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The Force
Introduction to APAs
Hi. Thanks for your interest in The Force. I hope you'll join up and enjoy many years sharing your enthusiasm with fellow Star Wars fans.
If you're new to APAs you've probably got a million questions, and this is designed to answer many of them. Please contact me with any additional questions that haven't been addressed here.
And by the way, if this big, long introduction looks like a bore, feel free to ignore it and just dive in and learn as you go. That's how almost all APAns learned what APAs are about and it's worked fine so far. But just in case you'd like a little head start on what an APA is all about, here you go...
An APA is an "Amateur Press Alliance" -- a publication put together by a collection of friends or fellow enthusiasts. In this case, we'll be putting together a "mailing" of The Force every two months by having each member contribute enough copies of his or her contribution so that all the members will get a copy.
Each member sends his stapled, collated contribution (or "zine" [short for "magazine"]) to the Central Mailer (CM), who collates all the zines into a stapled mailing and sends the mailings out to the membership.
To share an enthusiasm and to make friends.
Since APAs can take up tons of time and money, only those who really share that enthusiasm and really enjoy the APA forum are going to stick around, but don't be afraid to take the plunge and see if you like it.
APAs are also great places to hone your writing and art skills in front of a generally supportive and constructive audience.
APAs are always going to take up lots of time and money, so be ready for that from the start. But most of the expense you'll run into will come in the duplication and sending in of your own zines, which you'll completely pay for.
You also have to maintain a positive balance in an "account" with the APA. The "dues" you pay to keep that account in the positive will all go toward the expenses of putting out the APA -- staples, envelopes, copying costs for the bulletin and covers, postage to send the mailing to you, etc.
Even with the APA at its maximum 50-member roster, you'll probably be assessed no more than $3-5 per mailing for all those costs (though general inflation and increasing postal rates will, over time, increase the amount).
Each mailing's bulletin will give you a detailed account of the previous mailings's APA expenses, so you'll always be able to see how your "dues" are being spent. There's no sort of "profit" or salary or any sort of financial incentives going to the APA or its collators. All your account money goes toward APA expenses.
So don't think of those "dues" as the major expense of your participation. What will probably cost you quite a bit more is making the copies of your own zine and then paying to send them in to the collator. You'll probably end up xeroxing your zines (mimeoing and dittoing were common 10 years ago but are rarely seen today), in which case our copy count of 60 and a xeroxing cost of 5¢ a page would mean you'd be spending $30 to run off a 10-page zine. Postage would vary from $2-5 (if you had a couple weeks leeway and could send parcel post), to $5-9 (if you have time to send it first class), to $10-20 (if you needed to Express Mail your zine to meet the deadline).
And remember, these expenses come with every mailing you contribute to, and there are six mailings each year.
Contact the CM at Quigonjdi1@aol.com to get details on the next deadline and current copy count, then send in $5 and your stapled, collated zine to the CM by the deadline. The $5 will start your account and will go exclusively to cover your share of APA expenses (postage, staples, envelopes, xeroxing of the bulletin and covers, etc.).
"Spec" copies of previous issues are available for purchase if you'd like to see what you're getting into.
Anything you'd like to (so long as it's not legally obscene, libelous or infringing on a copyright -- if you have a question about this, feel free to ask).
In this case, the reason for all of us getting together is Star Wars, so you're encouraged, but not required, to discuss it. Fiction, artwork, reviews, articles and virtually anything else you'd care to include are all fine.
But remember that this is not a fanzine, it is an instrument of more personal communication. You're not writing for a wide audience but for the specific membership of The Force. "Mailing Comments" (MCs) -- reactions to other people's zines from the previous mailing -- tend to be the liveliest and most effective segments of APAs.
Suggested topics for your introductory zine: your personal background (where you've lived, what your hobbies are, what your family is like, your "significant other," pets, etc.), the history of your interest in Star Wars, your favorite Star Wars movie (or Episode, if you prefer), etc. You may choose to use the sample "Meet The Jedi Knights" questionnaire.
Anyway you want it to, but there are a few general guidelines we suggest you follow:
A. It's not required that your zine be typed, but unless you have extremely clear penmanship and an unusual invulnerability to writer's cramp, we'd suggest you do whatever it takes to get your zines typed. If you're not a proficient typist, you'll be pleased to know that most APAns gain that proficiency if they hang around APAs for at least a year or so.
B. Leave yourself about a one-inch margin on all sides, and most especially on the side that will be next to the "spine" of the mailing (the left-hand margin on the front side of a page, the right-hand margin on the back, if you print back-to-back). If you write to the very edge of the page, some of your words are going to be lost in the spine.
C. Please give your zine a distinctive name (examples of titles from APA history: "Kessel Runner", "Smuggler's Blues", "Padawannabe", "Let the Wookiee Win", "If The Force Moves Me ", "Lethal WAPAn", "Legion 90210", and "In Memory of Fortress Boy") and list that title, plus your name and address (and phone number if you like) near the start of your zine (or the first text page, if you have a cover). As you can see by the examples, the zine titles usually have something to do with the topic of the APA.
D. Staple your zines in the upper left-hand corner, and position the staple "up-and-down," or parallel to the left-side margin. A "diagonal" staple is also fine. An "across" staple will make it a bit more awkward to turn the pages of your zine after it's stapled into a section.
(And no, 1- and 2-page zines printed on a single sheet of paper need not be stapled.)
E. It's always appreciated when you can "10" your stack of zines -- that is, divide the copies of your zine into stacks of 10 and then alternate each stack of 10 right-side-up and then upside-down. This process helps avoid errors during collation.
F. We encourage using colored paper when it's cheaply available, because white zines collated next to white zines tend to "bleed together" and become hard to tell apart.
G. Also, back-to-back copying is generally considered better looking and saves in paper weight, therefore saving the APA and you postage. So if you can get reasonably priced back-to- back copying it's encouraged.
H. You'll be tempted to double-space your zines the way you double-spaced your term papers in school, but you'll find that'll just make them harder to read and take up more paper (driving up expenses), all of which is unnecessary, since none of us are going to be writing corrections and grades between the lines of your zine.
I. Artwork always brightens up the APA, so include as much as you like.
A. Most newcomers' mistakes come when a member forgets that APAs are a forum best- suited to personal, friendly communication. They often prepare materials as if they're writing for a wide-circulation publication and all that work just doesn't pay off in this medium. Generally, more personal levels of communication are easier to write, more effective and get greater response from the membership.
B. Some newcomers have a tendency to critique the APA as if it were a general-interest publication and to come in telling other members what they need to do to improve the "publication." Such critical behavior does nothing to enhance the ideal APA atmosphere of personal communication and freedom of expression.
C. Less philosophically, many APA newcomers don't realize they should staple and collate their contributions, and assume that's the job of the CM. In fact, your zine could be rejected if it's not collated and stapled.
D. Some newcomers are surprised that the deadline is quite strictly enforced. It is extremely rare and even more unwise for a CM to ever hold a deadline because a certain member's zine hasn't shown up yet.
E. Most APA newcomers will underestimate the amount of time and work it takes to actually finish a zine, copy it, collate it, package it and get it to the post office, so they've seldom allowed time for the inevitable problems at the copy shop, or with the computer crashing, or whatever other disaster you'd never expect to happen until it does.
You'll be an exceptional member if you don't at least once or twice miss a deadline in your early mailings because of this. That's one reason why waiting until you're required to get in pages to maintain your membership is a bad idea. If something goes wrong and you miss the deadline you could lose your membership. If you have any additional questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact me.
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