Prior to the internet, and specifically blogs, self-publishing wasn’t too difficult. All you needed was some creativity and access to a photocopier. Distribution, on the other hand, posed a real obstacle.

A man named Rich Jacobs contacted me earlier this year, asking if I could contribute some of my old skate zines to his art exhibition called “there is xerox on the insides of your eyelids.” I had only published three issues of my zine, called Altered Skates, in 1982-83, primarily to promote a skateboarding series that I was organizing called MESS.

I rooted through some old stuff and dug up the last remaining copies of my zine, which, thanks to Rich, have now made it to London. The sad part of the story is that I sold a huge box of zines and other memorabilia a couple years prior to someone in Florida. I had a collection of approximately 200 skate zines, the first nine big issues of Thrasher Magazine, and the first issue of Snowboarding Magazine (with Steve Caballero on the cover), along with other odds and ends.

I hope to be able to view the exhibition one of these days, since I carried one around with me for years, not realizing the magic contained in that box of paper. I appreciate Rich for seeing the value that I didn’t see because it was so much baggage.

Imagine yourself stuck on cliff (your website) on the side of a mountain (the web). On one side is a wide open sea (traditional media). On the other side, a fast-moving river (social media). You have a stack of index cards and a marker.

You need to get someone to notice you. Planes sometimes fly overhead, large ships navigate in the sea, and many different types of people use the river: fishermen, kayakers, tubers, etc. How are you going to make the best use of your index cards to get noticed?

1. You could lay them out on your cliff to spell HELP and hope passing planes (web surfers) see it. (Message on website)
2. You could write HELP on the cards and throw them into the sea, hoping a ship picks one up. (Press release)
3. You could write on the cards and throw them into the river, hoping one of the many river users sees one. (Social media strategy)

If you could pick only one option, #3 would most likely get you noticed the soonest. Ideally, you should be doing all three, portioning your cards to get the best results for your message. But the person who will most likely climb that mountain to help you down will be someone from the river. Make sure you respond appropriately when that happens.