Happy Birthday, CrimeSpree Magazine!
In honor of the publication’s five-year anniversary, founders Jon and Ruth Jordan interview each other about the birth of the magazine, highlights and what’s gotten easier as time went along:
Ruth:
It's easier for me to put off writing reviews… but that's a bad
habit. I think just about everything is a little easier but really,
until Crimespree I'd never interviewed anyone. I'd led author chats on
line and asked many writers to describe their series for the quickly
defunct Prime Crime E-Zine but an interview? No way. And then there I
was trying to entertain people who were used to and entertained by Jon
Jordan's wonderful, respectful and yet irreverent style. You were an
Anthony nominee for goodness sakes. It was a blessing and a curse that
the first interview was a true hero. Only one thing has been more nerve
racking over the last five years. What's easier for you these days?
Jon:
Doing reviews and getting to the layout is still kind of like homework
for me, put it off till the last minute. I always have the best
intentions, but the books pile up faster than I do the reviews. Reading
is still the easiest part. One of the difficult things is trying to
make the reviews witty and not sound the same. You saw me go into
mental block last night trying to blurb that book.
It's easier for me to put off writing reviews… but that's a bad
habit. I think just about everything is a little easier but really,
until Crimespree I'd never interviewed anyone. I'd led author chats on
line and asked many writers to describe their series for the quickly
defunct Prime Crime E-Zine but an interview? No way. And then there I
was trying to entertain people who were used to and entertained by Jon
Jordan's wonderful, respectful and yet irreverent style. You were an
Anthony nominee for goodness sakes. It was a blessing and a curse that
the first interview was a true hero. Only one thing has been more nerve
racking over the last five years. What's easier for you these days?
Jon:
Doing reviews and getting to the layout is still kind of like homework
for me, put it off till the last minute. I always have the best
intentions, but the books pile up faster than I do the reviews. Reading
is still the easiest part. One of the difficult things is trying to
make the reviews witty and not sound the same. You saw me go into
mental block last night trying to blurb that book.
Layout
is much easier than it was and goes much faster. Part of it's the
faster internet, but I think a lot of it is all the trial and error
with the program we use for layout.
And
after five years it is easier to get the attention of most publishers.
Though some people still think we are just a website and some don't
understand the lead time we need.
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Here's to many, many more years of CrimeSpree – I suspect a great deal of other folks would agree with me.
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