Today is a Good Day to Subscribe to Clarkesworld Magazine
Posted on November 14, 2012 Posted by John Scalzi 65 Comments
Many Whatever readers are fans of science fiction and fantasy, which means they have probably heard of Clarkesworld Magazine, the Hugo-winning science fiction magazine, which has published some genuinely excellent fiction in its run. Clarkesworld is owned and operated by Neil Clarke, who I can vouch for from personal knowledge as being one of the nicer folks in the genre. Neil has unfortunately has had a stretch of hard road recently, including a heart attack and (very recently) being let go from his day job. He’s keeping as optimistic an attitude about these things as he can, but optimism will only go so far.
Clarkesworld is an excellent magazine, and it’s also a story market that pays more than the SFWA minimum for professional-level sales, meaning that it’s a good market for writers, too. You can read its content for free on the Web site, but there’s also an option for you to subscribe to the magazine as well, and have it delivered to your e-reader, or to donate to the site to support it.
What I would like you to consider today is supporting Clarkesworld, either through a subscription (here’s the subscription page) or through a donation (here’s the donation page). I think it’s a good investment, not only for your reading enjoyment, but also for making sure writers get paid decently for the work they do. Those are both things I enthusiastically support. And, as a bonus, your subscription or donation now will help put the magazine on solid footing for the future. And that’s something I enthusiastically support as well.
Give it some thought, and thanks.
John, if I may ask, how important do you think it is for an aspiring SF writer to keep up with the SF publications? I’m an avid reader, but I haven’t read any of the remaining SF mags in years, and I wonder if maybe I’m making a mistake.
johnstonmr:
I think it’s pretty important for an aspiring SF writer to know the short fiction market, especially if they plan to write short fiction.
Done! And I wish Neil all the best in his recovery and in his employment search. Both are rough things to be going through at any time, but especially during the holiday season. The good news is that even in this economy there are jobs to be had and with today’s medical care Neil can recover and be even more healthy that before. Those are my wishes for Neil this day. :)
Subscribed via Kindle. Best of luck to Mr. Clarke!
At only $2 a month, it’s less than a fancy coffee drink. I think I can give up a frozen mocha or two — I purchased a subscription for my father as well. Partial repayment for getting me hooked on sci-fi as a child!
Best of luck to Neil Clarke. Hopefully things will turn around for him soon.
Clarkesworld is fantastic. I already read it every month, and look forward to the new issue every month. The subscription is not available for the Nook. However, each issue is available when it comes out, for $2.99, a bargain. All the back issues are there as well.
This has nothing to do with anything, really, but I couldn’t find the answer on Wikipedia, so here ya go…is Neil Clarke related to Arthur C. Clarke? It’s an unusual enough spelling of the last name, and the SF/F field can be a bit insular, so I was wondering.
My best wishes to Neil Clarke for a speedy and safe recovery!
Already a Kindle based subscriber, but I pledge to remain a subscriber so long as Mr. Clarke keeps publishing it. I look forward to its appearance every month, and the kindle format is simply easy to read and subscribe with.
I’ve been a subscriber for a while, so I upped my investment, and bought a Clarkesworld book.
Never got around to subscribing to Clarkesworld, this is a good reminder to do it. I hope it helps.
Tried to buy a Wyrm book, but looks as though their online store processor is down currently. If someone tries later and has luck, perhaps they’ll post that status here? Thanks!
Subscribed, then donated, because the subscription starts with a free trial. And thanks, was glad to discover something new to subscribe to for my Kindle.
Royalty only costs $50? SOLD! Now my sash really will indicate Lordhood. That’s how it works, right?
Reblogged this on Kicking the Pants and commented:
There are too few markets for science fiction and fantasy short stories. Help keep this one alive!
I’ve just subscribed through Amazon UK.
Clarkesworld is one of those things I’ve checked in on sporadically and enjoyed, but I think a subscription sent right to my Kindle is the ideal prompt to keep me up-to-date.
I used to love reading professional, semi-professional and even downright amateur SF magazines, but haven’t really kept up with the scene. I remember the good old days when I was a student in the late 80s – I had a subscription to Interzone, and through that discovered all those wonderful small-press SF magazines like Back Brain Recluse. I had a soft spot for the short-lived Exuberance, which printed one of my stories – it was a shoe-string operation, but as a point of honour it paid 0.5p per word. It was my first, and to date only, sale of fiction.
Here’s to a vibrant SF short-story market.
Done. I look in on it regularly anyway. so thanks for the reminder.
I just renewed a couple of weeks ago. I’ve reviewed a couple of issues of the magazine, and I can vouch for John’s opinion that it’s publishing really good short fiction. Definitely worth the time and attention of anyone who reads science fiction and/or fantasy.
Will do. I haven’t read Clarkesworld before except the stories by E. Lily Yu, which I discovered from watching the streamcast of the Hugo Awards. That kind of excellence deserves to be supported and encouraged.
Subscribed. Thanks for the tip.
Been there, subbed. And thanks. Once again I am humbled by the level of awesome coming from Whatever.
Sure. It will be a good addition to my 30+ years of subscribing to Analog.
By the way, it would be interesting to hear which publications/sites you subscribe to (speaking to Mr. Scalzi). Especially which podcasts, if any, you listen to.
Just wondering.
Annoying . . . it gave me a free trial even though I did not want one.
Done! Always in the market for sources of good short fiction.
Glad to subscribe IF a print version exists. I do no electronic reading for pleasure. Just too many screens read digitally doing my day job since 1978 when the first desktop dropped in my lap (Apple 2E). Does not sound like there is a print version. Sigh.
I admit my ignorance, if I want to read it on my laptop, what’s the best format?
John – thanks for A: letting us know about this; B: for putting your bully pulpit to good use and C: I just donated to Clarkesworld and am sending a note to Neil to let him know that it was made in John Scalzi’s name, because I owed John a charitable contribution for allowing me to reprint portions of the speech he made during this year’s Hugo Award ceremony. The work John does here exemplifies the theme of that speech.
Gary Willis, I absolutely understand about the amount of screen time, but if you give it a try, I think you will be absolutely astonished at how reading on an e-reader is more like reading a book than it is like reading something on a monitor. I know I was. But if you really want to stick with paper, there are print anthologies available, described on this page: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/staff/
Reblogged this on "…Of Cabbages and Kings…" and commented:
John Scalzi has a good recommendation. Ignore his schooling me in reply to my admittedly-stupid question.
Done and Done based on the Scalzi recommendation
And, subscribed.
Hm. No actual ebook reader, and no way to subscribe with Kindle for PC. Fine. Donation it is, then!
Agreed, a good day to subscribe. Thanks for the update.
Already a subscriber and planning to re-up. Clarkesworld is a wonderful mag, and I’m not just saying that cause they’ve published my friends. ;)
I hope Neil’s luck turns around soon!
Thanks for the heads up. Epub subscription paid. Cool.
Done- I can read it on my tablet, I believe. Now I’ll have something else for reading on trips.
Based on your recommendation and some 5 star reviews on Amazon, I just subscribed. About time I started reading a monthly SF magazine again.
I don’t seem to have much of a preference between using the Amazon subscription and the Weightless Books one, so does anyone know if either option is better for the publisher? Both are about equally convenient for me, so I’d rather do whatever helps the magazine the most.
Thank you all (and particularly you John). I just don’t know what to say. This has been a year that has been determined to knock me down and keep me there, but then days like this come along… I am proud to be a part of such a wonderful and supportive community.
@Jennifer R. Ewing: No, not related to Arthur. Not even distantly. Yeah, I checked.
@Ewan: Our site for Wyrm has never been hit with a wave of traffic like this. It’s causing some database issues with the cart. Until it is fixed, I’m more than happy to take orders by email at wyrmpublishing@gmail.com.
@Gary Willis: We just started producing print copies of the magazine. The problem is the cost of shipping. I asked a few questions about this in my most recent blog entry: http://neil-clarke.com/lemons/
@Rob G and @Chris Ogilvie: I don’t think the Kindle Reader for you laptop will work with subscriptions (no idea why), but you can get a subscription from Weightless that will work with it (mobi version) or go with epub and use the Nook software for laptops. (Others may want to recommend better laptop-based ereader programs.)
@Jason: As far as income goes, there isn’t much of a difference between the two. When it comes to single sales, however, Amazon has a slight lead. If/when we get into the Nook newsstand, it probably will be about the same. (Just have to convince them to answer emails.)
I purchased a Kindle subscription, thanks John, for bringing Clarkesworld to my attention. My best wishes for Neil.
Done – and I’m pretty excited: all my life I’ve read (famous & much loved) authors going on about their life long love affairs with the mags but this is the first time I will be part of that world.
Reblogged this on J.R. Johnson and commented:
Clarkesworld is a great magazine doing a lot to support authors — if science fiction, fantasy, and great writing are your thing, consider subscribing!
@ Gary Willis – echoing Ruth to say – try an eink ereader. Significantly easier to read/less eye strain than reading paper for me. Particularly my older, yellowing books printed on cheap paper. Eink is wonderful.
Also love the easy subscription model now available for e-reading. Added Clarkesworld.
Got it from Amazon, Thanks for the tip!
Done. The latest issue is being sent to my Galaxy Note as I type.
I went to college with Neil. Hi, Neil! He is excellent people.
I’ll subscribe.
As you command, so shall I obey. (How did I not know this could come straight to my Kindle? Awesome!)
Done. I was looking for an excuse to subscribe to a speculative fiction magazine anyways.
@Neil Clarke – thanks, but looks as though site is now back up, so you should have an order from me.
[FYI, I’m a non-ereader; I would sub, but only to a dead tree version. Enough time on screens as it is, thanks :).]
Thanks for the pointer John. I’ve been a subscriber to Clarkesworld for a long time.. and today was a good day to renew it (and while I was at it I also renewed Apex, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Lightspeed)!
I already subscribed, but I’ll pass notice around to my sf loving friends
Done and done!
Been there. Done that. Still doing it.
I grew up reading (okay, stealing) my dad’s Asimov’s but for some reason I’ve never subscribed to a SF magazine on my own until now. Love that it will magically appear on my tablet, and what I’ve read so far of this month’s edition is delicious! Looks like I can get back issues pretty easily, too. Thanks for the recommendation!
@Kilroy, decades ago when I was a teenage girl on holiday in a city with a transit system (unusual to me), when I was on a bus I hopped up and offered my seat to an older man. Not because he was old, but because something about the way he walked and prepared to stand said he needed it more than I did. He took the seat, and thanked me sincerely, and told me he had a heart condition. Now, if a man will take a seat from a young woman, I think he’d also have the sense to take it from a young man.
And when I’ve sent flowers to men, they’ve been well received.
Love you books, love your blog, love your heart.
Subscribeded. ded.
Done. Best of everything to Mr. Clarke.
I have a question on a kind of tangential thread: for many years, my dad subscribed to “Science Fiction and Fantasy” magazine. I hadn’t realized until now (I just looked it up on Amazon) that it was still in production. What do folks here think of its quality? Is it still as good as it used to be?
Pleased to subscribe and makes me feel so good there are so many nice people out there. Like so many others my best wishes for the future.
Subscribed. I love that it’s available for Kindle!
Subbed, a no brainer really.
Subscribed. Whatever you say, John.
Done! I got a Kindle subscription. Many thanks for your support. I listen to the Clarkesworld podcast and love it.
Done. Subscribed. Good Luck.
Just wanted to say thanks for the tip on this one. I subscribed to Clarkesworld back when I first read this post and am just now downloading my third issue. I’ve enjoyed the magazine a lot. Thoraiya Dyer’s piece ‘The Wisdom Of Ants’ in the last issue was amazing and is my favourite story so far.