Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Part 5 of this publishing series… 5. Multitasking Economizer. If you’re publishing, you have to be able to do this and be this (#5). I often hear, “I don’t know how you do all this.” I have no idea either, since I’m just doing it. This is my dad cleaning a pool. He’s pretty good at economizing since he worked in construction. That’s a big deal in that line of work. I’ve played some tennis when I was a little kid all the way through high school. I’ve played poorly, but somedays I played greatly. There was a day when I beat two players, both who went on to play NCAA division one tennis. They were really great. I was in the “zone”. Sometimes, doing GR stuff is sort of like that. There’s so much to do, and so little time, that if you’re not on top of things, the day can crumble quickly. Each block of a few minutes count, and from when I get up at let’s say 8am all the way though 6 or maybe 8 pm, I’m completely booked solid and doing things. I *don’t even take a meal in that time, and I don’t even notice! Luckily, it’s not like this everyday. But I still forget to eat.* I keep adding more stuff to do. Maybe it’s about multi-tasking. Maybe it’s having great help. Maybe it’s just about getting better at doing what I’m doing and economizing my time. This is something you can’t just pick up and start doing. You’re either wired for it, or you’re not. And if you’re not, then publishing will be that much harder. On the other hand, there’s days that just don’t amount to anything. Those are the worst. What’s the point of even working on those days? That’s just part of the job, and I couldn’t do it any other way. Here’s an example, if I watch a TV show, I’ve got a laptop on my lap and what might I be doing? Designing a t-shirt for GR, ordering products for the stores in the three cities, working on art show related anything, writing an article (notice how far down this is?), and so on. Maybe it’s because TV isn’t that great, but this is why I have a 12″ Powerbook (I’ve also had two 12″ ibooks) and not a 15 or 17″ one. How would I take it anywhere to do other things besides what people think I’m doing? The only problem is the show gets sacrificed a little, since I’m missing the tiny details and so on, but that’s less important, and I don’t sacrifice the work on my laptop. Only recently have I started using the Address book and ical on a mac. With these, I’m able to mainting my appointments better, and have people’s info literally at my finger tips. This helps a lot. *Side story: I once had an intern who was about 12 or 13. It was a special day for him,...
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Part 5 of this publishing series...
5. Multitasking Economizer. If you're publishing, you have to be able to do this and be this (#5). I often hear, "I don't know how you do all this." I have no idea either, since I'm just doing it.
I've played some tennis when I...
Continue reading
5. Multitasking Economizer. If you're publishing, you have to be able to do this and be this (#5). I often hear, "I don't know how you do all this." I have no idea either, since I'm just doing it.
This is my dad cleaning a pool. He's pretty good at economizing since he worked in construction. That's a big deal in that line of work.
I've played some tennis when I...
This is part four of the publishing GR series. 4. Tenacity. One of the problems in the history of Asian American publications, and many smaller publications like ours is the frequency. Many mags came out and looked great and even lasted for a few years, throwing lavish parties, promoting themselves like they were important, but then they folded. When they folded, where did the subscription money go? The many who gave up their bucks for a years worth of mags got ripped off. This is Sun Min Kim and David Horvath. Together they do Uglydolls. Want to know about tenacity, read their interview in the upcoming GR42. I kid you not, they’re a great example. (is this a passive aggressive move of tenacity?) Back in the day, I remember people telling us, “should I really subscribe? Are you going to stay in business?” Comments like this are the worst, since it means people are used to getting ripped off and are hesitant to support a smaller project, like ours. In the world of Asian American related magazines, it’s been a story of people getting fucked out of their subscriptions. So why should anyone support us? The easy way is to talk game. Be full of shit, and boast and lie about how well you’re doing. Who cares, since in the end, it’s only your reputation at stake. But when you go into hiatus, then what? Are you going to feel like an asshole? Are you going to happy counting your money? All this is bad. In the end, I’d like to think we earned our subscribers. We haven’t spent a lot of time trying to talk people into subscribing, and we don’t have subscription fundraisers although we should. Our best ally is tenacity. We put that subscription card in the mag, and that’s all we really do. The key is repetition. Although a lot support us, there’s a lot who don’t, but while they’re hating, we’re making another issue. At this point, I hope people believe in us a little. We’ve been publishing for 12 years, and we’re only getting better.
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This is part four of the publishing GR series.
4. Tenacity.
One of the problems in the history of Asian American publications, and many smaller publications like ours is the frequency. Many mags came out and looked great and even lasted for a few years, throwing lavish parties, promoting themselves like they were important, but then they folded. When they folded, where did the subscription money...
Continue reading
4. Tenacity.
One of the problems in the history of Asian American publications, and many smaller publications like ours is the frequency. Many mags came out and looked great and even lasted for a few years, throwing lavish parties, promoting themselves like they were important, but then they folded. When they folded, where did the subscription money...
Publishing GR. Some insights. 3. Leeway. Give yourself some because, you’ll be late anyway. This photo is a preview to GR42. I took this shot of Martin tagging candy while we were near the end of deadline. Wendy peers with a smile in the background. Making a publication, especially when you’re on your own deadline takes discipline. There was a time when I think it took months of hands on work to make an issue, but not anymore. So much goes into publishing, and no matter what you do, and no matter how much you plan, when you say an issue is going to be done Jan 1, you’ll end up starting too late to make the deadline. If you say it’s Jan 7th, you’ll start one week later instead of just starting earlier. That said, in the 42 issues of GR, I think we’ve actually made the true deadline just a few times. A day late, maybe 5-10 times, a few days late, 20 times, a week late, maybe 5-10 times, two weeks late, it’s happened way back when. Is there a point to being exactly on time for us? A week late isn’t great now that we’re bi-monthly, but a few days is fine. Print shops want the work, and if you’re late, they’d be idiots to penalize you. If that happens, move to a new shop! When we’re running late, I put in a request for them to move faster. Shave a few days off please! If I don’t call that request in too often, they seem to actually do it. Would we sacrifice quality for being on time? No fucking way. My opinion, is if being a few days late will make a much better publication, then go ahead and be a few days late. Ultimately, you have to live with what you make, and I wouldn’t want a bad issue next to my name. I don’t have experience with a daily or a weekly publication. I assume those need to be exactly on time. I suppose if we were in a cookie cutter mode to do a publication like that, it would be no problem at all. I did say I would write one publishing tip a day. This is the third day and the third tip. Made the deadline again.
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