Archive for the ‘SF Business’ Category
Today’s Market Health Question: How Many Readers Are There?
Filed Under: SF Business, Speculative Fiction
How many individuals, all told in the English speaking world, do you think currently read SF/F short fiction, by which I mean read at least one story published in the past year? Do you think that number is growing or shrinking? Explain your number, if you can. My thoughts after the jump.I don’t think the number could be more than 35,000 people. This is a totally soft number, and I’m guessing based on doubling the subscription figure of the largest print magazine, which is as good of a method as I can think of. I suspect that we can’t just total up all the subscription numbers because there’s a huge overlap between the groups.
If that number is even close to being right, it sure does make genre short fiction seem like the most niche of activities…
Now China and it’s SF magazine… that’s around half a million? I keep coming back to that. There’s something in that number, in that size that I can learn from, that is telling of the situation, but I cannot figure it out.
Honestly, after being in London, I am surprised short fiction isn’t more popular than it is. Everyone on the tubes appeared to be reading something. I saw a lot of books, but mostly the free papers. Has anyone ever tried to do a free paper consisting of fiction? I need to read up on the economics of those free papers. You could get one at every single tube station, from one of several people.
SF Magazines: Financial Models
Filed Under: SF Business, Speculative Fiction, Top Post
For my own benefit as much as anything else, I’d like to run through the models that I am aware of that can be used to financially support a magazine–whether it is a print or an electronic magazine. Here’s what I got. If I miss any, please let me know and I will continue to update this. These are not mutually exclusive. Many magazines use a combination of these.
Subscription/Pay Model
Giving the content in return for a subscription fee or a cover price. Generally selling a bundle of stories/content. Example: traditional print magazines.
Advertising Model
Selling access to your readers to advertisers, and placing their advertising among your content. Example: most traditional print magazines sell advertising as well.
Patron Model
Supported by a single person or small private group of people from private funds. Example: The Fortean Bureau was primarily our private money. (If you ever donated? You are my hero).
Donation/Fund Drive model
The NPR model, as I’ve heard it referred to. Regular requests for funds from readers, with no set amount. Example: Strange Horizons is the most successful example of this. I believe Escape Pod does this as well, but I haven’t seen any fund drives from them.
Full Site Sponsorship
A single corporate entity, for whatever reason, subsidizes the magazine. Example: SCIFICTION. I seem to think Chizine as well?
Premium Content
Special access to special content. A kind of subscription model. I’m not sure about this one, what do you guys think? Is it different enough? Example: Salon used to do this, but I am not sure if they do anymore.These models are irrelevant as to whether a magazine is nonprofit, hobby, or for-profit. Many of these models are considered failures. Which ones do you think work or don’t? Perhaps the best solution for a sustainable magazine (online or off) would be a combination of 3 or more?
I am not sure that the subscription model is working very well anymore. As Chance pointed out in the comments of the Triad post yesterday, comparing Escape Pod to the Triad isn’t a good comparison because Escape Pod doesn’t have a cost to subscribe. I argued that just because the one has a different model for support than the other doesn’t mean that they can’t be compared as “magazines” with readerships.
Steve, I know you sometimes read this– could you tell me or provide me a link to where you might talk more about the funding model behind Escape Pod? Chance argues that Escape Pod is your hobby, as another reason that the subscriber numbers can’t be compared. I’d like to know more about how Escape Pod affords to function, if you’re comfortable talking about it.
The Central Problem with SFWA’s Main Website, And Solutions
Filed Under: SF Business, Speculative Fiction, Web Design
The Central Problem with SFWA’s Main Website, And Solutions
The central problem with the functionality of SFWA’s website is that it doesn’t know who it is attempting to communicate with. This is understandable, as there are several possible audiences for the SFWA website: a potential member, the member, and the general interested public. You might argue that industry members/publishers/editors are also another audience, but I would just group them in with the general public.
A lesser problem is that the site is simply dated in design. A quick look at the html code indicates pretty semantic mark-up, but an odd mix of inline styling and stylesheets. There’s a heavy dose of javascript required for the drop-down menus to function, which I think is just fine. The links mostly lack title attributes, which might cause problems down the road with showing up properly in search engines, but probably not a huge deal there. But the real problem is that it just isn’t very interesting to look at. This is the group of people that have inspired more big-budget amazing action pictures with cool eye candy than any other genre of fiction. Their website should represent this, while still being designed with accessibility in mind, of course. But there is a lot you could do to spice up the look.
The information and tools are organized in a fairly haphazard way. Why is the Search tool grouped with with the member login and contact information? Why does the “Why should I join SFWA?” information take precedence on the front page over the press information? I would rethink the organizing and importance of information here. The piracy campaign stuff? I would remove it entirely. It’s an important issue probably, but does it really deserve such front page real estate? Also, I’m sorry, but web rings went out of style in 1998. This really serves to make the page look dated. Of all the professional writing organizations I looked at, the only one still featuring a web ring is SFWA. That goes for the badge images as well. These are all signs of a designer that hasn’t really kept with the times, and are more indicative of a private website than a professional organization. If you disagree with me, just scroll down to the links entry on this blog from a few days ago and look at the other organizations. Even the worst of them have this right. SFWA’s website should get it right too.
Among other suggestions I will be detailing in the future, I recommend chunking the navigational information together better. Focus the outward-facing website for prospective members and the general public and remove all information for existing members to the log-in section. Prominently feature a log-in screen somewhere on the page for members, but have the site behind that be designed to their needs. It’s a different project and a different site.
Also, I highly recommend using some of the wasted screen space now to include a sidebar that rotates on a random basis from a list of submitted authors. Call this Featured Member and have it include 50 words on an author alongside a nice photo of the author or the cover of their latest book.
Junk everything in the right column and start over, basically. None of that belongs here. And it’s all ugly and outdated in look.
So these are just a few of my initial thoughts on the website. As I am not a member, I can’t really speak for the private materials behind the login page, but I think there is plenty of work to be done on the public-facing side of things.
Jason Stoddard Has a Blog (And He Knows How to Use it)
Filed Under: SF Business, Speculative Fiction
Jason Stoddard, a fantastic SF author that we published in the last issue of the Fortean Bureau, and with whom I have shared at least one issue of Interzone, I believe, has a blog, and lately, he’s using it to propose a model for a SF magazine that could not only survive, but thrive, in our current media environment. He says many things I have been trying to say for the last five years, and says them a hell of a lot better than I can. For instance:
Great. Now go back and read the above. Yeah, there are a billion blogs out there, but most of them are nothing more than an extension of a sophomore’s Livejournal. You’re the editor of a major publication, or a professional writer. You have interesting things to talk about. Hell, you have content. Set it free. There’s endless interest in proto-science-fiction communities such as Slashdot, SomethingAwful, and BoingBoing about publications and authors. Use this.
YES, god yes. Listen to this man. How in the world SF magazines got left in the dust on the web revolution is completely beyond me. Time to catch up. Now. Or cease to be.
