Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Support the Infrastructure

I was lecturing the other day (I can't remember if it was in a class, online, or to some strangers in the Starbucks restroom) about supporting the system that sustains us.

How many writers have submitted stories to magazines they've never even read, let alone subscribe to?

You write books, but how many books do you buy?

You've got a new book out, or maybe a few, yet you come back from writing conferences empty-handed because you haven't bought a thing.

Yeah, I know books and mags are expensive, especially on a poverty level budget. But how can we truly expect to become part of the publishing industry if we don't support it with our dollars?

Well, here's a chance. Apex Science Fiction and Horror, a digest size journal available by subscription and at newsstands everywhere, is in trouble. They're one of the premeire markets for fantastic literature, but the editor of the mag (Jason Sizemore) got hit with a large printing bill and no way to pay it. How large? Two grand.

Now two grand isn't a lot of money. But most magazines are a labor of love that don't show a profit for the first few years, and Jason has been pumping a lot of his own money into this magazine since the very beginning. He has no more money to pump.

That's where you come in. Visit the Apex blog at http://apexdigest.livejournal.com/ and read about the uber-cool raffle that is being held to save the magazine. Lots of incredible merchandise is for sale for only a few dollars. One of the raffle prizes is a three chapter critique from a literary agent.

After you spend five or ten bucks on raffle tickets, go buy a subscription or a few back issues.

This isn't charity. You're getting somthing for your money. Besides the merchandise, you're keeping alive one more potential source for your writing. And with the sad state the short story market is in, we need all the potential sources we can get.

10 comments:

David J. Montgomery said...

What a great idea.

I dropped $10 bucks buying raffle tickets for the Paul Wilson books.

What the hell... It's a good cause.

jeff hotchkiss said...

Actually, I think the debt is $4,000. He said he needed 200 $20 subs. I bought a sub and some raffle tickets. He's pretty close last time I checked. So anyone who can, give something.

Jeff

Richelle said...

I'm a big fan of Apex but didn't know about this. Thanks for posting!

spy scribbler said...

Thanks for the link! Short stories have been around a lot more, lately, thank goodness. But you know how crazy I am about them!

This discussion has been heating the loops lately!

I say buy all the books one can buy (and boy am I broke doing it--I spend 300% of my meager royalties!), but never, ever, ever should we tell a reader or ourselves to stop reading because they can't afford to buy a book. There's libraries and friends to fill in the gaps.

In the end, you're completely right. I just don't think one should ever make a choice between reading and not reading.

Lisa Hunter said...

I buy tons of books. Well, pounds anyway. I've always felt a little guilty plunking down $20 for a debut novel instead of getting it out of the library. Now you've made me feel better!

Susan Flemming said...

WOW... those are some great prizes. I bought some raffle tickets. And once word gets around, they'll probably raise enough money just from the tickets for the editing/critiquing, let alone all the other great prizes.

Marti said...

I've purchased books by fellow Lulu authors whenever I could. I know how hard it is to sell self-published works (boy do I know! LOL) so I try to support them when I can.

The raffle sounds like an awesome idea - thanks for sharing the information!

Hope you have a great day!

r2 said...

I'm in. I'll sign up for a sub today.

Susan Flemming said...

As of late last they've exceeded their goal. But I still posted a link to the raffle on my blog because it doesn't end until Friday midnight. And also... according the the Apex Blog, they are going to use the extra funds to pay their editors who up until now have been volunteers and also to increase pay rates for writers and artists.

It's truly amazing to see what people can and will do once they realize that help is needed.

Anneliese said...

Starbucks or Books? There's a thought. :)

 
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