We asked YOU – the readers, writers and artists of Here Comes Everyone – what the magazine needs, what’s it worth and what should it look like in the future?
Please see the results below and let us know what you think and if there’s anything we might’ve missed!
Thank you to everyone who voted in the project!
Q1. 
Stories tipped the balance here as our readers are clearly fond of a solid yarn and quality poetry. It was also heartening for publisher, Silhouette Press and the HCE crew to see that our themes are popular and are inspiring readers and contributors alike!
The magazine is increasingly receiving excellent submissions of artwork so we expect this figure (0%) to rise if only by the number of featured pieces!
Q2.
This question begged of you to tell us where and how we’re going wrong (if at all) and where we might improve HCE inside and out. Interestingly, 20% voted for website improvements and after a year and a half we are keen to upgrade www.herecomeseveryone.me.
Other votes err on better production values, such as typos, design and a higher quality printed magazine. This really hits home on other Qs inthe survey, particulalry as so many literary magazines struggle to maintain a print run and exist purely as blog-based websites.
2013 has seen significant growth within the HCE publishing team, as everyone grows in experience and skills, we aim to make the magazine bette with every issue!
Q3.
On the surface, this may seem like a rather frivilous point of enquiry, but as with many not-for-profits, Silhouette Press and HCE rely upon a diverse range of products to cover our costs, items we see more as (literal) badges of honour and trophies for our competition-winners.
Stationery has raised a few eyebrows, though it is encouraging to see how studious and old-school some of our contributors are! Great to see that our badges remain popular – look out for new designs very soon!
There also appear to be numerous caffeine addicts amongst you requiring chic beverage receptacles, as ever, we find ourselves in good company!
Please remember, you can order bespoke coloured SP and HCE T-shirts from our online shop!
Q4.
This was interesting. We made a general point of uniting our readers and contributors, as the two are often bound together by themes – what’s the point in writing stories that no-one wants to read?!
The HCE team have previously opened up submission themes to votes. A few issues ago, both Blood and Water charted highly, here, not at all – perhaps people seek more concrete topics?
Regardless, people seem sick of War, the City and Gender appears done and dusted. Contra this, people remain be intruiged by Political comings and goings (scandal), Death (it lingers), the very open-ended notion of Transformation (thanks to Ben Nightingale for this one) and increasingly time has played upon people’s minds – be assured, these votes are duly noted so expect to see these themes appearing in one form or another in due course before the end of the world providing we are not hauled before Parliament .
Q5.
This is always a thorny issue for low print-run, high cost, top quality art zines. How much is art worth, why should people fund it and who wants to read it?! HCE magazine currently retails for around £5, we believe this is reasonable, relative to the quality of contributions we recieve, the willing desire of SP to provide an alternative forum to the literary status quo and the fact that many of our contributors and readers are fervently loyal and ever-supportive (which you cannot really put a price upon).
However, in the interests of growing egality, there is a clear desire for HCE to be priced within the £3-4 bracket. This is great in terms of presenting us with a challenge to sell more copies, engage new audiences and promote our contributors as much as we can – a target comes into view.
If you have any queries or additional comments to the results of our survey – you can email adam.steiner@silhouettepress.co.uk or the HCE Editor, gary@herecomeseveryone.me.
ONWARDS!
