posted
"Loose in the Wires" strikes me as being one of the standouts. Lots of fun to read. My only disappointment was that it was shorter than I'd've liked.
posted
"Loose in the Wires" was good, but I agree that it was too short. I'd like to have learned a little more about the gods worshiped by the bush people.
Posts: 4569 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
I enjoyed Taint of Treason. I sometimes feel I'm incapable of writing anything super-short. (What are the kids calling this stuff? Flash fiction?)
Even my juvenile stories come in at over 1,500 words. I don't think my half my posts here at Hatrack are that short. This story managed, in less than 1,000 words, to have a world that felt fleshed out, tormented characters, and an engaging conflict. If I could do that, I'd be professionally published, too.
It's just different tastes.
Posts: 1894 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Gee ... we were hoping you'd think it was worth $8.95 and you were getting such a bargain ... but at least you don't feel cheated <grin>.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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I read the first part in one sitting, and loved it.
Also, when you post serial novels, will you post separate links rather than simply continuing it in one long page. It will make it far easier to read if it the parts are separate rather than all pasted together.
BTW, I loved the magazine...and it is a VERY good value.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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posted
Very high quality writing. The is a great resource for readers and writers of speculative fiction.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Orson Scott Card: Gee ... we were hoping you'd think it was worth $8.95 and you were getting such a bargain ... but at least you don't feel cheated <grin>.
Cheated? Certainly not, sir! I! I! I am having a hard time coming up with something sufficiently zingy. So I will accept your mild ribbing and retire to eat my lunch.
(Really, I'd pay a bound volume price. I'm kinda shocked it was that cheap. Excellent work all around, and I look forward to future issues).
Posts: 753 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Personally, I think you should be charging more, OSC. I mean, I was recently looking at a small zine that offers both online and print versions. They pay very little to their authors, and still charge almost twice as much as you - for one issue! And there are other similar zines out there, I am sure. Especially considering everything you are offering, I mean, the columns and stories and art and a SERIALIZED NOVEL in every issue. Come on. It's worth a lot. And I know I'm not the only one who thinks so. I bet people would still buy the issue if it was $5.00, or even more.
Anyone else want to comment on the price?
Posts: 180 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Boon
unregistered
posted
I agree with both afr and Ms. Dryden. Not only did I not discuss buying it with my husband, I used his Paypal account without telling him, and he didn't care because it was a very small amount.
If it was more than $5, I'd have called him first, but I'd have still signed up.
If it was more than $10, I would probably still have signed up...but I'm not sure. Now that I've read it, I'd definitely pay that - or more - for an issue.
I think keeping the price very low, at least for the first issue or two, is a brilliant business move. It'll get more people signed up in the beginning...and, like a dealer giving out cheap samples, will hook more readers.
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I would always pay more for a print magazine than one that is electonic only, regardless of the quality of the stories (the quality is what convinces me to buy it in the first place).
Also, if you're speaking of the same small zine that I am, they charge $3.50 for their online version. Only the print version is twice the cost. And they did just double the amount they pay to authors, based on the sales of the first issue. Some businesses just have to bootstrap their way into the world.
At any rate, I hope that OSC does not increase the price, because I don't know that I would pay much more for electronic-only content. Others may feel differently.
posted
It seems to me like a $2.50 magazine has a better chance of catching on, word-of-mouth, than a $5 magazine. People are willing to take a chance on a magazine that costs less than their morning latte.
Oh, and as for the year exclusive rights, I think that seems perfectly reasonable. How much would it suck to shell out $500 for a story that's when two weeks later someone could go over to Strange Horizons and read the reprint for free (change the name of the magazine to suit your preference). Hopefully if people learn about the magazine in a few months or even in a few quarters, they'll be inspired to buy a few back issues. That only works if there is still a reason to do so.
Posts: 92 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Registered, just waiting for my PayPal transfer to go through so I can subscribe to this issue. As an artist, I'm quite interested in checking out the illustrations. As a geek, I'm quite excited about an awesome new source to feed my particular addiction!
quote:Originally posted by Oliver Dale: It seems to me like a $2.50 magazine has a better chance of catching on, word-of-mouth, than a $5 magazine. People are willing to take a chance on a magazine that costs less than their morning latte.
Yes, yes, yes.
It's like iTunes. If they charged $1.99 per song, they'd lose a lot of customers.
Remember that an online edition, compared to a print edition, is virtually free. There are up-front per-issue costs in paying authors and artists, but after that it's virtually pennies per customer to keep the site up and running. Duplication costs online are very, very low.
Posts: 73 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
You're right, rivka. I guess I got hustled. That's the last time I buy anything at scalper.com.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
So far I've only read Mazer in Prison, Eviction Notice, and the Practical Magic column - and everything's just great!
Mazer in Prison immediately made me want to reread all the Ender books. I loved the snarkiness! And it all fit together beautifully.
Practical Magic was hilarious. Are you going to do fortunes for the other Skittles varieties? You know, tropical, sour, etc?
And Scott R - whoa. That was intense. I've been doing a lot of Vietnam research for the past couple months too, so all those references really resonated with me. Chilling. And so, so sad. (That's a compliment!)
I'm resisting the urge to read all the other stories just yet. I'm telling myself that I'll save them for rewards for doing my homework - but I'll probably have read them all by the end of the weekend. Must the magazine be limited to quarterly? What about an issue every other month? Posts: 952 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
>>And Scott R - whoa. That was intense. I've been doing a lot of Vietnam research for the past couple months too, so all those references really resonated with me. Chilling. And so, so sad. [Frown]
posted
Hey guys, just wanted to check in and say I was very pleased with the stories on IGMS. Mazer in Prison was great, as was Loose in the Wires. It's a steal for $2.50, quite a micro-payment.
Dragon Clock is rad.
Posts: 859 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Do you think either OSC or KDW doing a quarterly article on marketing (like KDW does in SF&F Workshop) would be a good idea?
Posts: 75 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Marketing what? Personally, I'd prefer seeing IGMS focusing on the readers and not the readers-who-are-writers. Articles on writing should, largely, be restricted to venues intended for writers. So many magazines are already so incestuous about that, I'd prefer seeing IGMS remaining as widely accessible as possible.
Posts: 92 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I'd say keep it cheap and go for volume. Make purchasing it a non-event and get the stories out to a huge audience.
Posts: 53 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
We like where the price is. It's true that it puts our break-even point higher - but we are hoping that word spreads to the huge Ender's Game audience, many of whom are young. What parent would refuse $2.50 for a PG-13 magazine for a fourteen-year-old?
As for preferring print copies - we've made sure that you can print this out in a very 8.5x11 paper friendly way. (Choose the "print this page" option.) Our plan is to offer (soon) very nice, slick folders with the cover printed on, into which you can slip your printed-out pages. Then you can bring the folder to conventions and get the authors to autograph their own stories.
We would, of course, charge for the folders. Then again, we'd have to PAY for them, so we'd charge those who want to go this route. Printing it out yourselves will give you an idea, of course, of how much this sort of thing actually costs when you publish in print form ...
So in a few weeks, we'll have figured out what a fair charge for the cover/folder is, and offer it for sale. The editor will probably presign the first thousand covers of the first issue ... And we would print the cover/folder on good but not glossy paper, so it would be signable. In fact, you could bring the folder to conventions WITHOUT the printouts and try to collect all the signatures <grin>.
Anyway, that's what we're thinking ... but we'll see how many people buy issue 1. Right now we're just over a thousand - that's one-tenth of the way toward profitability.
As for making it more frequent than quarterly - we will NEVER make it more frequent than the number of excellent stories will allow. But if the quality of submissions warrants it, and the number of purchasers allows it, of course we'll put out issues more frequently. Since we don't have to meet a postal schedule for bulk mailings, we can publish as many issues as we want - though if we publish TOO frequently, there won't be time for each issue to have its hour in the sun ...
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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posted
Ooh, I like the idea of the folders with the cover art.
For the printing option, is it possible to save it to a disk to be printed somewhere else? I ask this because I don't have a working printer, and I rely on office stores for my printouts. They produce better quality than I could anyway.
posted
I filed the print out in a three ring binder with color paper between the stories. My plan is to insert tabs between issues. I also wanted to insert some kind of art (from the home page) in the binder cover but I love the idea of folders with cover art.
Thank you for the heads up!
I like the idea of an annual subscription. It would make a nice holiday gift. Posts: 333 | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Scott R: The art was done specifically for each story.
And the art for Eviction Notice rocks. I love it. Couldn't be happier with it.
Hi Scott.
This is Jin, I worked on the drawing for "Eviction Notice. I'm sorry we never spoke, but I'm happy you like the drawing.
It was a great story and I had so many ideas bouncing around when I was sketching out the thumbnails. I look forward to the opportunity to work with you again.
posted
Are you planning to send out e-mails to everyone when the next issue is available? Obviously, those who check Hatrack will know about it, but other people might forget if it's only quarterly and they're not reminded.
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I haven't seen any mention of IGMS in The Ansible yet. Have I just missed it? Maybe I should email Langford and see if he'll mention it in his November issue.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
There will always be a bit of a time-lag for credit card rather than PayPal purchases. But it does work.
We're still working on sending out press releases. But it's all the better if READERS notify people of a magazine <grin>.
If you signed up for email notification, then you'll be notified. We don't assume people want to get emails from us - you have to ask.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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posted
I think the magazine is a fantastic idea. I payed the $2.50 to see what it was about, and ended up reading the entire thing. I enjoyed the stories that were in it; it's always fun to sit down and read stories like those.
The expense was well worth it. I will recommend the magazine to my fellow OSC fans, and hope they do the same.
OSC: Will you have reader-submitted reviews about the magazine in the future? Let me know of you want one.
posted
OSC, I just figured I'd let you know that I posted a message over at Fantasy Essentials (The board run by the Admins at Goodkind's site for stuff not related to Goodkind). Feel free to drop over and say something about the magazine if you wish. We've had a couple of authors drop by in the past when books came out...since there are a good number of fantasy readers over there.
Perhaps it will help drum up interest. I really want to push up readership...mostly for selfish reasons (I want it to do well so I can keep reading more issues).
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Orson Scott Card: If you signed up for email notification, then you'll be notified. We don't assume people want to get emails from us - you have to ask.
Excellent! For an old guy, you've got this Internet etiquette thang down pat. I know of a few marketing folks and CEOs who could learn some lessons....
Anyway, I had only one suggestion on this topic. The magazine is quarterly, so it's really, really easy to forget about it by the next issue. (The stories and artwork are great and memorable, but that only lasts a month or so.) If customers have to ask for updates, it ought to be more apparent that they can. I only found that link lurking around on the lower-left side of the page after finishing most of the current issue.
It should be at the top, near the persistent "My Account" link.
Posts: 73 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
OSC, from mentions you've made about ribbing George R. R. Martin about taking so long in finishing A Song of Ice and Fire, I gather that you and he are on fairly good terms. I realize that in general you want IGMS to showcase emerging talent, but if you were to convince Martin to submit a story to you, it's fairly likely that his sizable online fanbase would be interested in subscribing, at least to that issue. A decent number of them would likely recognize a good thing when they saw it and subscribe in the future as well.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I liked it, but it's a little strange.
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