Web-Zines: A New Outlet for API Voice
By Debbi Gardiner

When Korean-born American Ki Han returned to his homeland in 1998, the experience was more cathartic and life-changing than he had originally thought. For the first time, this 29-year-old felt a rich sense of cultural identity, a sense of “fitting in.” Han, a freelance graphic designer, was so inspired by experiencing Korean culture in his homeland that once back in the U.S., he fulfilled a life long dream—creating an Asian American Internet magazine—also known as a “Web-zine,” “e-zine” or simply “zine.”

Called iistix.com (Two Sticks), the site is home to Han’s testimony of his trip to Korea. The site also publishes the life experiences and travels of other Asian Americans. “We try to have something for people to read, content that actually means something to them,” said Han.

Now in its second year, iistix.com has grown from a few hundred readers to 400,000 visitors each month. “Generally there is a 10 to 20 percent increase in readers every month. The site is viewed in 20 countries—Korea, Japan, Singapore, Denmark, Russia and Saudi Arabia, though “70 percent of our hits come from within the US and from Canada,” said Han.

Growth of API online media

Han’s story reflects the largest growth in English-language API media—the Internet. While statistics on API Internet magazines are hard to come by, Bill Imada of multicultural marketing firm Imada Wong Communications fathoms that at least one API e-zine starts up daily. Scott Louie, Arts and Culture Editor at San Francisco-based Pacific News Service, estimates that API Internet magazines probably number in the thousands.

And how times have changed. The number of API Internet magazines out there are staggering compared to just a few years ago. “Two years ago the Internet was thought by many to be too unapproachable for any ethnic voice. When iistix.com started out, we all thought that Ki Han was absolutely crazy.” Louie remarked. “[At the time], the Net was a big niche [market], with lots of government sites and was not for amateurs. Because not everyone was on it, to put an Asian American theme on the Internet sounded preposterous… like a double whammy,” he continued.

A sizeable chunk of today’s more successful API Internet-zines are spin-offs of longer standing API newspapers and magazines, rather than new content sites. Filipinos Magazine, a monthly Filipino American magazine with a readership of 120,000, launched a Web version five years ago that now gets about 30,000 hits per month. “The editorial content is pretty much the same between the online and offline magazine. The Internet version has the current cover story of the monthly magazine. The rest of the articles are from archives,” said publisher, Lisa Yuchengco.

AsianWeek’s web site, which runs main features and archives from previous years, gets over 70,000 visitors per month. Los Angeles-based Giant Robot also runs a complementary web-zine to their pop culture magazine. “We have a web version to our magazine because everyone’s looking at the Internet these days. But we won’t be phasing out the paper magazine,” said Giant Robot editor, Eric Nakamura.

New, separate online ventures

At the same time, some publications are launching online content magazines as separate entities from their print publications. New-York based A. Magazine will be launching an API news service called Aonline.com later this month. According to A. CEO Jeff Yang, Aonline.com will have distinct editorial content, running daily news stories on issues that are not addressed in A.

And some media-savvy entrepreneurs start their API Internet magazines from scratch, as did Audrey Panichakoon and Ellen Hwang of Jademagazine.com, a self-described “high brow,” fashion-focused Web-zine targeting Asian American working women. Then there are the API internet portals, like Click2Asia.com, ZipAsia.com and Asia121.com, which operate like community networks but also run copious daily content on Asian and Asian American travel, fashion, weather patterns in Asia, arts and entertainment.

More remarkable still is the proliferation of smaller, less mainstream ventures that comprise the majority of the new API new media. Louie points to several new zines that target minority Asian American groups such as BambooGirl.com, a community site aimed at lesbian APIs and GenerationRICE.com, a 7-month old API arts and culture Internet magazine.

OrientalWhatever.com, which launches later this year, targets those APIs disappointed with the state of Asian American press. Meanwhile, AngryLittleAsianGirl.com serves not only as a comic magazine but a meeting ground for Asian American women who can chat about times they have been “offended.”

Why enter the API online market?

Building a Web site has become easier over the past few years, which may account for much of the growth in API online media. “Because building web sites is so easy, so low cost and takes no brain power to do it… anyone who has a computer and about an hour of time can have a Web site or Web-zine for free,” Louie said. And the ease of setup has allowed creators to focus more on the content—“which really is the most important thing.”

Another factor spurring growth in API online media is the surge in demand for Asian American-specific Web content. The AsianAvenue.com site—an API community network with 700,000 members—states that the U.S. ethnic market represents nearly one-third of the total U.S. population and $1 trillion of annual purchasing power. And according to AsianAvenue’s editorial team, Asian Americans and Latinos represent the two fastest growing population segments in America.

Internet media advertising sales executives validate these claims. “Asian demographics [indicate APIs comprise] one of highest [population groups], they buy more stuff online, they have the highest education level and they research more online,” said Mark Laing, Senior VP of Sales for Internet portal Click2Asia, which boasts over 500,000 members. “We are all dining out on the 1999 Forrester Research report which stated that 68 percent of Asian American households are online. It validates all that we think about,” Laing said.

Discontentment with the mainstream media also plays a part in the proliferation of API online media. When asked why they launched an online magazine, many Web-zine creators cite the dearth of sensitive yet hard reporting in the mainstream API press. “It’s in the underground [print and online API media] that the issues and problems affecting our community are being addressed. It’s in the trenches that the art and activism is happening,” said Dan Wu, whose print magazine Oriental Whatever goes online later this year.

Sabrina Margarita, creator of BambooGirl.com, said that while mainstream API print media will remain a staple, she launched her Web-zine because there was nothing available in mainstream media for lesbian API women. “I launched the zine in 1995 because I couldn’t find anything to read that I felt spoke to me. As a mixed race Asian woman, who is queer, loud, feminist, and validates her voice in an Asian/Asian American atmosphere …it was very important for me to see my voice reflected in writing somewhere,” Margarita said. Bamboogirl.com states as its mission “confronting racism, sexism and homophobia from the Asian-mutt (especially Pinay) point of view since 1995.”

Where’s the money?

The proliferation of these Web-zines has broadened the content and depth of API media. But the question of whether online media can be a money-making business remains.

According to the sales staff at larger API Web-zines, banner ads and memberships are their major source of revenue. Laing said that on the Click2Asia site, 1,000 impressions—or the guarantee that 1,000 visitors will view an advertiser’s online ads—go for the rate of $50. “But that would be gone in an hour. A typical buy from an advertiser is 30 days at 100,000 impressions for $5,000, and those would come from advertisers like AT&T, Sprint and blue chip companies,” Laing said.

Some executives even say that Internet banner ads are easier to sell than print ad sales. A.’s advertising executive Karen Wang said, “Aonline is going to be an easier sell than A. Magazine in the future due to the sterling demographics we’ve seen that say Asian Americans are savvy with technology and are online more than any other group”.

For larger print magazines, the Web sites don’t appear to be a main source of revenue, though publishers say that that trend is gradually changing. “The bulk of our business still comes from the printed version,” said Filipinas’ Yuchengco. But print media’s Web sites can be very useful attracting advertisers. “Now we are getting inquiries from telephone companies and telecommunications firms about putting banner ads on our site.”

For the smaller API zines—which are largely run by a few people outside of their 9 to 5 jobs—profit remains a far off notion.

Cia B., editor of GenerationRICE, said that she wishes that GenerationRICE was making a profit, because paying her mother back [for business loans] is a priority. ”We’re redesigning for June so we began sending out ad kits to solicit advertising. Unfortunately, our love for GenerationRICE and full commitment don’t pay domain and server bills,” she remarked.

And iistix.com’s Han confessed that although he sells banner ads for $50 to $200 a month, the e-zine managed from his “bedroom” office, is still in the red. “Right now we are dipping into our own pocket. Like any business, you have to put something in before you get something back. We are spending most of our money on postcards, stickers, T shirts and CD’s that we give away as prizes,” said Han. But Han is confident that iistix.com will be ready to approach a venture capital firm for funding later this year. “We are still at the building stage. Still building a core community of dedicated readers and are self sustaining, ” Han said.
BambooGirl’s Margarita said that thus far, her e-zine has registered no profit. But she’s working on it. “I’ve recently started taking ads in order to help pay for expenses. I also have some readers who contribute towards printing. I would love to get funding, but you pretty much need to be a nonprofit organization,” Margarita said.

And she has a point. Some skeptics wonder whether the smaller e-zines can even survive economically, especially since venture capitalists are carefully scrutinizing what is out there. “Now venture capitalists are realizing that ‘we don’t have to give $10 million to everyone who has a business plan written on a napkin,’” said Laing.

Indeed, the days of the lone entrepreneur working out of a bedroom or garage are slowly disappearing. Global advertising dollars go to media with a global reach—“they want to scoop up the whole Pacific Rim. There is less of an interest in reaching Susie’s web site that has just two people working for them,” said Laing.

Anyone can build a Web site, but the e-zines that survive will have to be business savvy. “[The API Internet media] is not an easy space to get into. You really have to know what you are doing and build a community,” he continues.

A united message

But the common sentiment amongst the API smaller zines is that they don’t care about the money—what’s more important is that their message is delivered. YelloKitty creator Sonjia Hyon, 22, said that her zine is in the red. “But that’s not a bad thing per se, because I didn’t really have aspirations to make money off of the print or the web version. Ethnic portals and e-zines have really made [it] possible for people of color to find voices they can identify with or relate to,” said Hyon.

GenerationRICE editor Cia B. thinks the API online community enables APIs all over the country to be part of something cultural. And according to B., that makes her venture worthwhile. “Our mission is to revolutionize the way the Asian voice is presented and inspire our readers so that they may think ‘me, too’ while reading about the information we provide them of the Asian culture and the arts.”

But others aren’t so sure that API online media is poised to make a difference. Editors like Pacific News Service’s Louie see Internet users as passive, rather than active policy makers, and wonder whether the online magazines bring much of a difference to Asian American communities at all.

“I think of the Web surfer as a passive person, who even if they find something meaningful, they would probably not do anything about it,” Louie said. “The Internet doesn’t force anything down your throat; it goes at your speed. And if you aren’t ready to go at that speed, you’re not going to do it,” he concluded.