Welcome to another splendid edition of the Bosphorus Review. 

We hope you enjoy the contents of this, our last edition of 2019!

With the end of our third year as a journal on the horizon, we have decided that having gained a readership that extends far and wide from our chaotic abode and having published the works of some ground-breaking authors – both established and unpublished – that it is time to upgrade the way that we operate.

When considering areas of improvement, it was impossible not to recognise the simple fact that despite being proud of the fact we are a labour of love and have been publishing work without any capitalistic designs, that we should be helping our contributors with a monetary reward.

We will proudly continue to operate on the basis of love of our literary community, but we are now  producing stories, poetry, and fiction at a high enough level for us to step up into the semi-pro world.

I am extremely proud of the work that we have been producing and I’m always really excited to publish a new edition of the magazine.

There is more to life than money and I’m not totally convinced that everything in life should be commodified, but the truth is that artists deserve to be paid for the work that they do. I write fiction, so I know how long it takes to write even a short story. Equally, I am aware of the trials and arguably more painful pitfalls of having submissions rejected. An arduous, if inevitable process, as anyone in the arts can attest to. It only seems fair that the people who put so much into this should get a little more than just publication. 

That said, Liam and I have decided to ameliorate this in a way that can please everyone. We knew we wanted to raise some money to give to our contributors, but there were a couple of ways we could go about it.

Obviously, we won’t say no to having a wealthy foundation donate large piles of cash to help our endeavours, nor will we rule out marrying an elderly billionaire each. However, whilst the former idea is ultimately unreliable, short-sighted, and hard to come by, we have neither the age nor the physical shape for the latter to be considered a reliable alternative. Another proposal came in the form of advertising revenue, but we relish our simple layout, and know that having our margins plastered with advertisements for League of Angels V, miracle money-making schemes and hot singles are contrary to the ethos of a quality site. Lastly, we instantly ruled out the idea of gating content. The Bosphorus Review has always been a free magazine and we believe it should stay that way.

That only really left us with one remaining option: We have to crowdfund this. I have always thought that the way that platforms like Patreon and PayPal let creators interact with their audience was a really exciting development, allowing creators to by-pass click-bait fuel for the adbot villains of our time. 

It seemed to me a really refreshing chang, the modern equivalent of busking or handing the jar round after poetry slam. 

A great example to us came in the form of William Armstrong’s Turkey Book talk podcast, which is one of the best resources if you want to understand Turkey in English. I’m not sure that William would be able to do what he does if it weren’t for the direct funding he receives from his audience. It is certainly not a project that one of the big podcast companies like Gimlet is going to pick up, it’s too niche. But none-the-less, to many, it is a cherished source of joy and intellectual stimulation.

I think we fall into a similar category. That is why we have set up a Patreon account to fund the Review as we move forward. 

There are multiple ways to run successful Patreon campaigns. The first is to have a complex multilevel rewards system by which, if you pay more, you get treated to the bonus of tote bags, live shows and extra content. That is a nice way of doing things and, if in six months things are going well we might consider that. However, I feel that simple is better to start with. So we are having a minimum payment of $5 to support our magazine. Though if anybody feels they want to chip in more, we would be indebted! Payment will not be monthly, but with every edition, and subscribers are free to pay as much as they like for as long as they want, with no extended commitments. 

 So what are we going to do with the money raised? The answer to that is simple: Share it with our contributors.  

We plan to take any money raised (excluding Patreon’s percentile and other out-goings such as the fairly reasonable domain costs) and split it equally between contributors for each edition. 

For instance, if we obtain $300 in donations and our edition for that month involves the work of 20 contributors – including our all-important cover artists – then this would allow us to give each around $10. It is not very much money, for sure, but as the Review continues to grow and expand, we hope to be able to pay out more, allowing us to ever expand the pool. 

 We aim to make the January 2020 edition our first that pays to our contributors. 

None of this is totally set in stone. This is an experiment. We might not be able to raise enough money to pay even $10 dollars to our contributors, though that is our conservative aim. If it is an overwhelming success, however, we may even have more money to dole out! We will keep working on it. 

Whatever happens, Liam and I are more than willing to be as transparent as possible with any readers, contributors, or those simply curious about how the process is functioning as it unfolds. 

That said, if you want to contribute or know anyone who is interested in supporting independent arts and literature in Istanbul, then look out for the Patreon link on our site and on our social media.

Thank you for the support,

İyi okumalar,

Luke Frostick