues if the magazine were set up in a commercial way.
> > Personally I think it would be cool to see it set up as a non-profit
> > organisation, run as a proper business but with revenue going back into
> > furthering the interests of the magazine and Linux in general rather
> > than just generating a profit. With an enterprise like that there are
> > significant commercial arrangements that need to be entered into, such
> > as paying a printer and a distributor, so there would need to be *some*
> > kind of entity with a cheque book that could do that. At the moment it
> > seems like it's just Kim doing it all with limited resources, but
> > ideally it should be some kind of a legal entity with all that entails.

See further down ..
> 
> I suppose we simply need numbers. And a proposal that meets the
> requirements of the Grant Program (which I'll put up in linux.org.au
> today). 

I can't find this yet Pia ?.. is it there ?
> 
> > I see the way to achieve that is:
> > 
> > 1. Everyone that knows about it to support it by submitting content and
> > telling all their friends about it.

I think lots are :) we have approx 150 members so far.. more all the time :)

> > 2. A structure such as a non-profit org being put in place to handle the
> > commercial aspects of it.

Not having done this before my self.. I would welcome assistance as to
where to start ?.. anyone who has done this before and is keen to help
please email me with suggestions.

> 3. Discussion with printers and distributors to determine what is
> > required to get a print version happening.

A couple of folks chatted with me at LCA2003 regards having also done
this, and I have spoken with others already in the busines.. but as
with point 2.. let me know if you can help :)

> > 4. Signing up paying advertisers to got some revenue in.

This is already in process.. in as much as we have a number
of banners already running, some of which orignally offered to pay.. 
but have been given freebies til we (linmagAU) are sure we are
not going to fold .).. also I sent a number of mails to various
local (to perth) comp stores..but sadly not a lot of response..
I am sure with a bit more work this can happen, just that I have
more than enough to do with just getting each edition on line..
Perhaps the "vendors" list on LA is a space for me to spam too ?

> > 5. Possibly some financial input from LA to help kick start things.

Yay.. that would be good.. currently the site cost $30au a month, 
coming out of my pocket.. (which I am happy to donate but given I 
am STILL out of work I am starting to be stretched to do this :(
12months+ savings ran out :( If LA could at least come to the party
for this small amount I would be happy to sign an IOU.. 
Call me niave, but I believe this endeavour is will be at least
self sufficent one day :) And we will be able to payback.

> > 6. Go to print.

See.. above :)
> 
> Sounds so simple ;) We could very likely get some sponsorship, but we
> need to ask how much advertising we are willing to tolerate in the
> magazine. We don't want to end up with 60% funding adds content :)

No chance.. the original idea (from my point of view) was to promote
.au people and .au content.. whilst I know that financial suport
is necessary..  I do not want to see the mag (online or hard copy) 
swamped with ads..

Have a look at many mags at the moment, (tech or not)
if you rip out the NON content it leaves you with a very small 
amount of "copy".. I do not want this to happen to linmagAU
> 
> > If necessary there could be some arrangement with LA that said in effect
> > that LA would kick in $X to start with, which would be repaid once $Y
> > sales had been made.

As above :)
> 
> It sounds very worthy. Kim if you could start getting some numbers and
> such, get them to the committee and we'll discuss it :)

Oki.. I will (hopefully) get some feedback from this post.. and if not
I will make a best guess.

Any suggestions or offers of assistance are happily appreciated  :)

Regards
Kim
--
http://www.linmagau.org