faeuniblog

[faeuniblog]

Added the scanned versions of these pages so that they might be easier to read.

Bi-Zine research and development work from the note book.

[faeuniblog]

Bi-Zine research and development work from the note book.

[faeuniblog]

My end of term Zine

[faeuniblog]

Bi-Zine - Script

(Page 2)

My name is Fae-Jinni and I will be your guide through this Zine about the Bisexual community.

So, what is Bisexuality?

Bisexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction toward both males and females. It’s one of the three main classification of sexual orientation along with heterosexuality and homosexuality.

(Cute little drawing of Bi-person, Homo-person and Hete-person with their flag coloured over them)

The term bisexuality, hetero- and homosexuality, were all coined in the 19th century.

(Page 3)

While it’s true that being bisexual, meaning you're attracted to both sexes, these attractions are not always equal to each other.

To help explain this, below I have put the Kinsey Scale and the Purple-Red Scale of Attraction.

The Kinsey scale, also called the Heterosexual–Homosexual Rating Scale, is used to describe a person’s sexual orientation. It was created by the sexologist Alfred Kinsey in 1948. (Picture of Kinsey)

It is a scale that goes from 0, meaning exclusively heterosexual, to 6, meaning exclusively homosexual. (Picture of Kinsey Scale)

In 2016, Langdon Parks created a new scale after learning that he was asexual but still attracted to women. This new scale allows the user to label how they experience that attraction on a scale of A to F. A represents asexuality, while F represents hypersexuality. (Drawing or picture of Langdon Parks) (Picture of Purple and Red Scale)

(Page 4)

The point I’m trying to make is that everyone has a different experiences of being bi as there are different levels of being bi. I myself am a 2 on the Kinsey scale and a D2 on the Red and Purple Scale as I personally seem to fancy men more but I have always found women attractive.

(Page 5)

You know, at this point I was going to give examples of animals that have shown bisexual behaviour in nature however when I typed into Google ‘bisexually animals’ this is what came up… (screenshot)

A few links about the definition of 'bisexually'. Animals that have both sex organs and animals that reproduce bisexually. But nothing about animals showing bisexual behaviour.

And this isn't because it doesn't exist! When I typed in ‘homosexual animals’, google can't seem it get enough of it. (screenshot)

If there are animals that have shown they're gay by fucking the same gender, then there are going to be animals who have fucked both genders. (draw a animal or something)

Which means! = Bisexual! (Draw funny picture of a lion or something fucking both sexes and it = bi)

So, this segues nicely into my next topic, bi-erasure.

(Page 6)

There is this lovely little thing called ‘bisexual erasure’ or ‘bisexual invisibility’. At best, it’s the tendency for people, media or shows to ignore, remove or just not acknowledge bisexuality. At worst, it’s blatant biphobia.

·         It's just a Phase.

·         You'll choose a side

·         Your sexuality isn't real

·         You're just confused

·         So you’re straight

·         You’re invading queer space

·         So you’re gay then

·         Want to have a threesome with me and my boyfriend/girlfriend/friend

·         You're greedy

·         Promiscuous

·         But I thought you were gay/straight!

·         Are you gay or straight?

·         How do you know you're bi if you've never been with someone of the same sex?

·         You're not bi enough

·         You're not a real bisexual

·         You're half gay and half straight!

·         You have straight passing privilege!

·         I can't date you because you've been with guys.

·         You won't stay faithful and hop onto the next straight man you see.

·         You're just doing it for the attention

(Page 7)

For some examples, let’s look at some TV shows!

Friends!

Prior to the start of the series, Ross’s wife Carol came out as lesbian after being married to him for several years and then married Susan their lover. This isn’t particularly unusual in the not so gay-friendly early ‘90s context. However, it’s made clear that she and Ross still enjoyed a sexual relationship together still even after she got involved with Susan. Ross even brings up how they had "some good times before she became a lesbian...and a few afterwards, as well," and Ross’ and Carol’s son was even conceived at three months after she admitted to seeing Susan. Carol however, is only ever referred exclusively as gay, bisexuality is never brought up.

(Page 8)

Glee!

In the TV show Glee, there are two female high school students that appeared to be bisexual, Brittany and Santana. Santana is referred to as a lesbian character despite previously having two ex-boyfriends while Britany identified herself as ‘fluid’ and ‘bi-curiou’.

Blaine is a gay exchange student who becomes confused with is orientation in one episode and is convinced he's bisexual. His friend Kurt dismissed his confused saying that gay teenagers called themselves bi "when they want to hold hands with [the opposite sex] and feel normal for a change" Blaine calls it out as a double-standard. Despite all this, Blaine turns out 100% gay at the end of the episode. Ryan Murphy, one of the show’s creators of the show, defended his decision by saying that the ‘kids need to know he’s one of them’.

Apparently, us bi kids out there don’t need that kind of support!

How about we look at how the media treats celebrities that are bisexual

(Page 9)

Examples from real life aren’t much better.

Freddie Mercury is considered one of the most famous gay icons. Did you know he was Bi? Freddie was openly bisexual, had relationships with both men and women and never formally came out as gay.

Bisexual erasure at its finest my friends.

(Page 10)

Then we get people like Boy George, someone from ‘our’ own community going on a biphobic twitter rant.

His response to his fans who felt hurt and upset “that you’d reduce my valid sexuality to a lie or joke,” was (Example/sceenshots)

(Page 11)

I think some words from dedicated bi leader, Faith Cheltenham and Ph.D., Contributor, Activist and writer, Beth Sherouse would be a nice closes to this zine.

Until bisexuals stop being the unmentionables of the LGBTQIA community we will continue to be the punching bags of both gay and straight, with respite nowhere to be found.

- Faith Cheltenham

Lesbians and gay men, this angry bisexual is tired of being your afterthought.

- Beth Sherouse

(Highly recommend reading Sherouse’s article on growing up bi and the treatment she got from it.)

Do a small personal conclusions talking about 50% 50%, personal expressents of myself and others.

No, I am not 50% gay, 50% straight. No, I’m not saying it for attention and No, I’m not scetatly gay.

I’m bi, and I deserve to be acknowledge and seen for what I am.

Extra shit and notes that I didn’t use

Change title, ‘The Bisexually community’ to ‘Bisexual Culture’

Intro

These are the topic’s all be covering in this zine:

·         What is bisexuality, and to be Bisexual?

·         Queer Theory and Identity

·         LGBT Community & Treatment of bisexuals

·         How the media and celebrities treats bisexuals

I’m going to be talking about

Intro into Bisexuality Specially

Biphobia and the LGBT+ Community

“Being Bi is only something I’ve really come to except recently in my life, self-acceptance is the first hurdle when it come being part of the LGBT+. But, just because I’ve accept this doesn’t mean “

You’d think that being bi would be great, you’ve basically doubled your dating options and if you’re family doesn’t like it, just pretend to be straight right?

Wrong!

Being bi is normal, animals and shit. Give a history lesson, talk about famous people who are bi for something.

There’s a nifty little scale created by Alfred Kinsey around 1948 called Kinsey scale.

(Picture of Kinsey Scale)

Which was later expanded upon by a Southern California dude named Langdon Parks (improvised drawing of Park dude as I don’t know what he looks like) who created the Purple and Red Scale of Attractions!

(Picture of Purple and Red Scale)

It was weird for me growing up as I always thought that everyone was also attracted to everyone else.

One women I spoke to said that because she was in a relationship with a women at the moment, she finds women more attractive and that when she’s dating men, she more attracted to men.

I’ve spoken to some bisexual who say they are more attracted to the sex there current partner is.

A nice metaphor for this is liking both tea and coffee. Coffee is men, Tea is women. Some people prefer Tea but coffee is also fine. Some people like coffee and tea equally. Some people’s prefers can change temporarily and others permanently.

It’s like someone liking both Coffee and Tea (I happen to be a hot chocolate person myself but that’s beside the point).

That’s a simple version of it but being bisexual is a little more complicated.

To help demonstrate what I’m talking about, I present that Kinsey Scale and Purple-Red Scale of Attraction.

It’s really not as simple as that. If you’re a girl coming out as bi, you’re just doing it for attention.

If you’re a boy, you’re secretly gay and are just afraid to ‘come out’ fully.

Bisexuals are called greedy, promiscuous and carrier STDs. They’re untrustworthy and traitors but they’re good for threesomes.

It doesn’t help that on top of that, the treatment we get from that Gay and Lesbian community is just as bad as well.

Some people describe bisexuals as being half-straight and half-gay, this is wrong and thinking this ways leads to segregation from both the straight and gay community. Being bisexual is being 100% bisexual, not half anything.

Okay, I think I’ve hit the required page minimum for this project now so it’s time for some closing words from dedicated bi leader, Faith Cheltenham and Ph.D., Contributor, Activist and writer, Beth Sherouse.

References

(1) http://www.bisexualindex.org.uk/index.php/bisexuality (Page 1, what is Bi)

(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisexuality (Page 1, what is Bi)

(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterosexual%E2%80%93homosexual_continuum

(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_bisexuality

(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsey_scale

(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Kinsey

(7) https://mic.com/articles/126346/what-s-your-true-sexual-orientation-the-purple-red-scale-is-here-to-help-you-find-out#.FsriffCag (Purple and Red)

(8) http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoBisexuals (TV Tropes) (Friends) (Glee)

(9) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisexual_erasure

(10) https://www.advocate.com/news/daily-news/2011/09/23/ending-bi-erasure-tv-and-our-lgbt-worlds

(11) https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/418060777886957446/ (Insults)

(12) https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/564005553310394660/ (insults)

(13) https://www.theodysseyonline.com/15-annoying-phrases-bisexuals-are-tired-of-hearing (Insults)

(14) http://friends.wikia.com/wiki/Ross_Geller

(15) http://friends.wikia.com/wiki/Carol_Willick

(16) http://friends.wikia.com/wiki/Susan_Bunch

(17) http://glee.wikia.com/wiki/Santana_Lopez

(18) http://glee.wikia.com/wiki/Brittany_Pierce

(19) http://glee.wikia.com/wiki/Blaine_Anderson

(20) http://www.youthareawesome.com/freddie-mercury-bisexual-erasure/ (Freddie Mer)

(21) http://www.vulture.com/2017/01/boy-george-accused-of-biphobia.html (Boy George)

(22) http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/01/03/boy-george-posts-erratic-series-of-tweets-after-criticism-for-biphobia/ (Boy George)

(23) http://binetusa.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/finding-the-good-in-goodbi.html (Faith Quote)

(24) https://medium.com/defiant/dear-lesbians-and-gays-im-bisexual-and-you-treated-me-like-crap-1dee4deeaeb8 (Last Page Beth Sher)

https://us.ditchthelabel.org/i-am-a-bisexual-man/

https://www.xojane.com/sex/what-being-bisexual-really-means              

[faeuniblog]

“Bisexual Triangles

Somewhere in all this excitement with gay and lesbian symbols, bisexuals appear to have slipped through the cracks. It has only been within the last decade or so that bisexuals have begun actively organizing and fighting for equal voices. One of the many good things to come out of this movement is a symbol that bisexuals can call all their own: the interlocking pink and blue triangles, sometimes referred to as the "biangles."

Unfortunately, in contrast to most other pride symbols, the exact origin of this symbol is quite mysterious. I have polled a great number of national and international bisexual and gay/lesbian/bisexual organizations, but nobody has been able to give me a definitive source. The pink triangle is obviously taken from the gay symbol. The blue triangle was never used by the Nazis. It may have been added as a foil for pink- pink for girls and blue for boys (because bisexuals have attractions to both), with the overlapping purple triangle (purple has always been a very prominent color in te gay pride movement) representing the middleground that bisexuals fall into. I've also heard it explained that the pink triangle represent homosexuality while blue represents heterosexuality. Thus the overlap between the pink and blue triangles is the purple triangle of bisexuality. All these are personal explanations that I've gathered through Email, so if anyone has their own opinions or suggestions, I'd love to hear them.”

http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/orgs/avproject/symbols.htm 

“Bisexuality triangles (top left): Sometimes called "biangles," the origin of these two interlocking pink and blue triangles is largely unknown. Some theories posit that the pink represents attraction to women and the blue attraction to men, or the pink represents homosexuality, the blue heterosexuality and the purple bisexuality.”

http://mashable.com/2014/06/13/lgbt-pride-symbols/#asZUBGeUGgqF 

[faeuniblog]

Development Pages for Visual Essay

[faeuniblog]

Finished Visual Essay

[faeuniblog]

Official Script For Visual Essay

Page 1

Hello there fellow melons, I’m gonna be educating you guys on the joys that are the publishing industry!

So, Melon Sandy, I see you have your book there!

If you’re a writer that’s just written the best story ever, you’ll probably want to share said book with the world so you can make lots of money and be really famous, right?

But almighty voice in the sky who sounds super amazing and cool - like it really sucks that this is a written visual essay and not an audio one - I here you cry!

How do I go about share my creation with the world?!

Well, you have two options little Melon Sandy. You can go to Publishing Company or Self-Publish your work.

Page 2

Now let’s talks about what a Publisher is and does.

Publishing Company – Basics, Pros and Cons.

If you decide to go with the Traditional method and get published by a big publisher, you’ll need to have your work accepted by a literary agent first. Once you get an agent, they will take care of selling your manuscript to the big publishers (2).

Literary agents take 15% of your total income from the first sale. (1)

By going through an agent you’ll be paid an upfront advance for your work. The advance could range from £1,000 to over £100,000 (2).

Having an agent take care of shit is nice, but its damn hard to get an agent to take your work and even then, there’s no reassurance that they’ll even be able to sell your manuscript to a publisher (3).

If you're lucky enough to get a publisher interested.

The publisher will take care of editorial, copyediting, and design work, as well as invest in sales and marketing (3). Depending on whether you’re with a small or large publisher, the budget on these things can range from £15,000 to £50,000 (2).

However, one down side is that Publisher might make you edit you story in ways you don’t agree with. (3).

You probably won’t get a moving or TV deal but you stand a much higher chance by going with the traditional method (2).

Your book will be released both in physical and digital shops (2).

So, you get a load of support from a Publisher and Agent but in return you will have to give up a percentage of your earnings and control (2).

Page 3

Let’s look at J.K. Rowling as an example for publishing with a Company!

The first Harry Potter book was rejected by the first literary agency she applied too, and to add insult to injury, they didn’t give back her folder! (4)

She would luckily be accepted by the next literary agency, Christopher Little. Little sent the manuscript to 12 different publishers (who all rejected it!) before finally ending up with Bloomsbury (4) (5).

As when you go to a publisher, J.K was told to change the title of the US version from ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ to ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone’ as they didn’t think America’s would know what a ‘philosopher’ was would think it sounded boring (6) (7).

Hopefully, Melan Sandy, you won’t have a much trouble getting you book published as J.K. Rowling did.

Page 4

Self-Publishing – Basics, Pros and Cons

If you decide to go with Self-Published, there are two types of self-publishing: Digital and Old-fashioned (2) (3).

Anyone can be an artist or writer with the internet around.

Amazon charges nothing for you to upload your work to its worldwide audience, and websites like Tumblr give you a place to post your art and stories for free (2) (3).

By Self-publishing, you have complete creative control over your work, meaning it can be about anything with no one to stop you!

And all the money you make, is your money, no sharing with a big company!

With online shops like Amazon, you won’t get a money advance like you would if you’ll with a publisher (2).

Your book won’t be in bookshops and you’ll still have to face some costs like editorial and copyediting (2).

Remember, Amazon has over 5,000,000 e-books in its store and your book will simply be one of them, so it might be hard to get attention (2).

With free websites like Tumblr, you’re not going to make any money unless you go to separate sources such as Patreon or ko-fi but you have basically no limitation on what your work is about.

Page 5

An example of the Old-fashioned method would be making, printing and selling Zine, at conversions or online.

A zine (short for magazine or fanzine) is a small self-published work made up of text and images and is usually reproduced via photocopier (8).

They can be made by a single person, or a small group. An example of some popular zines are ‘Aint-Bad Magazine’, ‘Home Zine’ and ‘Record Culture Magazine’ (9).

Examples of people who have done shit with Self-Publishing

The Martian is a science fiction novel written by Andy Weir in 2011. Weir started writing the book in 2009, and was rebuffed by literary agents when trying to get prior books published. Weir decided to put the book online on his website in a serial format (10).

Fans of his book later requested him to make an Amazon Kindle version for 99 cents (the minimum allowable price he could set). The Kindle version sold 35,000 copies in three months, quickly rising to the top of Amazon’s best-selling science-fiction list (10).

Podium Publishing an audiobook publisher, signed for the audiobook rights in January 2013 and in March 2013 Weir sold the prints rights to Crown for over US$100,000 (10).

Homestuck is a webcomic written, illustrated and animated by Andrew Hussie and published on MS Paint Adventures. The comic is a combination of static images, animated GIFs, instant message logs and games made with Adobe Flash (11).

Homestuck arguably has the largest fan community out there, which has said to reach in the millions. Unlike the other authors on this list, Homestuck never got involved with publishers, this may be because it’s the only one on my list that’s a comic (11).

If you go almost any conversion, you are likely to find a Homestuck fan there either cosplaying or selling zines or art (11).

Page 6

By going with a publishing house, they will bear the costs, such as editing, marketing and paying advances, but they also take a substantial share of the profits can take control away from you to better suit their ideas of what is best (2) (3).

The changes the published made you do could arguably be for the better, but they could also be for the worst.

While is you self-published, if you want help for advice, you’ve going to have to pay for it with your own money.

With Self-Publishing, the author bears all of these costs but gets the benefit of all profits being exclusively theirs.

I think another one of the appeals of self-publishing is the control you get to keep over entire process. The writer decides the price, distribution, marketing, and public relations, they can also outsource these tasks if they want guidance or support (2) (3).

A lot of people who go for Self-Published end up with a Publisher anyway, but with a lot more control and say over what your product is then you would normally have.

Is this detour into Self-Publishing this just an extra, unnecessary step to get a Publisher?

Page 7

The method you decide to go for should depend on what type of story you are publishing.

For someone like J.K, the internet wasn’t a viable option while she was writing and she wouldn’t be able live off the slow money that comes from publishing on the internet.

She didn’t have the means to advertise her book by herself either, going to a Publisher was the only option.

Andy Weir tried the publishing root first, but they weren’t interested, so he started writing his book in a format that worked well with the internet (10).

Homestuck, could only really be a digital comic, there might be a physical one somewhere down the line but the original could only ever exist on the internet.

Both methods have the negative and positives.

But hey, whatever method you decide.

Good Luck

By Fae-Jinni & Melon Sandy

Ending

Page 8

So Melon Sandy have you decided how you’re going to publish your awesome book?  (I turn to look at Sandy)

(There is a crushed Melon in the floor)

“Melon Sandy?” (Confused)

(It have bow like Melon Sandy)

(I look down to see a knife in my hand with Melon blood on it…)

(Camera movies to show my face. It is coved in Melon juice…)

 References

(1)  Staff, W. (2017). How Literary Agents Get Paid: Standard Commission Practices And Payments For Literary Agents - Writer's Relief, Inc.. [online] Writer's Relief, Inc. Available at: http://writersrelief.com/blog/2014/02/standard-commission-practices-payments-literary-agents/ [Accessed 18 Nov. 2017].

(2)  Writersworkshop.co.uk. (2017). How to publish a book: a guide | Writers' Workshop. [online] Available at: http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/How-To-Get-Published.html [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].

(3)  Here!, S. (2017). Pros And Cons Of Traditional Publishing vs Self-Publishing. [online] The Creative Penn. Available at: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/self-publishing-vs-traditional/ [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].

(4)  Flood, A. (2017). JK Rowling says she received ‘loads’ of rejections before Harry Potter success. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/24/jk-rowling-tells-fans-twitter-loads-rejections-before-harry-potter-success [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].

(5)  Kennedy, M. (2017). JK Rowling posts letters of rejection on Twitter to help budding authors. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/25/jk-rowling-harry-potter-posts-letters-of-rejection-on-twitter [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].

(6)  En.wikipedia.org. (2017). J. K. Rowling. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling#Subsequent_Harry_Potter_publications [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].

(7)  Theguardian.com. (2017). Why the name change from "Harry Potter and the Philosopher''s Stone" in the UK to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer''s Stone" in the United States ? | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-18387,00.html [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].

(8)  En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Zine. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].

(9)  Format.com. (2017). 11 Cool Artist Zines You Need to Own. [online] Available at: https://www.format.com/magazine/galleries/art/11-cool-artist-zines [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].

(10)          En.wikipedia.org. (2017). The Martian (Weir novel). [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(Weir_novel) [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].

(11)          En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Homestuck. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestuck#frb-inline [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].

[faeuniblog]

More Script for Visual Essay

Publisher takes care of stuff like the copying, editing, printing, production, marketing and distribution while when you’re self-published you are the one doing all of this. Keep in mind though, it’s not all its caked up to be. When you go to a publishing house with your work, they will most-likely tell you to change and edit down parts of it fit there criteria of ‘okay’ work. The Publisher can take control away from you to better suit their ideas of what is best; which, arguably could actually be for the better, but they could also be for the worst.

Going thought a publishing house will have them bear the costs, such as editing, marketing and paying advances, they also take a substantial; share of the profits. With Self-Publishing, the author bears all of these costs but gets the benefit of all profits being exclusively theirs.

I think another one of the appeals of self-publishing is the control you get to keep over entire process. The writer decides the price, distribution, marketing, and public relations, they can also outsource these tasks if they want guidance or support. A lot of people who go for Self-Published end up with a Publisher anyway, but with a lot more control and say over what your product is. Is this detour into Self-Publishing this just an extra, unnecessary step to get a Publisher?

I think whichever you decide to go for, it depends on what type of stories you are publishing. For someone like J.K, the internet wasn’t a viable option while she was writing and she wouldn’t be able live off the slow money that comes from publishing on the internet. She didn’t have the means to advertise how book by herself, going to a Publisher was the only option.

Andy Weir tried the publishing root first, but they weren’t interested, so he started writing his book in a format that worked well with the internet.

Homestuck, could only really be a digital comic, there might be a physical one somewhere down the line but the original could only ever exist on the internet.

But hey, whatever way you choose, just go for it man. Should be fun.

http://www.christopherlittle.net/

[faeuniblog]

Script for Visual Essay

This is the script for my Visual essay for Overview of the Industry. This version will have my old edits and parts I've had to leave out. Parts that have been left out will look like this.

Hello there fellow melons, hope you’re ready to be entertained cause at least one of us is gonna have fun with this essay! I’m gonna be educating you guys on the joys that are the publishing industry!

Self-Published Vs Published!

 -So, what is it to publishing something?

Publishing is the broadcasting of literature, music, and information and making it available to the general public.

-  “So, Melon Sandy, I see you have your book there!

If you’re a writer that’s just written the best story ever, you’ll probably want to share said book with the world so you can make lots of money and be really famous!”

-“But almighty voice in the sky who sounds super amazing and cool, like it really sucks that this is a written visual essay and not an audio one, I here you cry!”

“How do I go about share my creation with the world?!”

-“Well, you have two options little Melon Sandy. You can go to Publishing Company or Self-Publish your work.”

Now let’s talks about what a Publisher is and does.

(draw like a picture of some cool printing machine or something)

Publishing Company – Basics, Pros and Cons.

If you decide to go with the Traditional method and get published by a big publisher, you’ll need to have your work accepted by a literary agent first. Once you get an agent, they will take care of selling your manuscript to the big publishers. By going through an agent you’ll be paid an upfront advance for your work. The advance could range from £1,000 to over £100,000. You also get royalties at around 3%-6%.

Having an agent take care of shit is nice, but its damn hard to get an agent to take your work and even then, there’s no reassurance that they’ll even be able to sell your manuscript to a publisher.

If you're lucky enough to get a publisher interested.

The publisher will take care of editorial, copyediting, and design work, as well as invest in sales and marketing. Depending on whether you’re with a small or large publisher, the budget on these things can range from £15,000 to £50,000.

-You, as the writer Melon Sandy, will not have to pay anything towards these costs!-

However, one down side is that Publisher might make you edit you story in ways you don’t agree with, so you do lose a bit of control over your work.

Your book will be released both in physical and digital shops (such as Amazon and iTunes)

You probably won’t get a moving or TV deal but you stand a much higher chance by going with the traditional method. So, you get a load of support from a Publisher and Agent but in return you will have to give up a percentage of your earnings and control.

Edit: (The publisher may also tell you to remove, cut down or add content to your story if they see it as unfit, so you do lose a bit of control over your work.

Your book will receive national distribution for its physical version in physical stores while also being distributed digitally in online shops such as amazon and iTunes. )

(It’s unlikely you’ll get a movie or TV deal but they are more frequent for authors you used the traditional method. So, you get a load of support from a Publisher and Agent but in return you will have to give up a percentage of your earnings and control.)

Let’s look at J.K. Rowling as an example for publishing with a Company!

(Drawing of cool witch J.K. Rowling)

J.K. Rowling

J.K was rejected by the first literary agency she applied too, and to add insult to injury, they didn’t give back her folder! She would luckily be accepted by the next literary agency, Christopher Little. Little sent the manuscript to 12 different publishers (who all rejected it!) before finally ending up with Bloomsbury.

As when you go to a publisher, J.K was told to change the title of the US version from ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ to ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone’ as they didn’t think America’s would know what a ‘philosopher’ was would think it sounded boring.

Edit: (A notable change that J.K Rowling wasn’t happy about was the changing of the title ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ to ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone’ in the US version.

It’s said that the publishers for the US version didn’t think America’s would know what a ‘philosopher’ was and think it’s boring; so they change it to ‘Sorceror’ which sounds much more exciting.)

 -“Hopefully, Melan Sandy, you won’t have a much trouble getting you book published as J.K. Rowling did.”

Self-Publishing – Basics, Pros and Cons

If you decide to go with Self-Published, there are two types of self-publishing: Digital and Old-fashioned.

One of the great things about the modern day, is the internet! (woooop Internet!)

Anyone can be an artist or writer with the internet around. Amazon charges nothing for you to upload your work to its worldwide audience or you can just post your art and stories on websites like Tumblr.

By Self-publishing, you have complete creative control over your work, meaning it can be about anything with no one to stop you! And all the money you make, is your money, no sharing with a big company!

 With online shops like Amazon, you won’t get a money advance like you would if you’ll with a publisher. Your book won’t be in bookshops and you’ll still have to face some costs like editorial and copyediting.

Remember, Amazon has over 5,000,000 e-books in its store and your book will simply be one of them, so it might be hard to get attention.

 If you used Amazon, you will get no money advance like you would do if you’ve with a company but you can still make money, if only a little. Your book will not be in bookshops and you still have to face some costs for stuff such as editorial and copyediting work. Amazon has over 5,000,000 e-books in its store and your book will simply be one of them, so it may be hard to achieve sales.

 With free websites like Tumblr, you’re not going to make any money unless you go to separate sources such as Patreon or ko-fi and you have basically no limitation on what your work is about.

 An example of the Old-fashioned method would be making, printing and selling Zine, at conversions or online. A zine (short for magazine or fanzine) is a small self-published work made up of text and images and is usually reproduced via photocopier. They can be made be a single person, or a small group. An example of some popular zines are ‘Aint-Bad Magazine’, ‘Home Zine’ and ‘Record Culture Magazine’.

 Example of people who have done shit is Self-Publishing

For Self-Published, I’m going to look at The Martian and Homestuck. (awesome drawings).

 The Martian is a science fiction novel written by Andy Weir in 2011. Weir started writing the book in 2009, and was rebuffed by literary agents when trying to get prior books published. Weir decided to put the book online on his website in a serial format.

Fans of his book later requested him to make an Amazon Kindle version for 99 cents (the minimum allowable price he could set). The Kindle version sold 35,000 copies in three months, quickly rising to the top of Amazon’s best-selling science-fiction list.

Podium Publishing an audiobook publisher, signed for the audiobook rights in January 2013 and in March 2013 Weir sold the prints rights to Crown for over US$100,000. In March 2, 2014, the book debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list in twelfth position.

Homestuck is a webcomic written, illustrated and animated by Andrew Hussie and published on MS Paint Adventures. The comic is a combination of static images, animated GIFs, instant message logs and games made with Adobe Flash. Homestuck arguably has the largest fan community out there, which has said to reach in the millions. Unlike the other authors on this list, Homestuck never got involved with publishers, this may be because it’s the only one on my list that’s a comic. If you go almost any conversion, you are likely to find a Homestuck fan there either cosplaying or selling zines or art.

   (gonna have to leave this part out for now)

Example of both publishing with a Publishing Company and Self-Publishing. (we are all in this together)

Introducing hard-core Beatrix Potter, who refused to put up with shit from anyone! (insert badass drawing of Beatrix Potter!!!)

‘Peter Rabbit’ was Self-Published! Beatrix Potter applied to a least six different publishing houses and with her book ‘The Adventures of Peter Rabbit’ but was rejected by all of them. Beatrix Potter then went on to printer 250 copies of her first book herself. It was printed with 41 black and white woodblock engraving and a colour frontispiece (yes I do in fact know what that complicated words mean!). The book was so successful that within the year, it had been picked up by one of the six publisher who had originally rejected it (HA).

Beatrix Potter stuck again with her next book ‘The Tailor of Gloucester’ after failing to reach an agreement with ‘Frederick Warne & Co’. So, Ms Potter got on her broom took the skies again and published 500 copies privately! (I AM thinking of the right person, right??). By the end of the year, Warne had given in, cementing their relationship with Potter, saving the publishing house from bankruptcy and creating the standard for how children’s book were marketed and sold!

(Reading from paper in hand image) Beatrix Potter later went on the serves fanatically loyal to the dark lor- (confused) okay I'm definitely reading into the wrong wiki! (angry! Paper turns over to show picture of Bellatrix Lestrange and Harry Potter)

Just to clarify, apart from her not being a Harry Potter character, she really did all the book stuff. She might have been a witch though, so I don’t wanna rule that out just in case.

 (gonna leave this part out too)

  ~~Tangent Time!~~

You may be wondering why, as a comic’s student, I would be looking authors of written work rather than comic witters. I mean look at Homestuck, as I said before, it arguably has the largest fan community out there, but I don’t think you’ll find a novel version in real life.

This is partly because, for some reason, writers of ‘word’ books generally get more attention and success then comic writers. Other reason for Homestucks lack of physical novel might be the fact that Homestuck has a lot of animations, moving visuals, sounds and music, so I can imagine that might be had to put into a book format. (But it could be done! It just hasn’t.)

I could probably write an entire other essay on these points and I feel the need to acknowledge them, but I have neither the time nor energy to do so effectively (and I’m not a masochist)…so yeah…

~~Tangent Over~~

Both methods have their pros and cons and work.

Going straight for Publishing company can be really difficult, as they may not be interested in your work to begin with and you lose a fair amount of your creative control and profits. But is the support they give worth it?

Going for Self-Published can be cool because of all the control and full profits but you need to gain the attention from the public before a publisher will even look at you. Almost all Self-Published work end up with a publisher so is this just an extra, unnecessary step?

 But hey, whatever way you choose, just go for it man. Should be fun.

Ending

“So Melon Sandy have you decided how you’re going to publish you awesome book?”  (I turn to look at Sandy)

(There is a crushed Melon in the floor)

“Melon Sandy?” (Confused)

(It have bow like Melon Sandy)

(I look down to see a knife in my hand with Melon blood on it…)

(Camera movies to show my face. It is coved in Melon juice…)

References

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/24/jk-rowling-tells-fans-twitter-loads-rejections-before-harry-potter-success

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/25/jk-rowling-harry-potter-posts-letters-of-rejection-on-twitter

http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/How-To-Get-Published.html

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13059054-homestuck-book-one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestuck#frb-inline

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(Weir_novel)

https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-18387,00.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling#Subsequent_Harry_Potter_publications

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter

https://www.patreon.com/

https://ko-fi.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_Potter

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/dec/17/beatrix-potter-peter-rabbit-self-publishing

https://www.thecreativepenn.com/self-publishing-vs-traditional/

https://www.scribendi.com/advice/traditional_versus_self_publishing.en.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishing

https://www.format.com/magazine/galleries/art/11-cool-artist-zines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_press

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine

[faeuniblog]

300 Word Proposals about Stuff

Overview of the Industry

Okay, so i think my topic for this brief is self publishing? Well i hope it is cause that’s what i’m gonna talk about! Whoop

Lets start with the definition of self-publishing while a stall for ideas!

Google says!:  (of a writer) publish (a piece of one's work) independently and at one's own expense.  (of a writer) having published their work independently and at their own expense.

Self publishing is the publication of any book, song/album or other media by its author/creator without the involvement of an established publisher. I’m pretty sure a publisher takes care of stuff like the copying, editing, printing, production , marketing and distribution while when you’re self-published you are the one doing all of this. Looking at all this cool stuff the companies do for you I bet you think ‘why would i not wanna go to a publisher with my cool new book/ album /whatever’ but wooow there Jimmy boy, it’s not all it’s caked up to be. I think one of the appeals of self-publishing is the control you get to keep over entire process. The author decides the price, distribution, marketing, and public relations, they can also outsource these tasks if they want guidance or support. When you go to a publishing house with your work, they will most-likely tell you to change and edit down parts of it it fit there criteria of ‘okay' work. They can take control away from you to better suit their ideas of what is best; which, arguably could actually be for the better, but arguably, they could also be for the worst.

An example for the different between self-publishing and using a publisher is the cost. Going thought a publishing house will have them bear the costs, such as editing, marketing and paying advances, they also take a substantial; share of the profits. With self-publishing, the author bears all of these costs but gets the benefit of all profits being exclusively theirs.

[faeuniblog]

So this is my underground comic for Brief week 4 or something. All i remember about this brief is that It had to be ugly and offensive right?  The artist I originally looked at was Kim Deitch but I had trouble getting my drawings to look right with his art in mind, so i looked at a Gilbert Shelton instead. Shelton has created ‘Wonder Wart-Hog’, ‘ Fat Freddy's Cat’ and ‘The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers’. He is  an American cartoons, musician, and a important member of the underground comic’s movement.

I had content to do another 2-3 pages but i have other work due in soon and not enough time to do it all. Heck, i even made a moodboard on pinterest about some of the shit i wanted to put on here: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/fayerandall131/christianity/ 

[faeuniblog]

How to make comics more inclusive.

My first anime was Pokemon and Yugioh but I don’t really consider them ‘anime’. My brother got me into ‘real’ anime as I saw him watching Naruto, so I stared watching it myself. That was my opening into anime, then later manga. Growing up, I didn’t really read comics because I wasn’t interested in super hero’s but I may have read the odd comic. I mainly watched anime and didn’t read manga or comics till coming to uni. My first manga was ‘One Punch Man’.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen comics be advised. Like, you can be watching tv and an advert comes on for a movie or a game or a action figure but never a comic. They’re almost like an underground thing initially. Comics feel cheap, they’re made out of paper while manga comes as a nice book.

I am currently trying to get my Mum to watch Death Note so maybe if she had time she would read it. My Dad not really interested in comics. 

-Update: My Mum used to read the ‘Misty’ comics and my Dad used to read ‘Buzzer and Chips’ comics cause they gave free stuff-

[faeuniblog]

Research into creator!

For my research into a creator, I didn’t know who to do choose. I’m not particularly savvy when it comes the modern industry (i guess that’s the point of this brief), and Teach says they can’t be some randy off the internet. 

After some thought, I came to the conclusion of Jade Sarson, as i like her work and she seems very approachable.

Jade Sarson: 

Here’s the information i found about her on her website. Graduated from the University of Lincoln in 2011 first class honours degree in Illustration. Started  self-publishing the teastained comic seriesCafe Suada not long after graduating. In 2013 she was nominated for Best Emerging Talent in the British Comic Awards. In 2014 she won the Myriad Editions First Graphic Novel competition with an extract from her graphic novel ‘For the Love of God, Marie!’, published July 2016.

Here’s a list of her Published Work, Clients & Achievements:

Cafe Suada, Self-Published, 2010-2016

For the Love of God, Marie!, Myriad Editions, 2016

Feels like Noodles, LICAF, 2015

Reluctant Reeda, MK Library, 2015

The Courage to Be Me, Nina Burrowes, 2014

Parallel Lives, LondonPrintStudio/Knockabout, 2012

Other clients include Oxford University Press, Kerrang!, Neo Magazine, University of London, Big Punch Studios, Electric Bloom Webzine, Ink+Paper, ITCH, Tempo Lush, MK Arts Centre, MK Gallery, British Film Institute, House of Illustration, and more.

Winner of the 2014 First Graphic Novel competition

Nominated for the 2013 British Comic Awards (Best Emerging Talent)

3rd Place Winner of the 2012 Manga Jiman competition

I really like looking at Jade Sarson’s career, she has a really cool mix of self-published work and published work; something i hope to able to accomplish with my own work. Sarson, from the looks of things, seems to have entered a lot of competitions while building her career, so I think it would be a good idea to look more into what competitions she entered, what she entered and how she did.

Public appearances, convention, book signings

[faeuniblog]

Queer Theory Zine

[faeuniblog]

Queer - A Graphic History

So I read a book call ‘Queer A Graphic History’ and it was pretty cool.

Here’s some the interesting shit I learnt from it. Keep in mind, this is just the information I found most relevant for my uni projects. Some of the information here as been directly copied out of the book but it is for documentary purposes as I’ll have to give the book back to the library soon and wont’ be able to look back on it.

The word ‘Queer’, it’s many different meanings and it’s history: The word ‘Queer’ originally meant ‘strangeness’ or ‘difference’ and later became a term of abuse. In the 16th century, English speaking countries use the word queer to refer to something strange or illegitimate. The old term ‘in queer street’ meant someone who was having financial difficulties. So all round, it was seen as a fairly negative word. In the 19th-20th century, the word meant odd. The mentioned a man called Robert Owen who famously said to his colleague “All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.” According to the book, the earliest recorded use of the word ‘queer as homophobic abuse is said to be from a letter in 1894 by John Sholto Douglas, the Marquess of Queensberry. How was the father of Alfred Douglas and accused a man name Oscar Wilde of having an affair with his son. ‘Queer’ then became a derogatory term for people attracted to the same sex or who engaged in same-sex sex. ‘Queer’ also became used as a general insult to make things questionable by associating them with same-sex attraction, similar to the phrase ‘that’s so gay’ is used to imply something is unpleasant. A strategy to deal with racism, sexism and homophobia is to reclaim the very words used against them. For example, words like ‘nigger’, ‘slut’, ‘dyke’ and ‘faggot’ have been reclaimed. In the 1980s, people from the LGBT communities started to reclaim the word ‘queer’ to mean either a positive form of self-identity or as a neutral word to describe themselves. An early example was the activist group Queer Nation who circulated the flyer ‘Queers read This’. It as now been reclaimed as a positive word. ‘Queer’ is an umbrella term for people who are outside the heterosexual norm or people who challenge the LGBT ‘mainstream’. It can be used to challenge the gender and sexuality norms. TV shows such as ‘Queer as Folk’ and ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’ used the word in a positive way. 

Some Queer Theorists take issue with ‘queer’ being used as an identity term as they just see ‘queer’ as an umbrella term or people outside of the mainstream, both the heterosexual/cisgender mainstream and the conventional LGBT mainstream. ‘Queer’ can refer to mainly different groups and Queer Theory is about breaking down binaries that oversimplify the world into being either this or that. Queer Theory is also about challenging any fixed identity categories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual etc.

The west world’s understanding of Sex and Sexuality and how Queer Theory challenges it: Our understanding of sex, gender and identity in queer theory are contextual. Meaning thy have been understood and practiced in very different ways over time and across cultures. Sexology opened the door to discrimination, criminalization  and pathologization on the basics of their sexual identity. Early sexologists divided sex into normal and abnormal, meaning the created the idea of there are good and bad kinds of sex. This did however, also open the door to fighting for sexuality/gender rights and some sexologist were the first to be involves in the earliest version of gay rights.

The book mentions the Kinsey Scale: It is used to open up a new way of thinking about sexuality. It says to think as sexuality as a spectrum between heterosexuality and homosexuality rather then binary. The Kinsey Scale focuses on peoples behaviour and attraction rather then trying to classify them as certain types of fixed identities as the early sexologists had done. The Kinsey Scale does not however quest the binary that is gender. 

Criticisms of Queer Theory.

Queer Agendas: Queer activism challenged previous identity-politics gay activism, which regarded sexuality as an essential, inherent component of the self. Examples of queer activism: ‘Queeruption’ - ‘is an annual international queercore festival and gathering started in 1998 where alternative/radical/disenfranchised queers can exchange information, network, organize, inspire and get inspired, self-represent, and challenge mainstream society with do-it-yourself (DIY) ideas and ethics.’ (taken from the wiki). ‘Gay Shame’ - ‘is a movement from within the queer communities described as a radical alternative to gay mainstreaming and directly posits an alternative view of gay pride events and activities which have become increasingly commercialized with corporate sponsors and "safer" agendas to avoid offending supporters and sponsors.’ (taken from the wiki). 

There are Multiple Queer Theories rather than one Queer Theory: Teresa de Lauretis’s conference most writers regard the birth of queer theory which happen at University of California, Santa Cruz in 1990. Teresa de Lauretis saw queer theory as doing the following things: 1.Refusing heterosexuality as the standard on which all sexual formations are based. 2.Insisting that sexual subjectivity is shaped - though race and gender - in multiple ways. 3. Through this, moving away from the singular understanding of lesbian and gay studies. de Lauretis later rejected the term ‘queer theory’ three years after the conference feeling that people weren’t using it in the political or critical way that she’d intended. This kind of thing has happened many times in the history of queer theory as some have endeavored to fix it as something stable, ad others have resisted such fixing. Queer theory, like all of us, has no fixed identity and multiple - contradictory - origin stories, rather than any one linear narrative. Like us it’s plural rather than singular, in flux rather than static. Even though multiple queer theories developed over the 1990s, they generally shared the following features: Structuralist theories to examine power relations relating to sex, sexuality, & gender. Destabilising the taken-for-granted dominant understanding which assumes that hererosexuality is the normal or natural standard of sexuality, and categorizes people in Relation to this. Exposing how sexual and gender identities are - 1. Constructed through the available ways of thinking and being in different times & places. 2. performed something that we do rather than something that we (essentially) are. Michel Foucault and Judith Butler are the most frequently drawn upon in queer theorist. Foucault focused more on sexuality while Butler more on gender, although both of their working well together and can applied to both.

Activists, Writers and Scholars who provided the foundation on which Queer Theory was is build on: People to look up: Robert Owen - said the thing about being queer.  Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Magnus Hirschfeld and Henry Havelock - sexologists. Sigmund Freud - founder of psychoanalysis and a huge influence on sexology. Mattachine Society, Daughters of Bilitis, Harry Hay, James Grumber and Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin - Gay Rights Movement. Pre-dated Queer Theory - Merleau Ponty, William Simon, Audre Lord, Bell Hooks, Dandra Bem. De Beauvoir - She views our gender as something we become, not something we fundamental are. Sandra Bem - It is better for people to be ‘andrognous’ by which she means being flexibly to be both ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’. Teresa de Lauretis - regard the birth of queer theory. Michel Foucault and Judith Butler - Most frequently drawn upon in queer theory.

[faeuniblog]

Public Domain - Web-comic with Sherlock, Alice, The Invisible Man and Dracula having tea. Whoop