As you may have noticed, a great deal has been happening at Pif over the past few weeks. On June 28th, our old hosting provider, Hiway Technologies, purposefully and without warning disabled several of the key programs that drive our sub-sites, Pilot-Search and Zine-X, effectively bringing both sites to their knees. Our tech staff, responded quickly, building a server from scratch over the 4th of July weekend. Within 2 weeks of the initial outage, all Pif-owned domains were transferred over to the new server and pages were again being served.

The move, however, has not been as smooth as we would have hoped. Moving to a new machine, a new operating environment, with new requirements, has made it necessary to re-code nearly all of the internal programs used for everything from the Writers Only Classifieds to the Online Submission Form. Additionally, many of the email addresses used for corresponding with Pif Magazine did not work properly in the beginning: some dumping mail, some mis-routing it, some ... well, we're still trying to assess the ramifications.

On the bright side, 95% of our site is now fully functional. Autoresponders are still not working, so if you're trying to access information about Pif (i.e. the Submission Guidelines) we suggest you use the "Need More Info?" form in the left-hand column. If, for whatever reason, you are unable to find the information you are looking for, or are experiencing a particularly troublesome problem, please feel free to email me directly at richard@pifmagazine.com. Give me a brief explanation of the problem, approximately when the problem occurred, and I'll look into the matter for you.

PS - I'd like to give kudos to Ken Oster, our technical consultant during this period, as well as to the staff at Olywa.net who set us up with a T-1 connection to their Internet backbone in record time. Without their combined efforts you might be reading this issue of Pif Magazine on ... paper?

LACEY, WA - June 1st, 1999 (INB) - Pilot-Search, http://www.pilot-search.com, launches today through the collaborative efforts of Pif Magazine and Zine-X, the acclaimed literary link exchange.

Seeking to push the boundaries of literary searches on the Internet, the staffs of two leading Web sites joined forces in March of 1998 to develop a search engine comprised strictly of literary links. These staffs came together with scholars and writers to bring intelligence and passion to a major concern: How can online users better search for literary Web links?

Pilot-Search.com was the answer. Pilot-Search is a free online search engine that includes over 10,000 searchable links. With over 250 categories Pilot-Search covers Book Reviews, Interviews, individual writers like Raymond Carver, Ghost Writing Services, e-Text, MFA Programs, Screenwriting Contests, and much more. Pilot-Search links to the internal pages of big sites like Salon, Project Gutenberg, and the New York Times Book Review, but it also links to the pages of smaller sites like Georgejr.com, Scribendi!, and the E-Script Workshop. Each day in the Featured Pages section, Pilot-Search spotlights five worthwhile articles or sites. Pilot-Search also has an up-to-date Events Calendar for happenings on- and off-line.

On May 20, 1999, Pilot-Search posted a mockup of the site so users could modify and add links. On that day alone the site received 200,000 impressions.

Users can still add their sites to Pilot-Search by clicking "Add a Site" from http://www.pilot-search.com. Registering all individual articles, literature, interviews, services, and other literary URLs is not only welcome but strongly suggested.

Also, the Internet's premier literary search engine can be accessed from independent Web sites. Webmasters can simply copy the search box code from http://www.pilot-search.com/addpilot.html and give users the power of Pilot-Search. With a Pilot-Search box on a site, continually updating cumbersome pages of links will no longer be necessary.

For anyone wanting to find literary resources faster, Pilot-Search.com is the best starting point online. Bookmark it today!

Zine-X, the Net's premier literary banner swap program, has moved to its new home at www.zine-x.com.

Linking hundreds of quality zines and literary sites across the Web, Zine-X gives its member sites a way to reach thousands of readers, writers, and editors every day. What's more, this highly-targeted exposure is FREE for all members.

Are you a Zine editor? Want to reach thousands of writers world-wide by advertising your site on Pif Magazine, Book Browse, Blithe House Quarterly, Melic Review, Pilot-Search.com - the Net's premier literary search engine - and others?

Then join Zine-X, the banner exchange for zines. It's quick, it's easy, and best of all - it's FREE. Visit http://www.zine-x.com for more details.

Pif, like most businesses lacking governmental subsidies or at least one free-spending millionaire on the staff, has financial needs. "Oh, I so want to help you worthy people!" you say? Fortunately, you can! Let's look at the many ways to help Pif and its writers:

THE DIRECT, CREATE-A-WARM-GLOW-IN-THE-TUMMY-OF-THE-EDITORS WAY:

Sponsorship! Pif really needs Sponsors to help us pay all of our bills. We offer three levels of sponsorship.

• - At the "Friend" level (the rock bottom, starving-artist rate of $12 per year), you get free entry into our annual writing contest and a free copy of our print issue due out in October.
  
  
• - At the "Patron" level ($50 per year), you receive all of the benefits of being a "Friend", plus we'll send you a Pif coffee cup and mousepad (artwork will be posted shortly).
  
  
• - At the "Benefactor" level ($100 per year) you receive all of the benefits of being a "Patron," plus we'll send each benefactor his/her choice of one of our selected "Writing Companion" books. (We also have a special "hidden" sponsor level. At the "Carnegie" level ($1,598), you receive all the benefits of the "Benefactor," plus we'll send you a tape of the editors doing a "happy dance.")

In a sponsoring mood? Go to http://www.pifmagazine.com/sponsor/

THE STILL PRETTY DIRECT, WARM-GLOW-MAINTAINED WAY:

Patronage of our Amazon.com and Reel.com links Amazon.com gives 15% of its already low sales price to "associate" zines. Bookmark our link to Amazon.com http://www.pifmagazine.com/bookstre.htm, and use Pif's link every time you make an online book or music purchase.

Want movies instead? Not a problem. Pif has inked a similar deal with Reel.com, the world's largest video store. Again, just bookmark our link to their site, http://www.pifmagazine.com/vol16/remote.shtml, and use the Reel search box at the bottom to find the best prices in movies around.

We use this "referral" fee to pay our writers and artists. We pay for every word and picture in this magazine - giving our writers and artists something that few other zines on the Net can afford to give. And we can do it because readers like you choose to purchase their books, music, and movies through Pif Magazine's links to Amazon.com and Reel.com. Remember, even if you don't regularly buy these items online, you still help us when you spread the word to friends who do.

THE "IT MAY SEEM LESS DIRECT, BUT DARN IT WE STILL LOVE YOU FOR IT" WAY:

Pilot! Our literary search engine, Pilot http://www.pifmagazine.com/pilot/, continues to grow at a phenomenal rate, and we'd like to thank you. Every time you use Pilot to search for a literary site on the Net you're helping to put food on the table of a starving writer somewhere in the world.

Simply put, the more you visit us, the more we earn (and the more we earn, the more we can pay our writers for their work - something each of them will tell you we desperately need to do).

So feed a starving writer ~ read Pif Magazine and search with Pilot, http://www.pifmagazine.com/pilot/.

"Writers Only" FREE classifieds are up and running! (http://www.pifmagazine.com/writers_only/)

Feel free to post any message you feel appropriate.

Remember, "Writers Only" is meant to be a resource to allow writers and publishers to come together. This isn't the place to sell your '79 Gremlin. Check the categories and drop us a line if you think we need to add more. We welcome your suggestions.

No, we don't want you to send us money (though that's always nice). What we want is for you to think about your shopping habits.

Amazon.com gives 15% of its already low sales price to "associate" zines. It's this "referral" fee that Pif uses to pay its writers and artists. Remember, we pay for every word and picture in this magazine - giving our writers and artists something that few other zines on the Net can afford to give. And we can do it because readers like you choose to purchase their books and music through Pif Magazine and Amazon.com.

So help pay our writers. Bookmark our link to Amazon.com Search Page (http://www.pifmagazine.com/bookstore/anaconda.cgi), and use our link every time you make an online book or music purchase.

It's that easy. And our writers and artists will thank you.

So, you want to write for Pif Magazine. Great! We'd love to have you. Just follow the guidelines

The deadline for our October issue is September 1st, and the theme is Open.

The deadline for our November issue is October 1st, and the theme is 'Politics.'

Now, as always, it's time now sit back, grab a cup of your favorite blend, and enjoy this issue of Pif.