eST
Okay then, several people have suggested that I branch out into electronic publishing. The idea would be to make new issues of ST available via the Kindle store and other outlets. The price of each issue would be low, to be competitive with other little magazines - say £1.50 per issue. This would mean most of the income going to the publisher - Amazon takes 70 per cent of sales under $2.99, apparently - so any revenue raised would be small. My idea is to use this little income stream to offset rising printing and postage costs, and so keep the printed version of the magazine afloat. What do you think?
Comments
Yes, it is only 35% royalties under $2.99, but the flip-side of it is that lower prices can mean higher volume sales. You're not locked into it, so you can always play with the pricing until you find what works best for the market.
Would be good to encourage those who you know might buy ST in ebook to all do so across a day or two. The way Amazon's sales ranking seems to work is that a few sales - if close together in time - can send a book soaring up the charts - and the charts mean exposure and exposure means sales.
I put a collection of my published short crime fiction up on Sunday, so I'm watching how things work on there with great interest. Briefly made Amazon UK's top 20 for crime short story collections today (print as well as kindle), which was fun.
Good luck!
On the other hand, many people do like a physical magazine and ST is always beautifully produced and collectable. I would keep publishing in present form if you can, but put it on Kindle as well. I don't think those who prefer print would give it up for the electronic version, so you would stand to gain anyway.
All the best, whatever you do!
Jane Jakeman
Sometimes I buy two copies of a book: a physical and virtual copy. I'll always prefer the haptic experience of reading a physical book/magazine. That said, the virtual copy has the advantage of "being around" when you find yourself stranded, and all you've got is your cell...and Kindle.
Speaking of which, if it's not old news, I see that eight ST stories are included in Ellen Datlow's best of 2010 horror honourable mentions: http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/2011/03/11/