Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Of Gundogs, E-Zines and Idle Dreaming...

Flyfishing e-zines are legion. You have This Is Fly, Catch, Sleeping In The Dirt and probably several more I'm not aware of.

Up to now, however, I haven't really seen much in the way of hunting or fishing e-zines beyond the flyfishing genre (If anyone knows of any, please point me to them...). But that is slowly changing. As I was perusing the Internet(s) yesterday I came across this site.

It's the new electronic version of the Retriever News print mag, and it's very well done. The look and format is very similar to the above-mentioned flyfishing mags. It's fairly intuitive, easy and pleasing to the eye. Unlike the others, it is subscription-based and only the first issue is free, but I was very impressed with how it turned out.

Wouldn't you love to see an upland and waterfowl hunting e-zine along those same lines? Or maybe a general-interest hunting and fishing e-zine?

On a somewhat related note. I was sitting here contemplating my losing lottery ticket (see blog below...) and I got to thinking...what if I had won? What would I do?

Since I'd be a newly-minted member of the nouveau rich loaded and idle class, I think I'd start a magazine. A hunting and fishing magazine. A literary hunting and fishing magazine. But not like Gray's or Sporting Classics or the others. Different. And I wouldn't care if it made money or not. Did the Medici family care if Leonardo paid his way? Would any Renaissance patron stoop to the lowly expectation of making profit from the noble creation of art?

Of course not! And what is hunting and fishing literature if not art? It needs a patron, an outlet for unfettered expression, free from the corrupting influence of balance sheets and profit margins.

But different how, you ask? What would I do to make my creation singular, unique? Hell, I don't know. I'm a big idea guy. Specifics just confuse me. Maybe I'll let you know when I hit the lottery. It's my time. I feel it. I had...a sign.

5 comments:

  1. not another sign? me thinks that your not learning yet. On the other hand i could think of worse folk to run such an e-zine .. go for it
    regards,
    john

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think it should be a magazine that pays writers really well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We tried an eZine at a web forum for a couple of years. We ran it on volunteer writers and myself as a volunteer editor until the frustration and inconsistency finally made the point that even artists expect to get paid for their art (not that most of that content would have remotely qualified as art). The effort finally breathed its last, but I do think that with proper editorial guidance and management, a solid hunting eZine could thrive in this environment.

    ReplyDelete
  4. John, I'm famous for not learning from my mistakes.

    Holly, I don't think those exist any more...

    Phillip, I do too. It's just a question of when one will show up...

    ReplyDelete