What’s all this, then?
You’re looking at an experiment.
For 11 years — since Aug. 22, 2007, in fact — Nerdvana has been plugging along, first as a blog at Arizona’s East Valley newspaper, then, later, as an independent venture (March 2016).
So, why a print format? Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Consider this “zine” more a virtual print edition — a prototype, or proof of concept. To be honest, it was a way to try and keep my layout skills in practice during a months-long stint of unexpected unemployment, but also something I’ve wanted to try for a long time.
Way back in Nerdvana’s days as a newspaper blog, I flirted with the concept of a periodical collection or digest of content, weekly or monthly, with a print-style cover image just for fun.
Here’s an example from way back in 2009. It was just an attempt at a magazine-style cover illustrating a roundup of links to all the stories in the previous week.
But the idea lodged in my brain, even though I didn’t keep doing it.
It’s hard to imagine Nerdvana has been going for so long. I’m still working on making the enterprise more self-sufficient financially and even, I hope, able to give back to our core contributors. Crowdfunding sites like Patreon are one possibility I’ve been exploring. This will become more pressing with our website services up for renewal next year.
In one form or another, Nerdvana has been helping you find your inner nerd since 2007. Taking ownership of my creation nearly two years ago was something I’d long dreamed of doing and, when it happened, it came about very quickly, with little time for strategizing.
I hope you’ll flip through the new Nerdvana Zone Zine, share it with others, and let us know what you think. As the calendar flips on Nerdvana’s 11th year, I hope we can connect more, work smarter together, and serve our many geeky communities more consistently than ever before.
