Award-Winning Editor of Clarkesworld Magazine, Forever Magazine, The Best Science Fiction of the Year, and More

Quick Poll about Online Magazines for Readers and Authors

Yes, I’m still on my kick.  Part of this is simple curiosity, but the rest is me trying to do some research to help plan for the future of Clarkesworld Magazine.  Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

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5 Comments

  1. that first poll is a bit of a hard one, so I thought I’d drop some thoughts in here instead.

    It’s kinda hard to get a proper balance and if pressed I suppose I would go with “read at my own schedule.” That said, I do tend to get put off by a mag that’s too fiction heavy – too many stories, and too long a word count; I start skimming fast.

    I don’t mind the publishing schedule so much – monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly -so long as it remains consistent.

    Strange Horizons has a nice thing going, but it feels a bit much for me every week, wouldn’t mind if they cut back a little on the columns or the reviews, or something. I read most of their fiction, and the reviews, but not as many of the columns as I would like.

    Chizine, Lone Star and Ideomancer tend to have nice balances; Abyss & Apex has a bit much in the fiction dept, but since it’s quarterly, I guess it’s all right.

    Specific to Clarkesworld – if possible, at least one more story would be nice, but it’s not crucial. The montly schedule works nicely. Perhaps add an opinion column from someone?
    I like these little extras, but not too much either.

    But I don’t really have a preference for a publishing schedule as such, just that it remains consistent is all.
    Interesting polls.

  2. For the last column I hit “other,” because besides rate of pay I consider circulation as well. I suppose for an online magazine that would be measured in hits. Pay is nice, but I think for short stories it takes a back seat to getting the story read by as many people as possible.

    • Thanks. I guess this means I should be listing our average unique visitors per month on the site somewhere. That’s good to know.

  3. On that first question I’d take daily or weekly if it was good, but it’s usually not, so monthly works better, generally. I’m a picky reader so I rarely find what I’m looking for anyway.

    As for what I submit to, I give preference to pro rate pubs, online or not. When venues pay less, the calculus is this: if online, will I reach more people by simply posting a story to my own blog? If print, is it a publication I really want to be a part of? Will I, again, reach more readers on my own? If the rate is very low or nothing there has to be some other reason–I know the editor or it’s a really wonderful project.

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