Personal Letter from The Editor

I haven’t written you a letter since issue 5 because you come here to read awesome indie works, not my ramblings. Also, there’s a hope that the infrequency of my letters will imbue them with “special” gravitas and cause you to read them in full… hope springs eternal. Anyway, if this is your first time here, “Welcome! Take a look at some of the great works that are already here and know there’s more coming very soon.” If you’ve been here before, “Welcome back! There’s exciting new things on their way.” Here’s an update on what’s happening behind the scenes.

Giving a Damn and Core Values

Those of you who follow Unheard know that massive changes have taken place at a fundamental level. The magazine has gone from being a free PDF and paid Print Edition to a full-on website. There are many reasons for this change but the primary one is staying relevant to authors and readers. Staying relevant to authors and readers means being accessible where anyone can find great work, enjoy it and share it with friends. Unheard’s original publishing model wasn’t providing that service and thus put the magazine in danger of becoming irrelevant.

Print vs Digital

I love print. I was trained in print design and I am far more at home designing for it. If this was a mere vanity press, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. However, Unheard Magazine is about getting indie short stories and poetry that (I feel) deserves to be heard in front of readers eyeballs. Since I am not a giant publishing house with financial resources, the only way that’s going to happen is making your work easy to find and read. Like it or not, digital publishing is the best way I know of to do that. By becoming digital, everyone can now Google search you, read everything you’ve ever published here, bookmark your work and find your website. (Unheard isn’t about trapping your readers here.)

Technical Crap

The old address UNHEARDMAG.COM should finally be redirecting correctly now. I also might make visual changes to make the site easier to read and navigate but that is for the future. Still, if something is frustrating you, please email and let me know.

Owning Up to My Shortfalls

If you’ve read or participated in this publication more than once, you know I am running this show with very little help. (Maybe 1 or 2 extra people when they have the time.) You also know how freakin’ long it takes me to respond and update anything. That’s not very awesome of me. I am changing that. While I can’t promise to write you all the time and become your bestest friend, publishing through this website, rather than PDF issues, means submissions no longer have to be held for weeks while I design everything. Contributors will still receive a form email telling them that everything worked when they submit but acceptance or rejection emails will happen much more quickly. (Something that used to hardly happen at all.)

And Finally

Damn, this thing has gotten long. If you’ve read this far, thanks for taking the time. If there’s anything I want you to take away form this (long) letter, it’s that I give a damn about indie writers trying to get published. Unheard Magazine is a labor of love created and maintained by one guy and several wonderful volunteers who are real people. Please read the awesome stuff other real people have contributed, share their work with your friends and maybe submit some of your own.