Newsletter #17: Looser Guidelines and Our Upcoming Podcast
I’m back from the dead, everybody!
Okay, maybe this is an over-exaggeration, but you get the picture. As most of you have likely figured out, I’ve been overwhelmed with working full-time. Not only that, but I haven’t been in the best of health, but that’s a story for another day.
I have two things I’d like to go over with you guys. First off, I’m changing the original guidelines I had for FF, but fear not! I’m not increasing the word limit, reducing the allowed criteria, or anything that will deeply affect submissions. I’m actually loosening up the requirements.
Fandom Fanatics’ original premise was to be on a piece of specific media. I am now opening up the publication to pieces on genres and multiple pieces of media. We’ve had a few exceptions in the past, but I’ve decided to stop leaving pieces like this in the queue or rejecting them outright. This does NOT mean I will be accepting long lists like “Top 10 Best Movies”.
I’ve also decided to get rid of quotation marks around titles finally. (Shocking, I know!) This is because not a lot of other publications do this. I only did this to begin with because proper formatting rules dictate italics, and because I read somewhere that quote marks should be used if that’s unavailable. I can no longer locate that source, which makes me question the credibility of the website I read it on altogether. This shouldn’t mean anything to you guys — I won’t be rejecting pieces that don’t follow this new rule, but changing it to eliminate the quotes for anyone who doesn’t read this memo.
Now, onto my second big announcement. I’ve decided to create a podcast on Spotify, giving Fandom Fanatics an audio component. The title I’ve chosen is Fandom Fanatics On Tape because the name Fandom Fanatics has already been taken. This is because while working in an elementary school, I’ve encountered a lot of children who listen to audiobooks because of a reading disability. I want to make FF accessible to everyone, including people who are dyslexic or visually impaired. I know that there’s a “Listen” option for Medium, but I think there’s something really neat about having a real person read it instead of something auto-generated. I’m going to start by asking permission from some past writers for me to read their pieces. Over time, though, I *might* be having guest speakers share their know-how on a fandom of their choice. I’ll be doing this by recording a Zoom session with the chosen speaker and uploading the audio.
If you’ve published a piece before on FF that you’d like to see on the podcast, or are willing to be a speaker in the future, email moonstarsworld@gmail.com. I’m hoping to launch the first episode this week and will be reaching out to some of you for permission once I figure out the theme of the first episode which will help me choose which articles to read.
And one more thing: There are three really good articles in the queue right now that I plan on publishing this week. I know you guys have been waiting for a while, and I thank you for your patience.
Best,
Erin Moon
