I think I’ve just found my new desktop picture. It’s by J.R. Blackwell, whose story, “The Role of Plumage in the Mating Habits of the Karraw,” appears in Kaleidotrope #2.
Oh, and speaking of Kaleidotrope…This post by John Klima of Electric Velocipede — third in a really informative series on starting your own zine — has got me thinking that maybe I need to invest in layout software more versatile than MS Word to put together my own. But there are pretty hefty price tags attached to packages like Quark and InDesign, even with the educational discount (which I can’t get). And as much as I enjoy putting together the zine and publishing these great stories, Kaleidotrope is still pretty much a money-losing operation.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Ask someone you know who does own those products to do it?
But see, I want to do the layout. I enjoy putting the zine together; I just wouldn’t mind having better tools for doing so.
Ask someone you know to use their educational discount to purchase the programs for you grey-market style.
That’s the question: do I know anyone who can get an educational discount?
We’re still talking a couple hundred dollars.
If you have Word, you most likely have Publisher as well. Publisher rocks, and is quite easy to use for this sort of stuff.
Ok, so maybe it’s not as nice as Quark, but I’ve used it on more that one occasion with good results.