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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posted
The first two issues were open only to former students of mine. David Farland/Dave Wolverton actually attended Boot Camp two summers ago, so he qualified <grin>.
Once the magazine starts getting noticed in the field, professionals will take it seriously as a market. Till then, I'm perfectly happy to go ahead with what we're getting - first-rate fiction from relatively (or absolutely) new writers.
Here's our philosophy: We don't have to hire stars, we'll make our own! <grin>. OK, that's what ALL magazines would like. And you can bet I'd love to have a Martin story.
But take Robin Hobb. She's one of the great ones - and when she had a short story in the Bingtown Traders world, she posted it on Amazon, where she got paid a far higher percentage of the "gate" than she could ever get from us. Martin, too, can sell stories to anthologiest that will give him a percentage of royalties, not to mention advances much higher than what we can afford to pay. So it makes little sense for them to offer the stories to me.
Though I wish they would ...
Meanwhile, though, I'm happy with the writers and stories we're getting.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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posted
Oh, sure, I understand that you're primarily interested in helping new writers become established, and I wholeheartedly approve of that. I certainly don't have any complaints about the stories that you're featuring in this issue either--all of them have been quite good. I was just trying to think of ways to boost readership for the first few issues, and having a story from another established name in the field with a sizable online fanbase would help to do that.
I also understand that Martin could get quite a bit more for an original short story elsewhere. Makes perfect sense--he's definitely one of the Big Names these days. I know from various comments he's made in interviews, though, that he sees the value in the short story medium, and while I definitely don't know this, I could imagine that he might be sympathetic to the cause and "donate" a story (so to speak) for the lower rate you'd be able to give him. I don't know--I could be completely wrong about that. I'm certainly not assuming that Martin has gotten so wealthy from his writing that he can just give stories away left and right; he's making a living through writing, just like any other writer does (or aspires to do).
If I were a successful writer, though, I'd like to think that I'd do what I could to try to foster efforts like IGMS.
I really, really want this magazine to succeed. Partly it's out of good will to you, but mostly it's because I think that it's important to SF to have a healthy short story market, and this model seems like one that could have legs. And of course, that's ultimately a selfish reason, since my reason for wanting that really boils down to wanting a steady supply of stories from talented authors with something to say.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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When you say you need 10k subscriptions to break even are you talking about 10k per issue or just 10k single-issue subs per year?
Posts: 53 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I have yet another thing to thank you for now, Scott...I didn't know Wolverton and Farland were the same person until you posted that in this thread.
I liked the concept of Serpent Catch so much that I took my screen name from it.
I also read all of Farland's new series, and thought he was a perfect example of making up a new system of magic that followed you own advice (in one of the books you wrote about writing fantasy) in that he made sure that his system of magic included costs, and that it always came at a price..both for the person receiving the "gifts" and for those who were "giving them.
posted
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed the issue I was wondering if there has been any discussion about having a printed anthology of stories once a year.
I apologize if this covers a topic already covered. I searched but did not find anything on an anthology.
posted
Kwea, I'm glad you remember "Dave Wolverton" as fondly as I do. (Of course the real person is still around and one of the kindest human beings in the known universe.) The Serpent Catch books were brilliant, original SF; the Golden Queen was high adventure sci-fi at its finest. If there were any justice, the Wolverton name would be one of the best known in science fiction ...
But Farland or Wolverton, he's still the Real Thing.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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posted
Also, I think I met Dave online once, although it may have been a prank on me, I was never sure...
I tried to register the name Kwea on AIM, and couldn't because someone else had already do it. I registered as KweaJr (I am named after my dad IRL), then KweaSr when I couldn't log on as Jr, and sent whoever registered Kwea as a AIM screen name saying "Hey, you took my screen name...guess we have the same taste in books! ".
I got a reply back saying " I made the word up, so I figured no one else would be using it. Glad you liked my book though. -Dave Wolverton"
It could have been another fan pulling my leg, but I thought it was cool. Posts: 325 | Registered: Aug 2002
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I read the article. It was extremely interesting. But of course I'd say that because I'm an artist. I also liked the British art better, with the exception also being Niven's cover.
To me most fantasy covers here in the US are borderline garish. Way too busy. There are, however a few artists that are so good that I find it hard to dislike anything they do. Whelan comes immediately to mind. The old Frazetta covers for Conan and Tarzan were fantastic. Keith Parkinson (who recently passed away) was also one of my favorites.
I think our covers are kind of a holdover from the days of the pulps. The covers were colorful and busy, and usually with scantily clad females. All to catch to eye of the teenage boys who were their target audience. Sci-fi has gotten away from this, but I still see a lot of it in Fantasy novels. I do think the scantily clad females are much scarcer now. Darnit.
The Hildebrandt brothers to me did the definitive Tolkein work, and I think a lot of cover art for years was along the same vein as theirs.
Personally, I don't want to see a character's face depicted on the cover. Unless it's someone like Elric who is already described in such detail that it is almost impossible not to see him in a certain way. For the most part, I want to imagine for myself what the character looks like. For example, I know what Ender looks like to me. I don't want to have someone else's image of him floating around in my head. I can only wonder what I would have seen Alvin like if the covers had not depicted him for me. As it is, my mental image of him has been formed by those covers.
I feel like I am rambling now, so I will go. One last thing. The art for IGMS ROCKS! OSC has found him some top-notch talent. The cover illustration for respite is beautiful, and the drawings for the other stories are excellent.
Posts: 232 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
The divisions of Hot Sleep were by rough page count and "natural divisions" rather than by chapter.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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quote:Originally posted by porcelain girl: and that Sam Ellis is my older brother - i didn't know he gave a talk at your baptism, whoah.
shrink shrink shrink goes the great big world...
My brother-in-law is an Ellis. Do you have relatives in Canada? His family is from Vulcan, Alberta - famous for its USS Enterprise replica.
Posts: 1336 | Registered: Mar 2002
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For some reason I got it into my head that the next part of hot sleep was going to be released this weekend. Talk about disappointment.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Kwea: Famous to you, maybe...
I was joking mostly, though it is probably fairly famous in Alberta as it is featured in a Ford TV ad here (and possibly elsewhere in Canada).
Posts: 1336 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
Hey, there's a store now! Yay, I'll be doing some Christmas shopping there.
You can choose from four different versions of the logo, and the merchandise has stuff like T-shirts and baseball caps, tote bags and mouse pads. I'm definitely getting one of the infant onesies for my daughter, and the carry-all bag for myself.
posted
Wow, there's some cool stuff in the store. I especially like the colored tees. Right now I'm planning on getting that green one.
Oh, and a P.S.: On the Wizard Oil column about British/American cover art, the image for the UK cover of "Traitor's Knot" is not available. Is it just my computer, or are other people having difficulties with it?
Also, something got screwed up with Chris Bellamy's review of "Doom" around paragraphs 4, 5, and 6. There's a repetition, and either something was missing or put in the wrong order.
posted
I finaly got IGMS (way latter then i would have liked) and the ender story is great. I would have payed for it alone. Haven't had the chance to read any thing else tho.the clock this is great!!!!
Posts: 6 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Does anyone know what sort of sex/violence/swearing the Medicine Show will accept in submissions? There's no mention of any restrictions in the submission guidelines.
Posts: 4600 | Registered: Mar 2000
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There's a link on the main page called 'Note to Parents.'
quote: Note to Parents
We promise to keep IGMS a PG-13 magazine and website.
That means that while we will sometimes deal with intense and adult themes, there will be no explicit or detailed sex of the sort that would earn a movie rating more restrictive than PG-13; nor will there be language of the sort that earns an R rating.
So for children older than 13, you can be assured that they will not be exposed to material that is generally considered inappropriate. For younger children, you may wish to read or scan the issue yourself first. Though if your child has read and enjoyed Ender's Game itself, there is little likelihood of them encountering anything more intense, disturbing, or "adult" than is found in that book.
posted
Anyone know when the next part of hot sleep is going to be posted. I was under the impression that it would be today.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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