Radix Media

Shawn Wilbur, creator of the Corvus Editions micropublishing project (check out his explanatory posts at Out of the Libertarian Labyrinth), is promoting a crowd-funded micropublishing project at Kickstarter: Portland's Radix Media.

Radix Media is an independent print shop and publishing operation based in Portland, OR. We are dedicated to producing radical literature and beautiful propaganda, rooted in social justice movements. We come directly out of the DIY and independent publishing sector, and we hope to prioritize the needs of folks who are also rooted in this sector.

We are currently raising funds to purchase some new equipment, which will improve our productivity and help out our vibrant community of activists, zinesters, musicians, filmmakers and more. Have you ever grudgingly spent money at Kinkos to make copies of a zine, or flyer for a radical / DIY event? Doesn't it suck to give your hard-earned dollars to a corporation? And let's be honest, those photocopiers make your things look bad. Offset presses make your things look good. Those are pretty good reasons to support this project, right? If not, keep reading.

The average zine printed by independent publishers is around 24 pages, and they usually do a run (often a dozen or so at a time) of 250-500. It costs about 9 cents per page to do it at Kinkos, and the quality is subpar. At the price Radix offers, it costs about 4 cents per page - more than HALF of what that corporation will charge you - and the finished product looks a hundred times better. This price, of course, also includes collating, folding, stapling, and trimming. Isn't that a deal? We think so!

Despite what some people might say, print is still just as relevant as ever, especially in small communities where there is a message to be spread. To this end, it is crucial that small print shops survive, and that the money spent on radical / DIY / creative projects stay in those communities so that they may continue to thrive. We hope you will help make our dream a reality!

If it sounds worthwhile to you and you can afford to help out, please do so!

And while we're at it, the fundraiser at C4SS is running pretty slow. We're only up to $295, 9% of the $3205 we need to raise by the end of this month if me and all the rest of our writers are going to get paid for the writing we did in October.