Initiated by K.A. Anand @kaargocult and J. Arun @SimplyArun.

Free, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.

It has always been said, that the world of internet publishing is much more democratic compared to print publishing. Print publishers have their own way of filtering out what they think is mediocrity, while in the internet everyone can publish. This is good, as everyone can have their say. The downside is that it is multiple people speaking all at once. While some of them who might be telling interesting stories, or who have a high pitched sound, or who have lots of friends might get lots of ears listening into them. There would also be people who have great things to tell, who maybe just because of plain bad luck, have to plead their mothers or sisters to hear their tales.

Blogging or writing is just one such example. The ubiquity of computing power and cheap pirated software has produced another mass of young people who are at the forefront of arts and designing. They maybe great graphic designers, great illustrators, comic artists, but they have to be seen and discovered. They may signup on a site which has lots of other designers, they can also have their own homepage, but what they really need is to be seen by prospective clients. There are salesmen who have quit their jobs and sat in their rooms on their synthesizers, giving guitar lessons and waiting for a break, following their vocations. Engineering graduates who actually wanted to be filmmakers, who have finally rebelled against their families and the society and are struggling to find audience for their short films.

Aahsome magazine is the initiative to start solving this problem. If we just consider the format, that of PDF, a pdf-magazine lies somewhere in between the print and the internet publishing. But combine the format with how the content is gathered, and you get something which has best of both worlds. If you want to show how well you can write, or draw, or sing, or do anything which you would like an audience for, this magazine is for you. Every issue has a predeclared theme. The theme for the first issue out in October 2009 is ‘Freedom’. The reason for a theme is because the content is varied by definition and with a theme everything can be bound together, in a harmonious package.

Submissions

Apart from the fact that you can send in entries authored by yourself, you can also send in links to content which you think have not got the attention they deserved. In that case be sure that it is attributed with Creative Commons 3.0 Share-alike license. This license implies that the author wants people to republish, and adapt their work, while giving a link back to their content. In fact everyone contributor can have a small blurb about themselves with a link to their online presence.

Send in your entries to submit@aahsome.com. Just saying hello? hello@aahsome.com. Both brickbats and flowers are welcome