Baen's Universe Closing
Aug. 6th, 2009 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
turtleshellWhile I'm sorry to see a well-paying short fiction market close up, I'm not surprised. I subscribed for the first year, but my subscription lapsed and I haven't been back since then because I'm not fond of reading on a computer screen. Sure, I browse websites and read news, and I spend all day (and most of my evenings) writing on one computer or another, but when it comes down to reading at length for pleasure, I prefer the printed page.
I have often thought these electronic-only publications are missing out on a key demographic, that being those of us who are technologically plugged in but still prefer a more traditional approach to reading. I realize the print magazine is dying a slow, painful death, but perhaps if they'd offered a print-on-demand option for those subscribers who wanted a print edition, I'd still be reading Universe -- and they'd still be publishing come next April.
I have often thought these electronic-only publications are missing out on a key demographic, that being those of us who are technologically plugged in but still prefer a more traditional approach to reading. I realize the print magazine is dying a slow, painful death, but perhaps if they'd offered a print-on-demand option for those subscribers who wanted a print edition, I'd still be reading Universe -- and they'd still be publishing come next April.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 04:17 pm (UTC)I think the simple fact is that people don't want to pay for something that is likely to have maybe 1 story per issue worth reading; there's SO many books out there now that you can spend all your time reading novels. In the Ancient Days, finding new SF *novels* was a relatively rare event. These days, novel is the default.
I don't really expect any SF magazines to exist in another 15 years, at least not as they currently exist.