diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 219cc0a..d9e7dd6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,14 +1,16 @@
-ISSUES != find issues -type d
-DEST_PDF_FILES := $(ISSUES:issues/%=dist/issue-%.pdf)
-DEST_HTML_FILES := $(ISSUES:issues/%=dist/issue-%.html)
-DEST_EPUB_FILES := $(ISSUES:issues/%=dist/issue-%.epub)
+DEST_DIR ?= dist
+ISSUES != find . -path "./issues/*" -type d
+DEST_PDF_FILES := $(ISSUES:./issues/%=$(DEST_DIR)/issue-%.pdf)
+DEST_HTML_FILES := $(ISSUES:./issues/%=$(DEST_DIR)/issue-%.html)
+DEST_EPUB_FILES := $(ISSUES:./issues/%=$(DEST_DIR)/issue-%.epub)
 
 PANDOC != command -v pandoc 2> /dev/null
 
 all: $(DEST_PDF_FILES) $(DEST_HTML_FILES) $(DEST_EPUB_FILES)
 
-dist/issue-%.pdf: issues/%
-	$(PANDOC) \
+$(DEST_DIR)/issue-%.pdf: issues/%
+	@echo "building $@"
+	@$(PANDOC) \
 		--file-scope \
 		--from markdown \
 		--to latex \
@@ -19,8 +21,9 @@ dist/issue-%.pdf: issues/%
 		--output $@ \
 		$</*.md
 
-dist/issue-%.html: issues/%
-	$(PANDOC) \
+$(DEST_DIR)/issue-%.html: issues/%
+	@echo "building $@"
+	@$(PANDOC) \
 		--file-scope \
 		--from markdown \
 		--to html \
@@ -35,8 +38,9 @@ dist/issue-%.html: issues/%
 		--output $@ \
 		$</*.md
 
-dist/issue-%.epub: issues/%
-	$(PANDOC) \
+$(DEST_DIR)/issue-%.epub: issues/%
+	@echo "building $@"
+	@$(PANDOC) \
 		--file-scope \
 		--from markdown \
 		--to epub \
@@ -48,7 +52,8 @@ dist/issue-%.epub: issues/%
 		$</*.md
 
 clean:
-	@rm dist/*.html dist/*.pdf dist/*.epub
+	@echo "removing build artifacts"
+	@rm $(DEST_PDF_FILES) $(DEST_HTML_FILES) $(DEST_EPUB_FILES)
 
 .PHONY: clean
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 57fb252..0f31158 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 # zine
 
-this is where the tildeverse zine will live
+this is where the tildeverse zine lives
 
-PRs welcome
+build deps:
 
+-   pandoc
+-   xelatex (packaged in debian as texlive-xetex)
+
+to build all issues, run `make`
+
+feel free to come chat in [\#zine](https://web.tilde.chat/?join=zine)
+and send your submissions via PR or mail a patch to
+[ben](mailto:ben@tilde.team).
diff --git a/issues/1/metadata.yml b/issues/1/metadata.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 432317f..0000000
--- a/issues/1/metadata.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-title: tildeverse zine issue 1