Creating an online VAHerps Magazine?

I got to thinking about putting out our own (online) magazine. I think it could be great fun, we have a wide variety of breeders and owners here of everything from royal pythons to unusual geckos. I am a photographer and can lend my skills for good pics, also been published several times. I have the software for DTP (although my skills are perhaps not as good as they could be) so with some time and a little money, I think it would make for a fun project.

What say you?

I think it would be pretty fun but I wouldn't have much skills to contribute. I've laid out and designed some newsletters for work but my writing skills are subpar. I'd be glad to help where I can

I can play editor as well, providing people who contribute wouldn't get upset with their work being edited, but I am also happy to turn that over to someone else if they feel they are better/more qualified for it.

Let's see who we can get, and then we can start a shared dropbox/google drive folder for submissions. I'm not sure who started this website, but we'd need his/her permission as well.

Focal started this website... I think he is ok with it lol... Also I wouldn't mind helping our where you need help...

I'm all for it!

My life is crazy busy in general but I have done some writing for Reptiles and a few others in the past. I could possibly contribute if I have advance notice.

OK, here's what I'd like to do, have a front page ad looking for articles/pics (I'm happy to retake pics for free if they are in Richmond, but for out of that area, I'd have to charge for gas money) to be e.mailed to me and I will gather them up and start work on the first magazine.

What kind of articles are you looking for? I mean I can take pics of a specfic reptile and tell you about him/her and do something like that, or just send a BUNCH of pics of everyone...

Like any magazine, I was thinking about it being informative, as well as pretty. So if you have a specific reptile that has unusual care requirements, you do could an article on that.

Or the breeding of ball pythons, how to breed out a certain trait, the origins of all the morphs, etc.

Sounds like a neat idea. How would the magazine be designed and formatted for distribution? Adobe InDesign to PDF?

Perhaps a scaled back "newsletter" would be an effective way to test the idea?
I like the idea of a genetics section. Other topics could include:
herp related DIY projects
VA Herp research
new morph trends
etc...

Sadly I don't know InDesign, but ultimately it'd be a .PDF
A newsletter might be more realistic depending on how many people what to get involved and add to it

I have always toyed around with the thought of doing an article on herps that do well being kept in a temperate climate and/or montane environment, which is kind of what much of my collection consists of. Native species are a given of course, but many European species thrive with our generally hot summers and warm winters. Even certain "tropical" groups do well with little or no supplemental heating here in the new river valley, such as New Caledonian geckos, montane chameleons, Asian ratsnakes and salamanders, etc. If you are interested let me know and I will start scribbling some notes.
Chip

Absolutely! Let's get this thing rolling!

Well I will start penciling an outline. To forewarn you I have a busy life so this may take a while but it will still be fun.

We have forever for the 1st newsletter, after that, we'll need to be on a schedule ;-)