The Shroud Underground

rsmccoy · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:11 pm Post subject: ezine vs print

The topic is actually larger than ezines vs print mags. It's also free vs paid. Now you can't really have a free print mag, but recently a pro pay market called Noctum Aeturnus, closed shop. The publisher said he had 6,000 people subscribed, but couldn't make ends meet with only advertising. He laid out 2,000 to get issue #1 out, and there won't be an issue #2. Now he alsa had some life changes (aka a new baby), but the reality seems ot be that you can't pay pro and be free. A lot of you have been around a lot longer than I have and have seen markets fail before issue #1. So what is a successful model?

**shroud** · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:31 pm Post subject:

This is such a good question, one that I am looking for some insight in as well. I read somewhere that you should never ever try to sell ad space in your first issue. If he had 6000 subscribers at time of issue one, then just imagine where he would be at issue 6 etc.

I think a business model should take into account the time it takes to build a readership, establish relationships, and of course the costs involved over a period of at least two years. I do not plan to profit in the short term, however, I do plan to keep plugging away. Hell I have to, I owe R. Scott McCoy a lifetime subscription. Smile

_________________
Tim Deal
Editor & Publisher
Shroud Magazine
The Journal of Dark Fiction and Art
http://www.shroudmagazine.com
http://www.myspace.com/shroudmag
1-800-796-3759

Steve Vernon · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:53 pm Post subject:

Starting a magazine, publishing company or e-zine is just the same as starting any kind of business. If you don't have a big fat mattressful of back-up money stay the hell home.

Oh, it can be done and I am certain there are always exceptions to this big broad rule - but you can hammer a nail with a screwdriver handle and that still doesn't make you a carpenter.

(strikes a guru pose) Cool

Phil Kuhlman · Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 3:55 am Post subject:

I really wish there were more print magazines for the genre, simply because with the internet, it feels more like screaming into the wind than actually getting heard. What kills me is that I know there are successful magazines for the horror/dark fiction genre but I just don't seem to know of any that I can get ahold of in my area. The only store here that sells anything of the like is a Hastings. Kerrville sucks.

They used to sell Dark Wisdom though, and still sell Apex and Weird Tales, but with DW turning into anthologies only, only spot on the shelves for horror goes to the old standard. I really hope that Shroud can take up some shelf space where stuff like Dark Wisdom would have once before.

But as a writer, the print form is just so much prettier. It's the whole experience of having the story in your hand, and knowing that other people actually have copies of it in their possession. With ezine stories, it's doesn't feel quite as real to the reader or the writer. But that's just me.

rsmccoy · Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:02 am Post subject:

I feel the same way as a writer, but as a publisher, Print equals $$ which means you have to charge which means almost full time business. So many fold, both electronic and print, that I would rather stay PDF (people can print it Smile

) and keep my market alive so beginning writers can get published, than try to go for print. When I started this thread, I was truly torn, but since I realize I have an important place in the market.

$25 and 500 words gets a new writer into the HWA. New writers need to get a biography built and it is hard with Semi and Pro Print markets. I think I may try to get my feet wet with a print Antho, but Necrotic Tissue is going to stay PDF for the foreseeable future.