Friday, April 15, 2005

New additions to our magazine !

Before I left on vacation, I wanted to post some updated information.

We now have two additions to our backend team:

Christina Craft (www.pbase.com/ccraft) will be joining as co-editor and she and I will work on the new contents for the next release. She has some awesome ideas that we are already working on.

Matias Asun (http://www.pbase.com/matiasasun) will be taking on the responsibility of the 'Style Guru' section which deals with PBase HTML/CSS customization.

As of right now, Christina and I are discussing the overall contents of the next edition. Things are looking great, folks!

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Premiere edition of PBase Magazine released !

Behind the Scenes

Visit the PBase Magazine Launch Page !

What all has happened since the first Release on April 11 ?

Well,its really been very hectic. We never expected such a lot of traction. In just 3 days, we have close to 10,000 downloads and counting. The feedback is still flowing in via email - we make it a point to respond to each one though its getting increasingly more difficult (over 100 mails till now)

How did it all begin ?

http://forum.pbase.com/viewtopic.php?t=10895


We often get asked : How are articles chosen for the magazine ?

It's very simply really - I rely on the advice of anyone who shares good advice :-) People email me with recommendations, based on those and my own 'inner voice' I select articles and contact authors. As of now, I take responsibility for the quality (or lack, thereof) for articles chosen. Hopefully going ahead, I can expand the team.

Another common question: Who are the folks behind this effort ?

Gary Paai - cover design

Larena Woodmore - PDF conversion

Wanda Bates - proof-reading

Arjun Roychowdhury (me) - rest of the magazine


Do we get paid ?

Nope - nada,zilch,zero


Do we want to get paid ?

Sure, who does not :-) But we don't want to worry about all that now. There are no ego-hassles, every one is a peer, and that's the way we like it to be.


What is happening after the first release ?

Well first off, I am taking a 2 week vacation - its my 5th wedding anniversary :-) Once I am back, I plan to get back to work full steam. Trust me the second edition is going to be a blockbuster (hopefully !). The first edition is always a challenge. You don't really have anything to show except for promises. With the first edition doing rather well, a lot more people are willing to work with us. Hey thats good :-) Also, the first release set a high bar, which hopefully we will be able to keep raising with every new issue.


How about a quick peek at the next edition ?

Official Answer: Sorry :-) All we can say is that it will be more pages, and more sections Hope you like it :-)
Real Answer: We really have no idea (yet) how its going to look !

When can we expect the next release ?

The idea now is to make this a 'tri-monthly' magazine. In other words, the next release should hit cyberspace in July. This gives us enough time to breathe and also make sure we are not fired from our 'day jobs'

And finally, what's our relation to PBase ?

Slug and Emily host the file. Why is it called a PBase magazine ? Well, because the idea is to promote photography as a passion, and we believe PBase has one of the best atmospheres for just that. The talent here is phenomenal. If PBase receives any popularity because of this, well, they deserve it, though they never asked for it. Beyond that, the success or failure of this magazine has nothing to do with how PBase evolves as a photography hosting site.

Specifically, all of us working on this magazine are regular PBase users and have no 'special status' in PBase.