GFA 2021 Open For Submissions

Salutations to our fellow Gongfarmers, friends, and patrons! We once again lay down the offerings and start the ritual to summon all of you; the amazing authors, artists, editors, proofers, and supporters that year after year help to build the annual gift that will be The Gongfarmer’s Almanac (GFA). The tenets remain the same: The almanac is open to everyone, make content you love, keep it free.

Your new Admin staff: Tim Deschene, Max Moon, and Eric Young are jazzed about running this. We are still on the lookout for people to help us coordinate this year’s endeavor as we get the GFA up and running. If you have editing, artistic or layout chops (or want to learn by doing) we could use your help to bring the community the 2021 edition.

I will try and summarize the process and all the important details below:

Deadlines

5/13 – Registration for all participants using the Submission Form
5/13 – Writing
7/1 – Editing
7/1 – Art
8/1 – Proofing/Layout

How is communication going to work?

Based on the communication avenues that provided the best interactions last year we will be focusing on the following for community notifications:

* You are free to reshare our posts to other social media groups/locations.

How to Participate

Thank you for wanting to contribute! It is because of you that the GFA continues year after year. In order to manage access and maintain people’s privacy we have created a 1-page contributor sign-up form. Simply fill out the form to tell us how and what you would like to contribute. Once submitted an administrator will grant you access to the google drive documents and folders that relate to your contributor role. If you have any questions please contact us. Also, please allow a couple days for us to complete this process. Signing up will also sign you up for our mailing list.

Writing Submissions (5/13 deadline)

The first and most important step is content. We are looking for those who have passionate, original, unpublished Goodman Games-related ideas and want to write about them. This year’s theme is “Make it Gonzo!” Submissions geared towards the wild side DCC RPG, MCC RPG, XCrawl, Weird Frontiers, or Umerica: Level 1 adventures, Character Classes, Patrons, Weapons, Artifacts, etc. That said, and like always, we are open to all types of content: short adventures, new classes, gods, patrons, rules, items, monsters, etc. Submissions should fall in the 200-8000 word range. You will receive an email(s) with the important details. Late submissions may not make it into the final zine. Get creative and lets make 2021 as weird and Gonzo as possible.

Artwork (7/1 deadline)

We are looking for awesome people to contribute original artwork. Some art will need to tie into the articles, but we’ll also be looking for spot art. As submissions start coming in we will be reaching out to see if there is anything you’d like to illustrate, especially pieces authors have flagged with an art request. After signing-up you will receive an email with the important details.

Editing (7/1 deadline)

We are looking for people that want to help edit articles after they are submitted. We can’t do this without you! We will have articles that need editing as soon as they come in. As an editor, you will be responsible for suggesting edits and working with the author to get the article ready for layout, including getting author approval for the edited version of the article. This is all done through Google documents with Suggestion and Comment features. You will receive email(s) connecting you with an author and article from a GFA Coordinator for every article you are asked to edit.

Layout & Proofing (8/1 deadline)

We are looking for people that enjoy and have experience in laying out booklets, zines, and print material to layout the wonderful content into the volumes. We will provide some basic guidelines we wish to be followed. Typically, a Layout Artist will be assigned 1 or more volumes. You will receive an email with details and links outlining everything you need.

Coordination

If you are interested in taking an active role in helping coordinate the GFA, you are Awesome! We are always looking for people who are interested in editing coordination, art coordination, and volume layout coordination. These people play a crucial role in helping the GFA continue for years to come. Please contact us!

You can find resource materials, templates, and guidelines for the different roles on the website’s guidelines page.

When can I get my copy?

We are working on the details for the distribution of the GFA. When more details are known we will publish them here and on the various DCC, MCC, and Weird Frontiers Facebook pages.

Final Thoughts

We appreciate all of your effort and it goes without saying that everyone retains ownership of their work. This zine is not sold for profit; we’re all volunteering our time and talents. If you’d rather get paid for your work, that is totally cool, but this is not the right venue.

If you have any questions please post your question in one of the community social media sites or contact us directly. If emailing, please start the subject with “GFA 2021 – Your Subject”.

Go forth, create, spread the word far and wide, and from all of us in the GFA Community, Thank you for being awesome!

Eric, Max, and Tim
Your 2021 GFA Admins