January 21, 2009

First Issue Shipped!

Yesterday our art director, Kira Stoops, shipped the first issue of Zone 4 to the printer in Denver, Colorado. It was a big day, preceded by many hours of proof reading, making corrections, and tweaking the design.

"Shipping" an issue to the printer today means uploading a PDF computer file to the printer's FTP site. Our file was more than 250 mb and took about 45 minutes to send.

This was fast and easy compared to the way magazines were shipped to printers back in the early 1980s, when Andra and I worked at the same sailing magazine in Newport, Rhode Island. Then, a typesetter typed all of the text and output it on a special glossy paper that the art department fed through a wax machine, which applied a sticky substance to the back side of the paper. It came in long rolls and had to be cut into columns with an X-acto knife and then literally pasted onto what we called "boards." Boards were large pieces of smooth, white cardboard with marks to align each column of type. Photos and drawings also were pasted onto the boards. To proofread the boards, a see-through paper was taped over each page, onto which the editors made their corrections. You didn't dare mark directly onto the boards! The paper with text could be lifted from the board and replaced, though if the correction was small the art department might just cut out the mistake with an X-acto knife and replace it with a new piece.

To ship, all of the boards were packaged in a box and mailed to the printer. We did have FedEx, but there were no computers and no fax machines. We aren't ancient: we did have telephones, okay!

We expect to hold the first copies of Zone 4 No. 1 in our eager hands by February 1. If you are a subscriber, you'll receive yours soon  thereafter. We have been accepted by a major newsstand distributor for distribution in Montana, northern Idaho, and Colorado, primarily in supermarkets and pharmacies. No word yet on Wyoming, and bookstores. And we don't know yet which chains of stores will carry Zone 4. As soon as we find out, we'll post the list on the website. Single issue price is $6.95. So the least expensive way to get your hands on a copy, and the surest, is to subscribe. You can do it online, with a credit card, Pay Pal, or by printing out the order form and mailing it with a check or money order.

If I don't say so myself, the first issue looks AWESOME! We hope you'll agree.