focused fandom

Focused Fandom Countdown: 7 Weeks To Go

by

Thank goodness, the next Focused Fandom Book, “Focused Fandom: Fanart, Fanartists And Careers” is off to my editor.  It’s a huge relief.

First of all, the book got smaller – I tend to write in an include-everything manner then pare down/build up.  Usually starting with the “build up” side and paring down later.  In this case a few subsections were merged or discarded, and one potential extra Appendix was eliminated since it wasn’t needed.

The Edge section is looking good, and I think it’ll provoke thoughts and help you see fanart in a different way.

The Career section is pretty basic, but I think I included some valuable extra detail and thoughts to help people out.  Artists have such varied and potential careers finding the balance between too much (and thus distraction) and not enough (and thus being incomplete) was hard.

The To-Do section is actually deeper than I expected – there’s a lot of “Must-Do’s” for artistic careers, and the psychological ones seem to be the real important issues.

The book is looking good so far, and I think you’ll be pleased – and of course, when it comes out mid-April or so, I’ll hope you can help tell everyone.

– Steven Savage

 

Focused Fandom Countdown: 8 Weeks To Go

by

Wow?  Is it the 2 month mark already?  OK, not quite, but you get the idea.  Sort of 90% of two months.  Or something.

Right now I’m in the final editing phase of the book, which is a week of intense scruitiny, followed by deciding “eh good enough” and shipping it off to an editor.  In this case, one of my first fansouced editors, Jess.  As she’s also an artist, she’s perfect for this.

This is something I talk about constantly, but sometimes you got to ship it.  That includes shipping it off to an editor.

It’s also why editors are very important – because in any extended work, rare indeed is the person who doesn’t consciously, or unconsciously, decide at some point “screw this, I can’t go through this anymore.”  At some point you just can’t “see” your own work as an editor.

That’s when the real editor comes in, gently takes it out of your hands, and thwaps you with it.

If you’re self-published, let me note that an editor is still important unless you’re very good and can get through those barriers of boredom.  Even a cursory read or sanity check is a relief.

Plus it gives you a few weeks to not think about your book.  I know i’m going to enjoy those few weeks.

So hang in there, “Focused Fandom: Fanart, Fanartists, and Careers” is coming in April.  And me, I get a small break soon – while my editor gears up.  Also the book on Cosplay and Careers is still out there, brand spanking new (more or less), give it a try!

– Steven Savage

Focused Fandom Countdown: 8 Weeks To Go

by

So where am I on Fanart, Fanartists, and Careers?

I just finished the resource sections.  I wanted to have a good amount of useful links and books for people to use, which actually was more challenging than I thought.

Since artistic careers go in a lot of different directions, I ended up having to ask myself what would be useful to the broadest audience . . . which is not always what it seems.  Then there are "contrarian" resources, like certain books, that deserve mention only for that very fact.  You can also put in too much or too little.

So I used an advanced system called "gut feelings" for this, erring on the side of "give people one good option if you're sure, 3 options if you're not."

That's one issue with a book like this – you have to find out what's useful to people.  In the end what my books are are mental toolkits to help people in their careers.  If I don't provide the right tools – or turn it into a swiss army knife of confusion – then I'm not doing my job.

So the best method was to include the truly useful, and options when needed.  It's a balancing act, but I think it was worth it.

Of course, I need to do a gut check on it all the time . . .

So 8 weeks to go.  next up, a final editing run, then off to the editor.  That also means interviewees should be getting a beta copy in about 2-3 weeks!

– Steven Savage