Behind the scenes at Queer Out Here
Why did you start Queer Out Here?
The idea for this audio zine took shape in 2015-16, when we were struggling to find media focussing on queer people's experiences of the outdoors.
We knew that queer folk were spending time outside, but we couldn't find any audio-visual channels where we could hear about these people and experiences in one place. There were feature articles in magazines, there were a few blogs, there were people in the public eye who we knew were queer and outdoorsy. Unlikely Hikers was just starting to take off on Instagram, when Carrot Quinn’s Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart was on its way to becoming a queer outdoors classic, but films like Climbing with Pride and queer podcasts had not really started to proliferate. We spent a year or so looking for the kinds of stories we wanted to hear before deciding that if we really wanted to have a variety of queer perspectives on the outdoors collected together in one place, we might as well do the collecting ourselves.
As we are both sound nerds, we were interested in going beyond straightforward interviews (though they're great, too!) to include field recordings, sound art, music, spoken word, documentaries and more. Our hope was (and is!) that the zine format of Queer Out Here would encourage people to create a variety of pieces, exploring and interpreting the outdoors in different ways.
What's an audio zine?
Good question! Dr Ann Jones called us a crowdsourced podcast. We think it’s kind of like listening to an art journal - conversations, essays, interviews and creative stuff of all kinds.
The audio bit should be self explanatory, but why 'zine'? Well, we like the DIY ethos of zine culture. Anyone with a bit of time, a sheet of paper, a pen, a pair of scissors and access to a photocopier can publish something in a print zine, and we wanted to bring a bit of that to the audio world. Many people have access to a phone with the ability to record something, so why not take advantage of that? We also like that zines are a way of publishing content or ideas that otherwise might not get coverage in mainstream media. The rise of podcasting has helped people find niche audio content and connect with other like-minded people around the world. Queer Out Here is playing a small part in helping to connect people who want to explore the outdoors from queer perspectives.
Queer Out Here isn’t a regular podcast. We create standalone issues once or twice a year. Also, while many podcasts focus heavily on the presenter/s, we see our editorial role mainly as coordinators and collators, encouraging and enabling others to create and publish their own work.
Our standard procedure is to open for submissions for a few months. After the window closes, we review submissions and select which contributions we’d like to use for our next issue. We then decide on a running order, write and record our intro/outro and links, and put the issue together. While doing this we also send payments, find and work with a cover artist, do any audio editing needed on the pieces, write transcripts and write up the show notes. We also create, transcribe and post a preview. The time taken between submissions closing and the issue being released can be anything from three to six months, depending on our other commitments.
How does it work?
Who are you?
The two editors of Queer Out Here are Jonathan and Allysse.
Jonathan (he/they) is from Australia, and lived in the UK for a decade before heading back in 2021. He lives with his partner and enjoys gardening, going on long (sometimes multi-day) walks, wild swimming, reading and food. In 2022 Jonathan walked the Heysen Trail in South Australia. He blogs, occasionally, at In Which I.
Allysse (she/they) is French and lives in the UK with her partner. Her usual engagement with the outdoors comes through cycling, microadventuring and the gathering of sound. In 2016 she spent four months cycling around the Iberian Peninsula and has been working on a mission to walk around Wales one day off at a time. You can find more of Allysse’s work on her website.
Allysse (L) and Jonathan (R) on an outing in Gloucestershire, UK, August 2023. (Photo by Dan.)
How is the zine funded?
All expenses are covered by us, personally. We aren’t sponsored and we don’t advertise.
We do believe in compensating people, so we give a thank you gift of £15 for each accepted submission (apart from the greetings/sweepers). We've chosen a flat rate partly because we don’t want people to make longer pieces when a tighter edit would say just as much and partly because we don’t want to spend time trying to judge how much work has gone into each piece. If a piece catches our attention and works for the next issue of the zine, great! We pay £25 for cover art.
Where can I listen?
You can listen on our website or subscribe using the RSS feed.
You can also find full issues on PlayerFM, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and many other apps. We only distribute on platforms that are (a) free for us to use and (b) don’t require a separate upload, so if you use a podcatcher that fits that description and you can’t find us there, let us know and we’ll go about adding ourselves!
We publish our previews on SoundCloud, YouTube and Vimeo. We also publish our sweepers on SoundCloud.
You can chat to us on Twitter and Facebook - or use the little envelope below to send an email.
Maybe you were after the Manchester-based group Queer Out Here Adventures, formed in 2019.