First I would like to say thank you so much to everybody who kicked in some cash, bought a copy or subscribed via Patreon. I can’t express how much this show of support encourages me. Please accept my most heartfelt thanks.
That being said, the finances for the magazine aren’t working out and last week I was faced with one of three choices.
- Close up shop
- Switch to publishing less often, paying in aussie dollars or reducing rates to semi-pro
- Something else!
It seemd like #2 was the same as #1 in slow motion so I ended up rejecting that option. I’m going with #3, Something else! Issue #8 will be the last issue published under the current arrangement and starting in January next year the magazine will be going to a more sustainable format. We will be moving to publishing stories online, 2 items a week to start with (stories or articles) and 1 book review. One item each week will be free for anybody to read and the second item each week will be available to subscribers. Subscriptions will start at $4 a month and as subscription targets are met the number of items will increase to 5 items a fortnight and then 3 a week.
Why subscribe? Apart from the subscribers exclusive item, subscribers will get the option of having items delivered in the ebook format of their choice via email (EPUB/MOBI/HTML/PDF/ask) as well as the option of a monthly bundled edition. We will still be doing the print version of the magazine with best of stories from the previous six months collated and illustrated in the print volume that will be available to subscribers at a discount. Subscribers will also be eligible for access to exclusive forums, t-shirt, poster and other giveaways and an occasional give away of original Cat Leonard Sci Phi arts works. Subscriptions over $4 will also provide for some exclusive giveaways.
Another reason to subscribe? It feeds authors. Your subscription dollar will be divided up as follows, 20% will be used to cover over heads and fun future plans, 20% will go to feed our first readers and editors and 40% will be distributed to the writers published that month. The final 20% will be paid to the writers from previous months for 6 months while their stories remain on the site. The bigger the subscription the more you feed the authors! I have pitched this to the existing stable of authors and most of them are on board.
Onward to Issue #8 and a bright future for Sci Phi!
[…] Issue 8 of Sci Phi Journal, which will be the last issue of the journal in its current format, will feature chapters 14 and 15 of Beyond the Mist. The last two installments will continue in the new sustainable format, which will mean I’ll start get paid for the editing work I’ve been doing on the journal as well as for my contributions, though the initial rates may be lower until subscriptions pick up, details on the new setup can be found here. […]
Of course I would remain interested in submitting to your publication. Your new conditions seem little different than your old ones, at least to me; although probably much more of a radical departure for you. If I need to re-submit at this time, please let me know at the above e-mail address, and I’ll zap another one along. If not, then I assume you still have my original submission of – “The Quantum Entanglement/Alternate Universe Blues” in your memory banks. Thanks, by the way, for the personal reply, and I hope to be hearing from you soon with an enthusiastic acceptance. Please let me know in either case.
Yours; Barry Price