"100% FanBased"

You never know when a wave of inspiration will hit ... and when it does, you'd better be ready to ride it all the way to shore. Sometimes the smallest hint of an idea will grow and ultimately gain a life of its own. On Monday, my mind gave birth to one such idea.

For those of you who've been following my exploits, you'll know about some of the various irons I have in the fire right now. Besides working on my regular writing gigs, I've been busy trying to work on some projects to get Visionary Ink up and running, I've been putting together a pitch for a television show, I've been working on a blueprint for a potential radio show, AND I've been fleshing out a couple of ideas I have for some possible game and comic properties of my own. All of these projects are currently being worked on to varying degrees. Depending on events and circumstances, some of these may never see the light of day. Others may be closer to reality than you think. And who knows what I may get involved with tomorrow. Hell, there may be a slew of other ideas and opportunities just around the corner. You never know ... and neither do I. All of which leads me to Monday's inspiration.

The various projects I've got in the works cover the entire range of formats and subjects. Print, radio, television, and internet are all covered ... as are video games, comics, and other "pop culture" subjects. And while Visionary Ink is a cool name for the print work (hence the "Ink" part), it kind of limits what people perceive it to be. Keep in mind that when the idea for Visionary Ink first came about, I was still cemented firmly in the comic industry ... pushing and promoting projects for different industry pros and the like. Hell, even when I started branching out into video games, I was still pushing the comic industry. So when I needed something to file things under, "Visionary Ink" came to mind. The name fit, and so it stuck.

But now, my career has evolved to cover a wider range of topics. In fact, even Visionary Ink has evolved from a catch-all for my projects in its own seperate project. As a result, I had to come up with a new place to build my ideas. While working on some notes for my GameSpy Comic-Con coverage, as well as some notes for the radio show I'm developing, I made a note that said I wanted to "cover the spectrum of the [video game] and comic fanbase". For some reason, that line stuck with me for a while. And that's when it hit me ...

Everything I'm working on right now is for you ... the fans of the different industries. Video game fans. Comic fans. Etc. It's all about the fanbase. Even my blatent marketing of myself is all about building and supporting a personal fanbase. So why NOT incorporate that into everything I'm doing? I did some planning, some digging, and have now officially come up with "FanBased Media", which will act as the umbrella encompassing each of the independent projects I'm working on. FanBased Media is, in essence, the production house from which these ideas will ultimately spring to life or wither and die. FanBased Media will play host to its own blog, detailing some of the projects in the works. Though if you are a regular reader here at Stacking the Deck, you'll probably already know about things by reading it here first. FanBased Media will also have its own shop with its own unique merchandise (thank you CafePress!!)

So where is all of this going to lead? Hell if I know. But you're all invited to join me on the ride.

All aboard!!