I feel very out of the loop.
Apparently some of the longest-running genre fiction magazines still in print were bought up by a single entity at the start of the year: Asimov’s Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Unfortunately, print magazines feel like a relic of the past, and even though sci-fi/fantasy has managed better than most fiction markets, it’s a tough business to be in.
There is some hope, as the group that now owns these magazines at least claims to be in it for the love of the fiction and the community, and not just to leech the remaining value like most private equity. Still, simply combining several similar magazines under one operation probably isn’t enough to keep things profitable. It appears that part of the strategy will be to try to leverage stories and IPs beyond magazines. This is at the heart of recent contract controversies, with the company using some pretty broad legal language.
Twenty years ago, when I was first getting serious about writing, these magazines were the most prestigious places a sci-fi/fantasy author could place their story. They are now sadly diminished, but some of that prestige still lingers. Let’s hope that they can find ways to keep the lights on without taking advantage of their writers and tarnishing the reputations that made them so beloved.
Check out the full article at the link below.
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