When you start a business, you must know several things. One of the most important, in our opinion, is your message. We’ve known Lemon’s from before the very first issue. It was meant to be a space for respectful discourse revolving around fandom. And it really was that simple. We wanted fanfiction, fanart, and really any fan-created content to be taken seriously and viewed as a serious and legitimate form of self-expression. We still do! The only problem is that fandom wasn’t ready for Lemon. We’ve been told for far too long that this thing we all participate in is childish, immature, and, frankly, stupid. It isn’t worth our time, our money, or our energy. Fandom believes all these things about itself too, unfortunately. And it’s hard not to. We get it, but we’re not giving up either. We believe very strongly in this idea. We know it can work, but maybe the magazine format is too clunky for fandom. It’s getting so long each month it’s like sitting down to read a novel, which is crazy. We know you’re out there, though, reading away anyway. We get 1,000+ downloads on every single issue now.
We never believed we had a perfect product, though. We don’t think you can and run a business. And yes, Lemon was and is a business. Sure, the subject matter throws people for a loop, but it’s not a “hobby” or a “project”. It is a business. Which is why we know sometimes a change is in order if you went to survive, and we do. Basically, we asked ourselves how we can ask fandom to believe it was a valid form of creative expression if we weren’t practicing what we preach. And the answer was we can’t.
So, without further ado, we’d like to introduce The Citrus Scale, LLC. We are a news and media company focusing on fandom dynamics, cosplay, writing fanfiction, and more. We will still be offering fandom news analysis, articles, interviews with all your favorites, and feature all the best fan-created content on the Internet. We’ll just be doing it without the magazine. We will also be adding a YouTube channel and website that we hope will be your go-to stop for free writing resources, the most up-to-date and relevant news, and an open-minded community that believes fandom is legit, damnit!
But you’ll have to play a role too. In order for us to know what you like, what you don’t like, and what you want us to feature, you have to tell us. This part isn’t optional and it costs you nothing, other than a negligible amount of time. You already spend your free time here anyway. We just need your honest opinion on the content. This venture was meant to be a reflection of all of us. We can’t do that if you continue to lurk. If you do, it’s like we’re talking to ourselves, and if that’s all it’s going to be, we can do that without the extra effort. Please don’t take this as a threat, our subtle version of ‘if you don’t give us feedback, we’ll take it all away’. But the reality is that if you don’t support the content that you want to see, it will disappear eventually, because it appears as though that content isn’t enough to engage with. As creators, we take that to heart and assume that means we’re doing it wrong. We will continue to find what works best, but we can’t do it alone anymore.
We understand the confusion and apprehension. Most people don’t want you to criticize their work. However, and this is important, this is supposed to be a space for discourse. We have to have a conversation to make this happen, and we’re well aware not everyone thinks like us, and that’s more than okay. That’s how we grow, learn, and move on. We want your voices. All of them. We don’t want to just hear what we’re doing right, either. We want to hear what we’re doing wrong too, as well as what you want that we haven’t delivered yet. As long as your criticism is constructive, we’re prepared to listen. You can get in touch with us through any of our social media accounts. We would also love it if you would join our Discord server and give us feedback that way. The Discord server acts as a forum for all of our announcements, and for interacting with other fans just like you.
Now to the fun stuff! We’ll still be doing monthly themes, and Marvel’s starts on August 1st. This will include daily releases of infographics, fanart, interviews, and more. We’re just taking apart the magazine and making it easier to digest. In fact, this move will allow us include even more content. As we wait, though, we’ll be doing a grand opening week for The Citrus Scale! We’ll be hosting giveaways, playing games, and having surprise guests, so stay tuned for more announcements!
The Citrus Scale, like Lemon… only bigger. ;)