Realms of Fantasy closing - Economy kills a magazine

It seems one of our sister publications is passing on. Realms of Fantasy's last issue will be the April issue, this after almost going 100 issues strong. The magazine was chock-filled with art, articles, and fiction that gave many writers and artists their first chance at paid publication.

Apparently, according to the article at SFScope, the same reasons we're struggling lead to the closing of Realms of Fantasy:

"The reasons she was given for the closure were plummeting newsstand sales. "Subscriptions are good, and advertising, until very recently, was fine." She blamed the economic downturn and newsstand distribution for the closure."

The original story with links is at: http://sfscope.com/2009/01/realms-of-fantasy-closing.html

Bookstores & Distributors Respond

Since I posted last, I've gotten a few emails from bookstores who I contacted and just happened to check out our blog. They were delighted to see that I am conjolling folks to buy from the smaller outlets.

We've had three independent bookstores added to our distribution lists for both magazines.

So get out there and buy from your local "mom & pop" shops. . . you'll be rewarded greatly in kharma alone!

Failing Bookstores/Magazine Retailers/Distributors of Independents

So I've been researching new venues to market both Faire Magazine and The Pyrates Way and I found a few online lists of solid places to push the magazines. Sadly, many of them on one list (created in 2006), have had to close. These small shops, both small, family-run distributors and bookstores, saw such decline in their sales and such a rise in the cost of running their businesses, that they had to close their doors.

Many of them were business that had been around since the late 1950s, when magazines had started their heyday. Run by their children or grandchildren, it must be awful to see the family business get squeezed dry by the likes of Walmart, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com.

But even those giants of magazine retail are getting squeezed.

When I'm on the road, I often pop into a Barnes & Noble or Borders to see if either our magazines or the competition are on the shelves. Sometimes we're there, sometimes the competition is there, or sometimes both are present. . . but one thing is for sure, the magazine racks have slimmed down A LOT.

What used to be six rows of back-to-back magazine racks are now narrowed to three sets. Of course the major magazines of general interest will always be there, but the independent folks who cater to a smaller crowd are disappearing at an alarming rate.

So here's a note to you magazine-buyers and lovers of our hobbies. . . . buy your books and magazines at a small shop. . . give your money to those who are probably as much into your hobby as you are . . . is saving a $1 on a copy of a magazine more important than helping one of yer mates? (sorry, broke into pirate-talk just then)

Spread the word. . . . help the little guy for a change.