I S S U E T H R E E
Print is dead they say. I say it’s undead. Its presses and minions work behind corners and veils, mysteriously creating the only clues to it’s continued existence: the page. In Lugosi fashion, it lures in innocent passersby charming them until they have fallen dangerously and happily under it’s spell. Print is undead and will haunt us forever.
Joshua Duchesne Editor in Chief
CREATIVE DIRECTOR. EDITOR IN CHIEF. JOSHUA DUCHESNE joshua@archemag.com
COPY EDITOR.
ISSUE 003 11
KICKING ASS & PRINTING BOOKS Annie Koyama shares some thoughts on small presses and her come up.
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WORDPLAY The beautiful and terrifying world of self-publishing.
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THE NEW “PRESS” The term has evolved. We explore how with new presses NO FUN PRESS and YO SICK ZINE.
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READING IN THE FUTURE Beyond the page; beyond the screen.
HEATHER PIERCE heather@archemag.com
COMMUNITY EDITOR, SALES & DISTRIBUTION KATIE YANTZI katie@archemag.com
WRITERS & CONTRIBUTORS ROBERT IVENIUK ANNIE KOYAMA NO FUN PRESS YOSICKZINE RAMONA PRINGLE TAMARA LEVITT CHRIS ENG GENERAL INQUIRIES contact@archemag.com
SUBMISSIONS & CONTRIBUTIONS If you’re interested in contributing please visit archemag.com/ submissions for details.
UNDEAD PRINT A letter from ‘Archie’ THANKS
Lea rn mo re ab o u t u s. archenemymagaz in e.c om
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KICKING ASS & PRINTING BOOKS. Annie Koyama of Koyama Press shares her thoughts about indie publishing and her come up. //////////
INTERVIEW
: I’m a little nervous!
money and you had a good job. So I had
see her range. So I did a whole batch of
that nest egg, but then being sick for a
those and then—it’s long sold out—but Trio
ANNIE KOYAMA: Oh no, don’t be at all!
long, long time I was bored so I played
Magnus: Equally Superior was the first book
I noticed your first question which
the stock market. Because I had money I
I did with three illustrators. I found
I’m asked all the time and I’ll answer
felt comfortable taking a risk—that’s a
Clayton Hanmer—he’s a hilarious guy and he—
because you have a different readership
thing we’ll come back to because people
and you’ll have a bunch of people who
are always interested in that since I find
don’t know about us. Am I right?
the particular business I’m in now there
: I’ve met him! Our first official Issue [Issue 001] we—
is not a lot of risk taken. People are : Well I think our readership is more
afraid to take risks for various reasons.
AK: Oh, Pen Club!
likely than not to know about you. When I got better I didn’t go back to film AK: Oh, okay, cool. Well then I run
because by then… I hadn’t gotten into film
the risk of boring some people…
until I was 30 and it’s a young person’s
: Well, we can always decide to exclude it so don’t worry about it.
: Yeah! We went to Pen Club and we talked to Clayton and Steve…
business. I have lots of stamina but those
AK: Did you meet Aaron Leighton?
days are long. So I’m like, “After 10 years
’Cause he’s very key to my operation.
out I don’t think I want to go back.” So
Aaron’s got the clear glasses and
instead, what can I do? I’ve got this money
very good posture. [Laughter]
AK: So do you- well, I’ll let you
so I don’t have to worry about paying rent.
lead. Oh, so do you want to know
I don’t really want to travel now because I
how I got started? [Laughing]
still have health issues and there are some
: Oh, yes. Yes, I did meet Aaron. [Laughter]
places I can’t go to ’cause they don’t have :Yeah. [Laughing] We’ll start there.
good hospitals. So what am I going to do
AK: He’s so wonderful ’cause he designed
instead? [I’d find] a particular artist and
my logo. I worked with Clayton on a couple
AK: I’m actually a film producer by trade but
work with them—give them a project whereby I
things and I went to Pen Club after they
I got sick and I couldn’t work for 10 years.
would fund the project. So if you wanted to
invited me along and it’s like, oh my god,
Before I left advertising, which is where I
do some letterpress prints for me/with me,
these guys! They just doodle and drink
ended up in the film world after [making]
you do the work, I’ll pay to get them printed
beer, then they pass their books around—
documentaries and then features, I had made
or whatever and then I will give you all the
or not. The books were amazing and they
a lot of money because it pays well. So I
proceeds. You’d give me a few and then you
still are amazing so I said, “Hey you guys
had planned to take a year or two off and
get to keep, you know, if you did ten of them
you should do a book of these doodles
just fuck off and just travel. Can I swear?
give me two. You can then sell those eight
especially the ones you guys do—the three
and keep all the money from those eight. So
of you together.” We all thought it was a
it hasn’t cost you anything but your time—
good idea but none of us knew how to do
: Totally.
it. Clayton was the smartest ’cause he AK: Okay. So, then I got sick and I couldn’t do it, so the good news is
: And you’re getting artwork from artists you like.
I had that nest egg and you know…
had some kind of production background so he certainly helped us and we figured it out. We made a beautiful book! Then I sent
AK: Well yeah, but it wasn’t really about
them to Tokyo to this show called “Design
If you went through the ’80s and you made a
me getting artwork, it was more about them
Festa” and—here’s the thing when you don’t
lot of money you sort of bought everything
getting a step up and out there. Maybe
know anything about publishing—I got them
you wanted to buy ’cause it was a mental
someone might not know about Melinda Josie
to send 100 books from China where it was
time, I’ll tell you. A really unhealthy,
aside from her being a wonderful illustrator,
printed over to this show, which personally
you know, super-fun, everybody had money…
but now look she’s done these amazing
I didn’t know a lot about but it sounded
you were foolish if you didn’t save some
letterpress prints and, you know, you can
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WORDPLAY THE BEAUTIFUL AND TERRIFYING WORLD OF SELF-PUBLISHING ////////// ROBERT IVENIUK
W
riters who are blessed with the ability to constantly create stories are in turn cursed to walk the earth in search of the right venue for their ideas. For every story accepted, a countless number get rejected every year. What hurts is when the stories
that get turned down are ones the authors have put their heart and soul into and care about deeply. It’s then that an author, desperate to have her story heard, turns to other avenues.
The most common route taken is self-publishing: the act of printing off copies of one’s work, and either selling it online or distributing it among different bookshops. Such a venture is a gamble
as
aspiring authors use their own money for paper, ink, and cover art. If the book sells, the authors easily earn back their funds. Unfortunately, the struggling creatives often end up deep in debt.
Toronto itself is a hub of aspiring artists and writers fighting to make themselves known to the world. In response, some businesses—such as Roncesvalles’ Another Story—make it their onus to not only sell mainstream books but also books by locals. For the past twenty-seven years, Another Story has made a name for itself by selling independent books from small-to-medium-sized publishers, as well as from individual talents fighting for a space on bookstore shelves.
“We get two or three calls a day from self-published authors,” owner Sheila Koffman explains. “We simply can’t take them all. People tend to look for familiarity, and self-published authors don’t get any press at all. Usually their books are sold to all of their friends, and that’s as far as they go.”
“Local authors who promote themselves are welcome, though. If they’ve raised enough attention, then by all means. However, their politics must sync up with ours. We’ve had people come in with books praising colonization, and we’ve had to tell them no.”
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THE UNIVERSE GIVES EXACTLY ZERO FUCKS IF YOU DON’T COMPLETE YOUR PROJECT. 24
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The term “press� is going through an evolution. Is it still just about paper? We talk to NO FUN press and yo sick zine about how the term has changed and what it means now. //////////
interview
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: So this coming issue is about small presses and self
: So are you going to stand and do your thing?
publishing. Yo Sick Zine sounds like a zine press but you make a lot of other stuff. This is something you have in
NF: Yeah, I have to get into this mail.
common with brands that also refer to printing presses in their name like No Fun Press or Explorer’s Press.
: Let’s start with talking about Blood of the Young.
YS: Yeah, my friend, Brendan Megannety, does Explorers—
NF: [Laughing] Where do you want to start with Blood of the Young?
: Oh, yeah? You know them?
: Just to give some backstory on why I want to talk to you.
YS: Yeah, Chunks is like—everyone calls him Chunks but his
NF: Okay well, Blood of the Young (BofY) I started with Dimitri
name’s Brendan. Yeah, he’s a friend of mine. He used to do
Karakostas in 2008? Like a while back! I was living in Vancouver
stuff under that name and had an online store called, “Chunk’s
and we had known each other from being in the punk and hardcore
Bodega,” and then he was just like, he quit his old job and
scene here. We just ended up talking a lot online and realized
was working as a screen printer. He was printing, making more
we’re making similar work… it was sort of like an organic way to
stuff and was like, “I’m going to rebrand it and do it under
trade stuff without having to wait for the mail.
Explorer’s Press and he’s like, “I just find people, like, gravitate towards a title as opposed to just, you know, my
We started this blog and it kind of just blew up into this whole
name. And I can do other stuff with other people...” He was
other thing. I’ve been doing No Fun since then, which is taking up
making those patches, those really iconic, “Set No Path”
all of my time.
patches. He was just making them to trade with people. : When did you start it up? He does that full time now. That’s his job. He quit his job and he was like, “I’m making more at this than my
NF: I started sort of near the end of 2011. I was living back in
day job and I can focus all my time.” He moved back to
Aurora in my parents’ house. I couldn’t find a job because I was
Vancouver and he’s killing it, it’s crazy. Through him I
in Aurora and that’s just awful being in the suburbs.
met Reilly who runs No Fun Press who was previously doing “Blood of the Young,” with my other friend Dimitri who...
:
Aurora is like extra-suburbs.
actually Dimitri works at a bar just down the street. NF: Yeah, [laughter] it’s like extra, really-nothing-going-onI started making zines like six, five or six, years ago. It was
there suburbs. I was fishing for grants instead of getting a job
just a lot of my drawings and photographs. Started off just being
because there was no jobs and ended up getting this student,
BMX stuff ’cause that’s where I kind of came from. I just kind of
summer company, entrepreneur grant where they give you money to
kept going with it. Evolving. I could incorporate other people’s
start your own company for the summer instead of struggling for
stuff but it was like, 90% of the time it was just my work. It
half the summer to find a job. My initial plan with that was
was a way to put your own work out there without having to use
to just funnel the money into BofY and doing zines, but they
your name, without having to get a lot of attention on yourself.
stipulated it had to be a new project. So I started No Fun as a
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BEYOND THE PAGE; BEYOND THE SCREEN ////////// KATIE YANTZI
W
hen Gutenberg first invented his
some bibliophiles have in making the switch to
printing press, he probably had no idea
digital libraries. But screens are becoming
that printed materials would remain
increasingly popular; in 2013 BookNet Canada
the dominant media for storytelling for over 500
reported that about 15% of Canadian book profits
years. There is something tangibly appealing
came from those sold in electronic formats.
about reading a story through paper and ink, or so most die-hard book lovers will passionately
How does the screen change our reading
tell you. This is perhaps part of the hesitation
experience? Is this evolution of books and
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the extinction of print inevitable, and what
demonstrating how connections in the digital
does it mean for the future of the book? Are
world actually foster connections in real life.
ebooks the way forward, or is something new Avatar Secrets is an “interactive documentary,”
and different just waiting to be discovered?
made especially for the iPad, that just launched in
Multiplatform innovation
the app store this October. It features interactive
There are plenty of innovators out there when it
hotspots the viewer can make use of while going
comes to books and stories. Toronto’s homegrown
through the story by tapping and swiping. Beyond
Ramona Pringle and her new multiplatform project,
that, the medium is difficult to classify: is it
Avatar Secrets, is just one example. A digital
an ebook, or is it a film? “It’s kind of both and
journalist, media producer and Ryerson professor,
it’s kind of neither,” says Pringle. “It’s a film
among other things, Pringle had had the idea for
in that it’s been commissioned by [TVO] and that
Avatar Secrets on her mind for several years.
it has cinematic content inside of it.” As far as the experience of Avatar Secrets goes, however, it
Having experienced a true sense of community
was largely informed by the immersion we experience
through online gaming forums, she wanted to
with books and the user experience of ebooks.
explore the relationship that humans have with technology and how it fulfills our desire to
For Pringle, leaving the distinction blurry
be connected to one another. With documentary
is fine, and so the project’s format remains
leanings and a combination of cinematography
in an ambiguous state. “To me, this is
and hand-drawn animations, the narrative has
less a matter of format and more about the
multiple threads: Pringle’s own journey of loss
experience…. What’s the same is that it
and healing, the stories of a myriad of gaming
all comes down to story.” Ultimately,
communities, and commentary from a pool of
creating the right experience was the most
experts on our digital behaviour, ultimately
important factor. A lot of time was spent trying to decide which medium would be best to
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THANKS, TORONTO & Annie Koyama No Fun Press / Reilly Hodgson Yo S i c k Z i n e / P r a s h a n t G o p a l Ramona Pringle Ta m a r a L e v i t t Chris Eng Indie Publishers Makers Villains
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INDIE PUBLISHING THE NEW “PRESS” FUTURE READING TORONTO
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ISSN 2292-7107
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