Other times, I actually plan to write a post before it pops up on the site. Sometimes for weeks. I know Mer sometimes plans her posts months in advance. For premeditated posts, I write about something that’s been with me for years, like my Skin Two goodbye post. I had a relationship with that magazine since I was 15, and a lot of the things I wanted to say in that post had been things that ocurred to me over the years, things I’ve discussed with friends before, etc. So that one didn’t come out of nowhere. A lot of times, those posts end up really personal because they’re about things that really bother me – like What Does ‘Alt Model’ Even Mean? or that post about MySpace-stalking your old junior high bullies.

As far as guest bloggers go… it’s a different story in each case. I’m not sure if Zo or Mer knew him before, but I met David through the blog; he was one of our earliest commenters, under the name ampersandpilcrow. One day he offered to write us a post, and we’ve been working together on both print & blog stuff ever since. Jerem’s another commenter who was kind enough to contribute a guest blog post. Mildred of course was one of our closest collaborators when we started both the magazine and the blog, but her involvement has tapered off due to extenuating life circumstances (like that Dubai thing & its aftermath). Irene is someone we all knew through completely different channels online. We love her blog. Agent Double Oh No, Wayne Chambliss and Tanya Vrodova are all real-life friends that Mer has brought on board. I’ve only met Tanya, and she’s awesome. Was supposed to meet Wayne in Portland last weekend, but our schedules haven’t lined up. Copyranter (who’s on vacation right now) is someone I’ve never met, just someone whose blog I really enjoyed so I invited him to come on board. Molly is one of those people who we all sort of knew online, who we shared a lot of mutual friends with… she was there the night we all met for the first time, actually. I’m sure that our list of guest bloggers will keep expanding.

Mer, Nadya, Zoe and coilhousers,
How can something be chosen without making points and conjecturing values? Random?!
What would be the pattern chosen? I’m talking about how something in the mind of coilhouse owners and guests are considerated and validated before it turns to a post. Wouldn’t that be preference or elitism? I doubt that everything you think about posting really becomes a post. So what’s going to be of what some of us delivered to coilhouse? How it’s considerated? How can it be approved? Here’s my point: without been individualist, elitist, personal and common-sensed you would have to post everything people give you, to be a honest person. And that wouldn’t be functional. The guest bloggers are friend of yours, right? Is there a guest blogger that was an artist you didn’t knew it and when you found about him you didn’t thought twice before sending him a invitation to blog here? Even that, the validation would be chosen because of the art ones make and not about what one thinks or do or is. Friendship seems like a point of validation too. I know coilhouse is YOURS, you can make your own RULES but I sure know that not been here does not make someone lesser, who think it does is such poor thing. But there is some people that would be glad to be here, I’m on that boat. So I ask if you could say to everyone here how you proceed in your analysis.
What I like about coilhouse is that I can found art, thoughts and expressions I wouldn’t be aware of, without it. Does it mean I like most of what is shown here? No, I like less than half. But as I think coilhouse is a ever-evolving compound I’m estimulated to think about the differences between issue 1 ( some many wasted spaces) and issue 2, so I’m happy I’ve bothering myself here. And how sometimes it bothers me! for the good and every while and then for the worst. I have spent weekends, nights and even days searching things here and if that even means anything to any of you, read this and think and understand it isn’t to much for an admirer to ask for some explanations about that matters. So tell me what matters
Because
Everything is so personal.

So it IS very possible to bring back the magic even when simply trying to be archival. Thing is like high end fashion how does one get it into the hands of those who would appreciate it the most?

No doubt someone could PDF the entire magazine run…but that defeats the purpose. Like classic comics…digital just does not do. So I’m full on for a rebirth of print…if only for the smell alone…the feel is at times better than any humans skin. I sleep near a WALL of books, magazines, etc. so I may be a tad biased to it all…but it saddens me to know this will be the last generation to see some of these works in their original form. I’m nowhere near as hopeful about people sticking with ANY form of print as technology swarms on…look at Amazons Kindle…a sick joke at first but now it looks to be the Model T of how the future may very well look for ALL printed media. Can one even call it that anymore? Once it all goes digital what’s the difference?

Ok that sounded a lil doom and gloom but the seeds have been planted in many that reading a book on their friggin iPhone is the same as one in their hands.

As far as Coilhouse being exclusive or elitist. I can see why some would get that impression. Things is those who feel that way assume and never bother to open a page let alone “step in” to most things. A weird sense of rejection maybe?

The truth as any reader knows is that while the magazine may LOOK like something only a small number would “get”…it doesn’t take much time to see that’s just not the case. None have yet to talk down to the reader…the structure has so far proven to be a nice mix of “Hey check this out…” & “Isn’t this cool?” in a way a friend would introduce it…not some elitist prick being all “YOU haven’t HEARD OF THIS? OMG!!!!”

Even on the blog…which does have some pretty damn cool people commenting, reading, etc. have always kept things open and friendly in ways that you don’t find in many places…on or offline.

Trust me. The day Coilhouse crosses into Pitchfork Media territory the readers will let it be known…loudly…possibly with actual pitchforks to be ironic.

Now if it ever goes into Vice territory…well that’s Seppuku time.

On a side note, I was lucky enough to attend the a paper show in D.C. yesterday, and after talking to some super paper big wigs there, I can definitely say that the publishing/paper industry seems to be doing just fine so far!

People that say things like this aren’t worth your time — I don’t know 99% of the people I see on the streets of the city where I work, and it doesn’t mean a damn thing.

Any one of them could be interesting people — painters, designers, photographers, pimps, hookers, drug dealers — I’d love to hear about any one of them. Simply because they’re unknown to me doesn’t mean they’re not worth “bothering with.”

“someone commented that Coilhouse the magazine felt to them like an exclusive club they weren’t cool enough to get into–to ”

I have to say, I really deeply fear the prospect of Coilhouse projecting an air of elitism or cliquey “cool club” attitude. DO NOT WANT.

The Big Important Question I constantly ask myself while writing/curating/blogging for Coilhouse has always been “is this accessible enough, is this inclusive? Am I presenting this information in a way that will leave the reader plenty of room to enjoy their discovery and ‘own’ the material themselves?”

The last thing I think ANY of us want to do with this magazine is create an air of snobbery, and I’d like to believe that we make a pretty concerted effort to be as inclusive and warm as we can. Snark and satire and the occasional lusty soapbox rant are good too, of course, but at the bottom of everything, there’s got to be a sense of openness, of invitation.

Jon, yes, there were a couple of comments in a thread about Issue 02 on Whitechapel that cause me a great deal of worry. Between the fellow who said [paraphrasing] “I don’t know who any of these people you’re featuring are, tell why should I bother reading this” and the other person who compared our vibe unfavorably to that of a French fashion magazine and then said something like “the perfect Coilhouse would be 1/3 popular science, 1/3 fashion, and 1/3 photography” (basically describing a publication worlds away from what we do, which I would have very little to contribute to), I definitely felt a bit deflated. I’m clinging to hope that their opinions are not those of the majority of our readers.

Here’s the thing: I feel like anyone who wants us to spell everything out for them may be missing the point of what we’re trying to make here. Our priority is to showcase people who aren’t well known, and we don’t want to insult anyone’s intelligence by spoon-feeding them that information. As Nadya said, we always give at least a one-paragraph expository overview of our subjects before getting down to bidness, and whenever possible, we include website information. That way, folks who might want to learn more about a particularly mysterious of obscure artist can go and get a more detailed overview online.

Maybe that’s not enough? Maybe that makes us snobs? I dunno?

This is food for thought, definitely:

“[A magazine] cannot be dedicated to the dissemination of information, because the internet does that better and faster than any printed publication could.”