Hello! I’m Leigh Wright, curator of Wyrd Daze.
(Tiny bio: I’m an Englishman currently living in Quebec – an incorrigible geek working on my first speculative fiction novel. Sometimes I make or mix strange music under the moniker The Ephemeral Man)
I always liked zines – those obscure self-published paper products espousing in such creative ways. And I love the idea of creative collaboration and curation – of combining different art forms into some wondrous whole…
Some classic zines from the 70’s
In 2012 I begat Wyrd Daze: the multimedia zine of speculative fiction and extra-ordinary music, art, and writing. It began as a one-off print edition before going digital. The zine itself is a PDF, but downloads of music, video, or whatever! – can be included. There were 12 issues of “Lvl1” – 6 issues of “Lvl2” – a “Wyrd Daze in Quebec” special – and I’ve recently begun “Lvl3” with Wyrd Daze: One.
My vision for Wyrd Daze is for it to foster a community of support and enthusiasm for independent artists. It has been a real joy and honour for me to host some incredible writing, music, and art, over the 21 issues I’ve curated so far. Wyrd Daze itself is free but has a Patreon page to raise a revenue with which to pay contributors. I would love for Wyrd Daze to be able to pay contributors professional rates for their art, and perhaps even to be able to fund further creative projects within the community.
A dedicated community manager would aid greatly toward achieving these goals, but I do not adequately fill that role myself. Although I have a reasonable online presence, a community manager must have strong networking and communication skills. I’m quite the introvert… and have come to realise that if I want Wyrd Daze to reach its potential, I’m going to need help.
Hippo-Daze – by Emma-Jane Rosenberg
The role of a “community manager” is subtly different from a “social media manager”, although many of the roles overlap. The difference is that social media managers act as the actual brand they are representing, whereas community managers represent themselves on behalf of the brand they are promoting. With regards to Wyrd Daze, what I’m primarily looking for is enthusiasm for the zine itself, passion for the vision of creating and supporting a community of diverse artists, and a desire to “get out there” and make things happen. Some experience would be welcome, but passion and enthusiasm are more important to me than knowing the academic / technical tricks of the trade.
I know in my heart that Wyrd Daze has wonderful potential and I’m convinced that there is a vibrant audience out there willing to support and participate in its vision – I just need to find it!
some concept artwork for my fictional multiverse, featured in Wyrd Daze: One
I’m trying to keep this post as brief and straight to the point as possible, with the presumption that conversation with potential community managers will continue in detail elsewhere… so let’s talk about money.
As mentioned above, Wyrd Daze has a Patreon page to use as a means to gather a revenue with which to pay contributors. Contributors include me, and that would include you, community manager. So far I’ve been able to offer payment of between $20 – $40 per issue to contributors. This is something, and I’m proud of it. There has been (and still is) a climate of companies / websites / publications / etc exploiting artists by not offering them payment for hosting their work. With Wyrd Daze I’d like to strike the balance between offering the zine for free so that the art has a wider potential audience (and people can freely share and enthuse about it), and making sure those artists get paid.
Part of your role as community manager will be to increase awareness, interest, and support for Wyrd Daze. A simplistic way of looking at revenue goals is like this: if 100 people support Wyrd Daze at $5 per month, that’s a revenue of $1500 per issue (At a release of one issue every three months). It wouldn’t actually be that full amount because of Patreon fees, taxes, and money shifting fees, but we’re being simplistic so bear with me. $1500 per issue is starting to get pretty good – we can pay contributors a pretty decent amount with that, and their works will gain a wider audience as readership grows. Gaining 100 supporters seems like quite a reachable goal, in the scheme of things.
Any increase over 100 and things would get really good. Imagine 200 people, or 500, or 1000? None of those numbers are impossible numbers, even for a strange little zine dealing in wyrd wonders. With that kind of revenue we could pay our contributors professional rates and have some surplus to fund publications, music, artworks… a myriad creative projects await us! That’s the Wyrd Daze dream.
But it’s not all about money – community is the most important part of Wyrd Daze because without that there’s nothing. As community manager you will become the heart and soul of the community – your passion and mediation a guiding and inspiring light! Ideally you will have a love for speculative fiction and extra-ordinary music, art, and writing… as well as the drive to go forth and spread the love. Your input and collaboration on every aspect of Wyrd Daze will be most welcome. Even better if you yourself create art that fits into the broad aesthetic of the zine!
Art makes us think more deeply, strive more intently, and feel joy more profoundly. Creativity in all its forms brings further meaning to our lives, allowing us to explore existence and communicate our explorations to the world. My desire, my passion, my drive… is to devote as much of my time as possible to making art and experiencing the art of others. Wyrd Daze is the embodiment of that.
If you’re interested in the position of community manager for Wyrd Daze, have a query, or question, drop me a line at wyrd.daze@gmail.com
If the position of community manage is not for you but you’d still like to support Wyrd Daze – thank you! Spreading the word is one of the best things you can do as it helps the zine find its audience. There is a Facebook page and a Facebook group. I’m here on Twitter. You’re reading the Wyrd Daze blog! You can offer financial support at the Wyrd Daze Patreon ($5 a month gets you access to a complete digital archive of the Wyrd Daze catalogue, but every pledge is a step forward toward achieving the vision).
Thank you for your time and consideration,
I wish you all the wyrdest of dreams!
Leigh
