UPDATE + ISSUE 3 ANNOUNCEMENT
As I’m sure you might have noticed, content has been pretty much paused across the 5.18 website and instagram for the last few months. I needed to take a step back and rethink the best ways to continue 5.18 and best serve the community that we are both inspired by, and aim to inspire with our work. I know there is no such thing as doing ‘enough’ - but I want to try and do the best we can as an independent zine and platform to promote and pay QTIPOC & LGBTQIA+ creatives, and also educate and encourage change in our community and the wider social groups we move in, as well as the industries we work in. It’s important to also remember how performative a lot of media can be - it’s one thing to cast more diverse models, or share more instagram stories…but we really need to be working on significant, radical change at the very heart of our work and make sure that we are not profiting off that in any way (as this negates the whole point).
For complete transparency - 5.18 is moving forwards as not-for-profit. It never has made profit, just to be clear - it’s always been a passion project that at the best of times roughly broke even, but has never made money that hasn’t gone straight back into the artists who perform at our events, or into paying for work featured in our print issues. There’s a lot more work to be done in this area: while we have moved from paying for some print commissions to paying all, our website still remains unable to pay for work featured on it. I haven't yet been able to work around this as the website is free to consume and doesn’t generate any money that can be given to the artists who submit work, however this is something I am actively exploring as truly I believe everything should be paid for in some way and I hope that we will be able to do that as soon as possible. (If anyone does have any ideas in this area - my inbox is always open!)
Our main plan going forwards (and subject to change as I continue to try and make this a platform that is always ready to learn and adapt when needed) is that we are going to go ahead with print issue 3, but work on slightly less commissioned pieces so we can pay the creators better for their work. To enable us to do this, I will open pre-orders for the first time. Every pre-order, will not only pay for your copy to actually be printed, but will contribute towards a fund that will be used to pay the artists who feature in the print. This way, I can pay everyone upfront and be able to afford the printing of the zine - and if there is excess, it shall be kept in the fund to pay future artists for work, be that in print or for events. There is just one person behind 5.18 and I intend to keep it that way for the foreseeable, and put back any money gained into paying artists and collaborators that I work with on things for the zine. If anyone does have any queries about this, or ever has any questions about money or how the print is made / how we pay people etc, feel free to email or dm us at any time! The industry has for so long been able to get away without paying people by keeping an air of mystery around things like pay etc, and I don’t want that to be the case here. I also am working on a way of adding an optional donation to the pre-order, that can be directed towards charities and organisations that directly support QTIPOC and LGBTQIA+ people both in general, and specifically in the journalism and creative industries. This will be finalised by the end of the week.
As well as print issue 3, the website shall continue to share content. As much as I am uncomfortable with not being able to pay for these submissions, I think having a website and being able to share work on a more regular basis is important - and so I think it should continue, with the understanding that whilst it is not paid, website contributors will get offered without question any paid opportunities that do come up, and paid slots in the print magazine if they want it. It’s something that needs to be worked on, perhaps there is options in the way of producing small zines more regularly featuring web content that generate some money for the contributors - I shall keep thinking and trying to see what can be done / ways to make 5.18 beneficial for everyone involved, as well as being a platform people enjoy being involved with, rather than being exploitative in any way.
Issue 3 shall aim to be printed by around October/November. A print date will be released soon but it just depends on how fast we get all our submissions sorted. Submissions will open from now - the issue’s theme will be ‘INCUBATION, METAMORPHOSIS, EMERGENCE.’ Every piece printed will be paid for, however we are opening up a very limited amount of submissions this time so we can pay a better price for all pieces, so please do email us your pitch as soon as physically possible if you want to be featured. We also accept past and finished works, but please make sure it is unpublished (unless you published it yourself / have written consent from a past publisher etc that 5.18 can go ahead and publish it also!) We accept all kinds of work, from writing, poetry, artwork, music features, interviews, photography of all kinds, illustration, etc. If you are a designer or want to be involved by perhaps lending garments, or are a stylist etc, please do get in touch as we can organise linking you up with a team of similar contributors to make some new content for the magazine if that works. We will be prioritising work by Black, QTIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ creatives.
Please email submissions, pitches, ideas and queries to info518magazine@gmail.com, and include:
Your full name, instagram handle, website (if applicable)
The title of the work, and the work or pitch in question
Send images highest resolution, a minimum of 300dpi. Wetransfer or google drive works best
If it’s a finished piece, please include the full names and instagram handles of everyone involved
Thank you so much for supporting 5.18 all this time, and for understanding why we’ve been a little quiet on the website etc for the last few months. I really look forward to growing this platform in collaboration with you all as a community, and seeing the incredible things you come up with for issue 3! Pre-orders will open ASAP and remember to get your emails in fast as we may fill up submission slots fairly quickly!
@5.18mag | info518magazine@gmail.com
