July/ August 1996 Issue #10 The Magazine for Interactive Fiction Enthusiasts My devoted ’zine readers may remember that I’ve been IF-deprived— not to mention sleep-deprived and social life-deprived—because of the book I’ve been writing. I’m happy to report that “The Essential Photoshop Book” (Prima Publishing, ISBN: 0-7615-0695-0) is finally on its way to print. Woo-hoo! :) And just in time too, because I’m glad to be able to join in on the collaborative “let’s make an IF CD” project proposed by Andrew Plotkin on the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.int-fiction. The CD proposal seems a natural extension of a couple of other recent r.a.i-f threads on whether IF game authors can make money and how to market or publicize this game category. Currently, the plans call for soliciting games (each author will receive an equal share of profits); producing a small batch of several hundred CDs (is there an equivalent term for “print run” that relates to CDs?); printing docu- mentation; marketing; and overseeing sales and distribution. I’m way excited about the project and the opportunities it presents for long-distance collaboration. Just by following the newsgroup posts, you can see that there are already IF fans from several different countries and—luckily—with different areas of expertise joining the effort. I don’t know who will be organizing sales, but at this point I’d say if you’re Contents: interested in contributing to the project or placing an order, Andrew Top 10 Picks for IF Plotkin (
[email protected]) should be the point person on that.