Well, the IMPORTANT STUFF was discussed. Sadly the news is not good.
The simple fact is that sales are down. Normally when we release an issue of DARK WORLDS MAGAZINE there is a bubble of sales which trickle off over time. With the release of issue #6 sales have not even started. It may have something to do with the economic downturn, it may be that there was too long a gap between issue 5 and this new one. Given the fact that sales of the last anthology that Rage Machine Books offered on Amazon.com, SWORDS OF FIRE, have been equally dismal, it seems that economics may be to blame.
Either way, it is discouraging because issue # 6 was the most promoted of all the issues we have put out so far, This is the issue that had the support of the magazine's blog which has been averaging almost half a million visits a month since it began. Unfortunately those visits have not been translating into sales.
So, unless sales pick up, it looks like issue # 6 will be the final issue of Dark Worlds Magazine.
This has led us to rethink what we are actually offering and how we are offering it. Without going into too many details we have decided to narrow our focus a bit and concentrate on smaller projects rather than the larger anthologies and the magazine. We are also going to try a different delivery service that cuts out some of the middlemen. That will, hopefully, maximize returns for the authors and artists, rather than the service bureaus.
So keep watching this blog and visit the DARK WORLDS blog for new developments which we will be offering soon.
I've been here and there. I've drawn a lot of pictures. I've written a bit, too. I'm not good at this self-promotion thing. Look, you want to know about me? just visit these websites. Okay?
www.mdjacksonart.weebly.com
http://mdjackson.deviantart.com
http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/mdjacksons%5Fportfolio
2 comments:
This is bad news. Dark Worlds is the closest thing on the market to the spirit of the pulp-era Weird Tales.
Closer even than the current incarnation of Weird Tales, which seems to have the weird down, but seems to lack the element of adventure.
It seems to me that Lulu makes it difficult to price a book or magazine at a low enough price point to lure in buyers--especially in tough economic times. However, Kindle and Nook are digital options which cut out material expenses and make it easier to price attractively in a touch economic market (such as existed during the pulp era)--and Amazon provides a long distribution arm.
Kindle and Nook are not ideal for illustrations, however it is still possible to incorporate them into a manuscript.
Joel, I'm happy that you compared us to Weird Tales. That is one of the things that I really wanted the magazine to be was like the old Weird Tales. I wanted Dark Worlds to be Weird Tales for the internet generation.
(Although I'm interested to see what will happen to Weird Tales now that it has been bought up by Marvin Kaye)
We are taking a look at a lot of other options for distribution as well as digital editions. Thanks for your comments and keep watching this space for further developments.
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