Interview with PamelaWilfinger:
Editor of Inscriptions, The Weekly E-zine for Professional Writers
http://www.inscriptionsmagazine.com

Pamela Wilfinger's Inscriptions Magazine is becoming a well-known resource on the Internet for professional writers. Pamela agreed to sit down with Net Author and chat about Inscriptions, Internet publishing, and publishing in general.

Pamela and I interviewed via ICQ, a proprietary chat system which seems to have "made the cut" in that many Internet professionals are registered users. The interview is formatted in such a manner as to give the reader some feel for the chat. ICQ is a "real time" chat system in the most immediate sense: you see each others' words appear as they are being typed. The casual nature of the chat remains in the form of expressive punctuation and "emotes." - Robert Marcom, Moderator

Net Author:
Hi, Pamela. I've been reading Inscriptions Magazine for several months now. I found it to be one of the most useful on-line publications for writers.

How would you describe its format to someone who is unfamiliar with the magazine?

Pamela:
I started Inscriptions in August of 1998. So a little over a year. Inscriptions is a magazine that caters to working freelance writers and telecommuting editors. We publish in two formats--text only e-mails and on the Web. For someone new to the online world, I find the text version is usually the easiest to read because all they have to do is open their mailbox and go to town. Besides, who doesn't like getting e-mail? :-)

Net Author:
Is the same information found in both the Web and the e-mail editions?

Pamela:
The same information is in both, yes. People who are more adept with the Web find the online version a little easier to read. Printed out, the mag breaks all the rules. It comes out to about 80 pages each week. But on the Web, people can simply jump right to the categories that interest them. Plus, our website readers get a few extras.

Net Author:
Humor is one of the sections I head for straight away. Is it one of your more popular areas in the magazine?

Pamela:
Our humor area is very popular. Writers and editors often get bogged down with the all the business articles and boring side of writing . . . that they like to take a break and head to our site for a smile or two. The website also offers daily horoscopes, surveys, a tip of the week, information about our electronic book club (the first one on the Internet) and free wallpaper downloads.

Compared to the other sections . . . our humor section probably ranks fourth in popularity. By far, our most popular section is the job listings. That is followed by our articles and paying markets.

Net Author:
Silly me. Of course markets would be the most popular. We are talking professional writers, aren't we?

Pamela:
Exactly. That's really the market we cater to. There are dozens of writing-related magazines online, and many of them are wonderful . . . but ours really targets people who do this for a living . . . or want to do this for a living.

Net Author:
Okay, then Pamela. Are you ready for the Net Author Probing Question?

Pamela:
:::nervous:::
Sure....what the heck.

Net Author:
The one which comes to mind is: why you, and why this magazine?

Pamela:
Oh...that's an easy one. :-)

I started Inscriptions, as I said, in August of 1998. I had been working as an editor for another Web magazine (a paying market) and I had about 300 writers working for me. One week everything was fine. We received no less than 1,000 people to the site and had earned 22 Website awards, including several for content.

The next Monday rolls around and the vp tells me that over the weekend the investors pulled out. I was devasted.

But even worse...I now had to fire 300 writers. Most of whom started working for the magazine because they knew ME. At that point, I decided to start freelancing until I could get another job. While searching for freelance jobs, I came across dozens that just didn't suit me--not enough money, wrong location, a topic I can't write --so I decided to pull all of these notices together and share them with my old writers. Inscriptions just sort of blossomed from there. Basically...I started out with 300 subscribers...and it's grown to over 2800. Getting good press helped. That and word of mouth. :-)

Net Author:
You certainly do get word of mouth referrals. That is the way I became aware of Inscriptions.

I'd like to change topics now, if you don't mind.

Pamela:
Feel free.

Net Author:
I'd like to ask you about the earthquake which has recently shaken up the publishing industry: e-publishing. What do you see the future of electronic publishing to be?

Pamela:
I come from the newspaper industry. As a reporter, I used to eat, sleep, and breathe newsprint. Something about the way ink just seems into get your blood. But times have changed. Newspaper reporters can't just go out and cover a story any more. Now, they have to call in their stories for immediate release online and then come back to the office and write another story for the print edition. As I gradually let the Internet take over my life (I've been online since 1989) I realized that eventually, print is going to give way to the electronic world. Think about it. More people send e-mails that letters that are stamped and mailed . Eventually, all newspapers, magazines and books will also be digital. We simply have to go with the flow.

Net Author:
It sounds as though you see electronic publishing completely replacing print.

Pamela:
Sure. In time.

Net Author:
Isn't that more than an earthquake? It sounds more like a cataclysm for the publishing industry.

Pamela:
Not at all. It's simply a change. And if you read the news, particularly publishing news, you'll see that more and more print publishers are aligning themselves with online entities in order to put out electronic books as they print paper ones. Twenty years ago, students only worked on notebook paper. Today, kids live online. They all have and use computers.

It would be suicide to assume that the next generation is going to follow in the path of their parents. Instead, they will move forward. And forward means a change to the digital realm.

Net Author:
Do you think technology such as the Rocket Book(TM) and similar readers are ready for such a great shift by the reading public?

Pamela:
Within a year or two, standards will really solidify. Readers will become more affordable. And then the electronic age of publishing will become more acceptable. I give it two years tops.

Net Author:
What future, if any, do you see for the print medium?

Pamela:
Good question. To be honest, I see the print industry as a dinosaur. It's dying. In time, books on paper will only be a vague memory. Kind of like nickel candy bars.

Net Author:
So, print will join the ranks of unemployed Renaissance scribes?

Pamela:
Although we can't quite match all of the technology that's been created in science fiction, we are doing the best we can to try, anyway. Thirty years ago, no one would have thought that everyone would own a VCR, DVD player, personal computer, handheld organizer, electric car....etc. Once things break into society, and become the norm, the old way of doing things will become pointless. Slower. A waste of time. Why wait for a year's worth of production when an e-book can be available in three months?

Net Author:
In the future, then, we won't have to wait three months for that biography with the latest pop cult hero. We'll get to read it in, what, minutes?

Pamela:
Pretty much. Warhol said we all have our 15 minutes of fame? The Internet allows more people to have those 15 minutes, but the time span has probably dropped to 7. :-)

Online, if your magazine has been around for a year, it's equal to five in print.

Net Author:
I'd like to ask you about Internet scams. What do you think a writer might do to avoid the writers' scams which seem so prolific on the Web?

Pamela:
It is possible to be scammed online. True. Just as it's possible to be scammed from a print publisher. The difference is that anyone with a computer can claim to be an editor or a publisher. If you want to work online, professionally, it's always wise to check out the publication's reputation. This is truly the best way to find out if they are lying sacks of....well, not good people. :-)

In 10 years of doing this, and 99% of what I write is for online entities, I've only been scammed once. Because of this one time, I'm not only fighting for the money that's owed me, but also working with other industry leaders to create an organization to monitor such publications. It's still in the beginning stages, but our goal is to recognize good pubs (those who pay on time, pay well, have professional editors, don't take advantage of writers' rights), and also let the writing community know who is unscrupulous.

Net Author:
Would this take the form of a guild for e-publishers?

Pamela:
Probably. As I said, we're still working out the details. More like a co-op. :-)

Net Author:
What a great idea!

Pamela:
Thanks! It's something that's been mulled over in the writing community for a while now. But just last week, I was invited into a small group to discuss creating the co-op...and hopefully it'll become a powerful force for online writers.

Net Author:
Are there any other groups you're aware of which performs similar function for authors on-line?

Pamela:
Well...there's the National Writers Union. The Authors Guild. The Association of Electronic Publishers. ASJW Contract Watch. And then I run a short area in Inscriptions called "Informed Caution" that helps writers know what's going on with nonpaying entities.

Net Author:
You've given us a wealth of information there. Thanks for taking this time out of your busy life to chat with us, Pamela.

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Pamela Wilfinger - editor@inscriptionsmagazine.com
Editor of Inscriptions, The Weekly E-zine for Professional Writers

http://www.inscriptionsmagazine.com