We’re calling for submissions for the first issue of an annual romance fanzine with an as yet undetermined title.

Following on from last year’s postcard campaign, Jen and I have been brainstorming fun, creative ways to talk about romance books. We have no funding, no prototype, and lots of ideas about romance novels. So Jen and I have decided to create a zine.

People who love romance fiction are invited to submit stuff for inclusion in the zine. We’ll consider any creative work, including: essays (min 250 words); academic findings (written in plain speak); illustrations; personal reflections; photographs; poetry; scanned artwork; original short stories; excerpts of books in progress; and fun, provocative or satirical remixes.

You must own the copyright to any work you submit. We reserve the right to make minor changes as needed to suit our style and layout, but we will discuss this with you before the zine is finalised.

We ask for first rights, exclusive for 2 months from the date of publication (tentatively March 2015). If you wish to negotiate this, please send us an email. Honestly, we’re not going to be picky about it as long as all parties agree.

We cannot pay for submissions on spec, but if we accept your submission, we will send you a free copy of the zine.

Our aim is to have the zine ready in time for the Australian Romance Readers Conference in March. This is a super tight deadline, so we need your submissions by Saturday, February 7.

We’re also accepting a limited number of ads. They must be high-res and aesthetically pleasing in the style of hipster. What? It’s going to be a classy zine. We might write about wangs and tentacles, but advertising must be tasteful. Or retro porny. That would please our aesthetics, too.

This issue will have a print run of 500 copies.

Ad rates: Back cover or Inside front cover $250; Other $150. We will accept a maximum of 10 full-page (B5) ads.

The first issue of the zine will largely be funded out of our own pockets. Any ad revenue will go directly towards the cost of production. The selling price of the magazine will probably be around $10 (to be confirmed) — again, this will cover costs and possibly local postage. Anything left over (highly doubtful, but we can dream) will help fund the next issue.

That said, if we get this done in time for ARRC, we plan to give at least half of the first issue print run for free, because we want to spread the love to as many people as possible! It will be available for sale via Book Thingo. We’re trying to work out other methods, too (and if you’re a bookseller interested in stocking the zine, let us know.)

Please email your submissions to zine@bookthingo.com.au. You can also send any pitches or questions about the zine to this address.

Artwork must be B5 or larger, high-res (300dpi) JPG or TIFF files. 

Text submissions must be MS Word files. If the typography needs to be preserved (ie it’s part of the work), please let us know. Otherwise, we reserve the right to change font styles and sizes to suit the layout.

We’re so excited about this new project, and we can’t wait to get this first issue up and running!