Skip to main content

The Number of Sci Fi and Fantasy Magazines At an All-Time High

A rocket soars above clouds with stacks of giant coins in the background.
Credit: Pixabay.com



Not only are sci fi and fantasy taking over television and movie theatres but, thanks to internet, there are more magazines in these two genres than ever. And their readership continues to grow. Science fiction author Jason Sanford reflects this rise in speculative fiction magazines and readership in his report, “The State of Genre Magazines”, published just before the new year. He says, “There are more SF/F magazines today than at any single time in the genre’s history.” However, he also points out that although the number of magazines and their readers have gone up the payment for most publishers’ staffs who put out the magazines hasn’t. They get little to no pay. He quotes Scott Andrews, editor-in-chief of speculative fiction magazine “Beneath Ceaseless Skies”, saying that the majority of the few that do get paid do so because the chief editors go without pay!

Why Sci Fi and Fantasy Magazine Circulation Is So High But Revenue So Low

So then why so hard of financial times for the staff of sci fi and fantasy magazines when the circulation and the number of titles are so high? Answer: Everyone wants free content on the internet where the majority of circulation occurs. Sanford says that less than 10 percent of each online genre magazine’s audience pays or donates “to support what the [sic] love.” But this isn’t entirely the fault of the readers, although readers should feel a moral obligation to pay for what they read especially if they have the money to do so. It’s also the fault of the publishers for offering their content for free. Sanford says that this can force other types of magazines to offer free content just so they can stay in circulation. “If many of the most prominent SF/F magazines continue to provide stories for free, there will be pressure on all other magazines—and on any new magazines—to do the same.”

However, this may change. Sanford explains that “many non-genre newspapers, magazines and online publications no longer provide all their content for free, with paywalls increasingly restricting what people can access online.” He goes on to say that because of this, people may eventually be more willing to pay to read their favourite periodicals and so this will eventually also be the case with genre magazines.

The Reader Should Not Expect Free Content

Before I read about this, I’d get pissed off whenever I tried reading an article on a big news media website such as NYTimes.com and a paywall message popped up saying that I used up all my allotted free content and that to get unlimited access I would have to subscribe. Yet as a writer of sci fi and fantasy, I also get turned off whenever I’m researching fiction markets to submit to and I find out that one does not pay for the stories it accepts. At that point I leave that magazine’s website and look for another one.

So we as readers shouldn’t expect to get free content from online magazines. They have to pay their writers and other staff. And many of us being writers ourselves also want to write for pay. We’re putting in too much time and effort to write for free. Many of us have spent too many years perfecting our craft. For a publisher to expect us to write for free is an insult to us and our work. For readers to expect this is also an insult to us and should also be to the publishers putting out our work. It’s an insult that basically says they don’t care how hard we work on our writing and that it will never be good enough for monetary payment in a society that puts so much emphasis on capitalism. Yet, there should be free access to good writing for the ones who can’t afford to pay to read it. That’s why there are libraries and we writers should do our part in community service and support them.

If more people are reading genre magazines, including sci fi and fantasy, that means there’s a demand for more copies of those magazines and their content. So supply and demand needs to be the rule like it’s become for non-genre online magazines. As the late Harlan Ellison said, the writer has to be paid. And so does the magazine staff, including the chief editor.





I may take next weekend off from the blog. I have family coming from out of town, including my cousin and her new born daughter who I will see for the first time! Because next weekend is the third Saturday, that means I will have to delay the Book-To-Movie until the following weekend.  Until then think about the questions below and feel free to leave your answers or other comments in the box below them.

How important do you think it is that writers and magazine staff get paid for their work? Would you be willing to write or edit for free regularly?

Until next time . . .

Comments

  1. Unfortunately that is a downside to the Internet - everyone wants it for free. I have no problem paying for a magazine and yes, I would want to be paid as a writer.
    It is nice to know there are more magazines in our genre now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like genre fiction magazines, especially since I mostly write short fiction. And the good thing is many of them offer more than one format than just digital/online such as audio and print.

      Delete
  2. As a writer, I do expect to be paid. Unfortunately, most of the editors I've worked with are doing it for the love, as you've stated here. I have so much respect for them, and want to see them getting paid, too. They've all got day jobs, and are putting their extra time into this. The paywall is a good idea to start.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right. I writer who works hard, especially when he/she is working a full-time's worth of writing in addition to a day job, deserves to be paid.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book-To-Movie: Stephen King’s 'The Raft'

Credit: Pixabay.com It's the third Saturday of the month and so that means it's time for another Book-To-Movie ! In a Book-To-Movie we review a book and its movie adaptation. One of the reasons I as a horror fan don’t read a lot of Stephen King’s work is because most of it consists of novels that go more than 400 pages. I have a short attention span when it comes to reading, ironically since I consider myself an avid reader, and so I normally won’t read a work that is much more than the equivalent to a 350-page mass market paperback. The other reason why I don’t read a lot of King’s work is that, as literary scholars will tell you, a lot of his writing is poor. However, he does have some good writing in his works, especially his earlier stuff, including his short horror tales. So if I read anything by Stephen King it’s usually his short stories or novellas. One of his collections I’ve read is Skeleton Crew which includes some of his good, or at least...

Book-To-Movie: ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’

Credit: Wikimedia Commons I apologise for posting outside our regular post-day which is late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. However, I got behind on several things last week and so had to postpone the post to today.  I’ve been a reader of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books ever since I was 11. What I’ve always liked so much about the series is that, like a good horror story, the stories often take place in dark settings and involve bizarre cases. Conan Doyle’s novel, “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, definitely contains these elements. It’s a detective story that crosses over into the gothic horror genre. Several movie adaptations of the novel have been made that go as far back as a 1915 German silent film. In 1959 Hammer Studios released a version starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. As much as I’m a fan of the Hammer horror films, I have not seen that one yet. The only one that I’ve seen so far is the 1939 adaptation starring that other big name in classic...

Book-To-Movie: Guest Blogger Alex Cavanaugh Reviews 'Relic'

Credit: Tor Books The fourth weekend of the month, when we normally have our Book-To-Movie review has passed us again. However, the review is still on! This month I have a guest blogger for our Book-To-Movie review. The two of us agreed to trade our book-to-movie reviews and present them to you today, this last Monday of the month. In a Book-To-Movie, we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation.  And my guest blogger and reviewer is Alex Cavanaugh. Alex is the author of the Cassa series  of novels and founder of the Insecure Writers' Support Group ! Here at the Fantastic Site, he’s reviewing a best-selling novel of detective horror, "Relic", and its movie adaptation. In turn, at his site, I have the pleasure of reviewing "The Black Phone" short story by Joe Hill and its movie adaptation. So, after you're finished reading Alex’s awesome review, please leave a comment for him in the box below and then head on over to his website to check out my...