Q1 - So what is this all about ?
Q2 - I get paid for writing about games ? Are you serious ?
Q3 - Can I write about the games even if I didnt have a Spectrum ?
Q4 - I'm not a professional, what type of review do you want ?
Q5 - You'll just do a runner to the Bahamas with my game reviews and wont pay up !
Q7 - Why do I need a Paypal account ?
Q8 - Will there be more books ?
Q9 - Why dont you create an Oric book of reviews ?
Q10 - Do I get my name in the book ?
Q11 - Once I write my review is it my property still or yours ?
Q12 -I'm King Um Bongo and I have 10 million dollars I would like to share with you.
Q1 - So what is this all about ?
We want to create a series of books for the Spectrum full of reviews. Instead of one great huge 'muvva' which would take forever we'll do a series of books, the first 1982-1984, then 1985-1986 and so on finishing up with a book with games from 1992 and onwards so we can have reviews of a lot of the latest games still coming out for the Spectrum. It should be a great series of books with potentially 800+ reviews of games !
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Q2 - I get paid for writing about games ? Are you serious ?
Well theres a few reasons, firstly money talks ! This project wont be vapourware at all, but the more reviews we get the quicker we can do the books. If we're expecting people to contribute lots I feel you have to give something in return. We're not in this to make a huge profit or anything, we're in this to create a great set of books with lots of reviews in them. With the help of other Speccy fans we can do that and do it quicker than waiting for ages to get 200 reviews for a book.
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Q3 - Can I write about the games even if I didnt have a Spectrum ?
Well not really. You obviously have to have experience of the game on the Speccy, I'm not saying you have to fire up every single game you review but you should have some good knowledge of the game and at least played it a fair bit on the Speccy. No point writing about a game saying 'It looks bad, I think it plays bad' (Well play it then !). Have a look at some of the online Crash reviews for a bit of inspiration, to refresh your memory of the game perhaps and also to give it a quick spin if you can.
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Q4 - I'm not a professional, what type of review do you want ?
Its up to you, we would like to keep a similar type of style, eg the basic intro about the game, what you have to do and then your views on it and also perhaps some of your 'rose tinted views' of the game back in the day as that will jog some great memories for people. We're not professionals either, we want to create a book full of fan reviews, their memories/experience of the game.
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Q5 - You'll just do a runner to the Bahamas with my game reviews and wont pay up !
Ha ha I wish ! Firstly Michael has been running the Rubber Beermat website for manyyyy years and wont do a runner ! I'm a poster on the great World of Spectrum and
Retro Gamer websites. A lot of people know me from those forums and I'm not going to do a runner !
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Q6 - When do I get paid ?
Now this bits serious. You get paid 50p per review, if we use 10 of your reviews then obviously thats a fiver in your pocket. We will ONLY pay up once we have the full reviews for a book. So say we have 200 reviews for the 1982-1984 book then everyone will get paid by Paypal ONLY. I dont do cheques, I'm only doing Paypal just because its much easier. Michael and myself will also be adding reviews but if you can get a lot of reviews done then its more money for you !
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Q7 - Why do I need a Paypal account ?
As I said above, its just much easier. The reason you'll get paid at the END once we have enough reviews for a book just because again its easier. If I send 50p to people every day or so it wont be worth it because of Paypal fees and it'll be complete hassle ! If you earn £12.50 for 25 reviews for the 1982-1984 book then you'll get paid that once we have enough reviews for a book. If you have 10 for the 1985-1986 book but its still not ready then you have to wait until we have enough reviews. You get paid BEFORE we publish it at lulu so we are not waiting to sell a certain number of copies. We might sell 1, we might sell 10. Either way you get paid before. The minute we hit the mark for all the reviews for a single book then everyone gets paid.
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Q8 - Will there be more books ?
Yes for sure. Once we've done the first book (1982-1984) we'll move onto the next book, 1985-1986 then 1987-1988 and so on. We've stuck 3 years together for the first book just because of the amount of games for that period. In the later years of the Spectrum there were many more commercial games released which we want reviewed so it'll be probably two years at a time. We also want to review every game we can from 1993 onwards when the Speccy sadly died a death but there were some great homebrew games such as the games from Jonathan Cauldwell and CEG.
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Q9 - Why dont you create an Oric book of reviews ?
I suggest you try this link.
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Q10 - Do I get my name in the book ?
Yes at the back of the book we have a credits page where your name will appear or your nickname if you want to appear anonymous. We also put your name next to the review in the book, eg Sabre Wulf by Ultimate, reviewed by Pete Smith.
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Q11 - Once I write my review is it my property still or yours ?
Well I must admit I dont want a 'rival' to create a similar type of book and you simply give them your reviews. If you suddenly wanted to create a website full of Speccy reviews then yes you could put them there. Michaels reviews are from his website but obviously you cant easily take your computer to the toilet to view his reviews. With this book you will be able to read it from the pleasure of your armchair (or toilet).
All reviews are owned by the respective writers and you would need permission from those writers to add their reviews to other publications (and so forth).
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Q12 -I'm King Um Bongo and I have 10 million dollars I would like to share with you.
Ha ha very good. You should go and read some of the great anti-scam stories here.
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