[HN Gopher] Busting a myth: "only writers subscribe to genre mag...
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Busting a myth: "only writers subscribe to genre magazines"
Author : ilamont
Score : 28 points
Date : 2023-08-02 19:41 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (neil-clarke.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (neil-clarke.com)
| hoppyhoppy2 wrote:
| https://web.archive.org/web/http://neil-clarke.com/busting-a...
| Alexss wrote:
| This is interestingly close to the off-repeated line that on a
| forum 10% of users comment and 1% create content.
| NoMoreNicksLeft wrote:
| Only rich people subscribe to genre magazines. Like, I _really_
| like Clarkesworld, but between it, Analog, Asimov 's, and a few
| others... I just can't.
|
| And last I checked, libgen hasn't had any Clarkesworld since
| about 2019.
| bigbillheck wrote:
| For the record, at time of writing, an electronic Clarkesworld
| subscription appears to be $2.99/month, increasing to
| $3.99/month in September.
| NoMoreNicksLeft wrote:
| It's not my first choice of science magazine subscription. So
| at $50/year, how much am I spending on subscriptions?
|
| Is their digital-only subscription any cheaper? Don't need
| the paper one. If I do have to pay $50/year for their digital
| only subscription, do I get access to their back catalog for
| that, or only the new ones going forward?
|
| I'm not just picking on Clarkesworld. For the longest time
| now, Analog has been under the impression that it's ok to
| half-ass it and have their digital edition not match up with
| the paper edition, not to mention refusing to release it in
| standard formats. Quite frankly, in a world where even
| National Geographic can't make it, what hope is there for
| these pulps? In an earlier time you might liken them to the
| farm leagues for genre novel publishing, but that's dying
| too.
| the_af wrote:
| Out of curiosity, _must_ you subscribe to _all_ magazines
| within your favorite genre(s), or is just one or two
| acceptable? If the latter, then I don 't think you have to
| be rich.
|
| I think there's an analogy with the maddening offer of
| streaming services, but in that case there's the FOMO
| effect and you "need" to be watching the same shows as your
| coworkers and friends in order to be able to discuss
| them... a more devious trap.
| qingcharles wrote:
| That's a lot of reading, if you're reading them from cover-to-
| cover.
| veave wrote:
| What is a genre magazine? I googled it and got a list of magazine
| genres, which I think is not the same thing
| maxbond wrote:
| I think they mean something like say, Lightspeed Magazine is a
| genre magazine, and the genre is scifi.
|
| However, we seem to have saturated their database connections
| (friends don't let friends have connection pools without
| bounds/with the wrong bounds, especially not to serve static
| content), so I haven't read the article. [ETA: Did read it, am
| now positive.]
| robertlagrant wrote:
| Friends don't let friends serve static content in a way that
| involves a database!
| pessimizer wrote:
| No, friends just throw a static cache in front of their
| friend's static content.
| naniwaduni wrote:
| It's not static, it's Wordpress, and that's something we
| can complain about once there's an actual alternative in
| the niches WP fills.
| A_D_E_P_T wrote:
| A literary magazine that focuses on a particular genre of
| fiction. These typically publish short stories and novellas,
| but sometimes serialize longer works. (e.g., Dune was
| serialized in Analog magazine.)
|
| The blogger, Neil Clarke, runs a science fiction genre magazine
| called Clarkesworld. Other science fiction genre magazines
| include Asimov's, Analog, and F&SF.
|
| Other genres, including so-called "literary fiction," all have
| their own magazines. Apparently none of them are doing
| particularly well, because short stories are now out of
| fashion. The trend right now is to make everything as long as
| possible: Don't write a novella if you can write a novel, and
| don't write a novel if you can write a three-part (or seven-
| part!) series.
| the_af wrote:
| It's a shame literary gigantism has become fashionable or at
| least marketable.
|
| Novels are ok, but I've come to despise "book series". It
| seems everything wants to grow and, if possible, become a
| Netflix show.
|
| Short fiction is a marvelous art form, which requires a
| precision with plot and/or words that is hard to match.
| Novels have room to breathe and grow, but there's no such
| luxury with a short story: every word matters.
|
| Few things are as enjoyable as a well-crafted short story.
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| I'm not disagreeing with the author, but how many of the 5300
| subscribers are libraries or similar institutions? That seems
| like it could be a significant portion of the non corporate
| subscriber base.
| jackvalentine wrote:
| I subscribe to Clarkesworld because I love a good short story and
| I want my house to be filled with boxes of books that my son can
| discover when he's old enough and if he's inclined the same way I
| was as a kid reading what my parents did.
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