Tailfeather

This issue of Southern Ocean Review marks the first anniversary of the magazine. Although a quarterly, this magazine represents an almost full time commitment. There is, of course, no funding available for magazines with an international focus like Southern Ocean Review. This is because of the overseas / international content in it. That means the magazine will not attract funding from New Zealand funding bodies. There was a similar problem with print literary magazines in the 1970's. Cave and Edge being amongst them. By the time the 1980's rolled in, there were virtually no magazines with an international focus being published in New Zealand. Our provincialism and isolation had, sadly, been restored!

We can demonstrate the useful effect and influence of Southern Ocean Review in that New Zealand writers have access to a readership far outside New Zealand's borders, through the on-line edition, on the Internet. This is proving to be a real bonus for New Zealand writers whose work is picked up by overseas publications on the Internet. This can, and does help in establishing reputations for writing that are global rather than strictly local. Is this a good thing? Of course it is. Reputations can be almost established before writers take on the Great OE.

As with much new technology, the Internet is pushing the bounds of the existing media. Print publishing has mostly been strictly local in nature. Under the Florence Agreement, books published in the USA cannot be imported directly to New Zealand; they must be re-published in the UK first. The Internet breaks this rule dramatically. A publication on-line is available immediately to over 200 million people, and subscribers to Internet are growing at the rate of 10 million per month. There are problems though. A writer may be well known internationally on-line, but local publishers may be reluctant to 'take him/her on' for the print market, as readers who are not on the Internet do not know these writers. This is a problem which will lessen in impact as the world gets more used to the Internet, and as its use increases, particularly in schools and universities.

There has been a lot of discussion about copyright. Is it safe on the net? Yes, it is, most definitely. The same rules apply as for print magazines and books. The penalties for infringement are just as harsh. Regarding payment for work published, most 'ezines' cannot pay writers because they, themselves, do not get paid. We are publishing a print version of Southern Ocean Review so that, eventually, part of the income from subscriptions will be used to pay writers. In the absence of grants, meantime, we are looking for a sponsor. Also, we have set up our book catalogue at "http://www.book.co.nz" which will be expanded greatly in the near future.

We would like to thank all of our contributors and other volunteers for helping to make Southern Ocean Review the success it has been so far. It is rated very highly amongst the on-line international literary magazines. We look forward to another year and more, of the publication of fine writing In Southern Ocean Review.

Trevor Reeves and Judith Wolfe, Editors.

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