by Neil Clarke
But the internet and other digital technologies have brought major changes for publishers and readers over the last decade. It might seem hard to believe, but the first SONY e-ink ebook reader was sold in the US in September 2006, with Amazon’s first Kindle device following a year later. However, in 2007, both companies’ e-readers cost around $400, which was prohibitive for most consumers. In addition, few titles were available for sale in ebook format.
2010 was a year of significant change. The cost of the Kindle and SONY e-readers dropped below $200. Barnes & Noble had launched their Nook reader the year before, and Apple introduced the first iPad. The impact of the cheaper e-readers was almost instantaneous. These devices did for books what the iPod and other MP3 players had done for music: they made digital content portable, and therefore usable.
As a publisher just dipping a toe into the uncertain waters of ebook publishing, I was amazed to see my company’s ebook sales jump ten-fold after Christmas 2010. Suddenly, for the first time, people actually owned devices they could use to read ebooks! As smartphones became ubiquitous, that accelerated the acceptance of ebooks as a viable format for readers. Robust online sales channels were developed to distribute that media, with Amazon leading the charge to provide an easy way for readers to pay for electronic content to read on their devices.
Print-on-demand technology was also improving drastically around the same time, enabling authors and publishers to put out a book without sinking tens of thousands of dollars into a print run of thousands of copies before they knew whether or not anyone would want to buy the book. The decreased cost of publishing and distributing a book or magazine meant that becoming a publisher, or publishing one’s own work, was no longer out of reach for many authors and publishing hopefuls.
These radical shifts in technology, combined with the lower capital requirements to start a publishing venture, have created fertile ground especially in the technology-friendly world of speculative fiction. Over the past decade, more than a dozen professional and semi-pro science fiction and fantasy magazines have sprung up, along with many fanzines and online publications.
Since 2005, publications such as Lightspeed Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Apex Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, Tor.com, Forever Magazine, Clarkesworld itself, and other publications with significant or exclusively digital presences have been established. These publications have offered homes to the work of many writers writing short fiction in the speculative fiction genre, both established voices and new talents.
In addition, because the cost of establishing a publication or undertaking a project is lower, publishers and authors can take more risks. They can focus on niche subjects, or speak directly to reading communities that had previously been overlooked by publishers trying to cast the widest possible net.
Crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Patreon have also changed the publishing landscape by providing a simple, well-understood way for readers to support a project before an author or publisher commits resources to it. That means that anyone with an idea can reach out to their community to see if their project will capture the imagination of readers, instead of gambling that there will be an audience for a book once it’s published.
Projects such as the Long Hidden anthology edited by Daniel José Older and Rose Fox began as a Twitter conversation and ended up as an award-nominated anthology of over 150,000 words of short fiction “from the margins of speculative history.” The Women Destroy Science Fiction special issue of Lightspeed Magazine came into being, according to editor Christie Yant, when “we took hurt and rage and turned it into something beautiful.” In the coming years, I expect to see many more books and magazines that speak to readers who have been ignored or underserved by mainstream publishing.
The ability to publish and sell shorter works without incurring massive costs means that publishers can also experiment more with length, publishing and selling novellas, novelettes, and even single short stories. Tor.com Publishing has established a line specifically to publish novellas and short novels. Hugh Howey’s wildly popular novel, Wool, began as a stand-alone short story published via Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. He later expanded it, experimenting with serial publishing to great success.
Very short stories and flash fiction, sold in collections or magazines or published online, are appealing to busy readers who want bite-size entertainment for their commute or while waiting for an appointment. O. Westin (@MicroSFF) tweets “very short, single-tweet, original science fiction/fantasy stories” for readers who are really in a hurry!
Social media has also given readers a direct way to follow the careers of the writers they love. Like old-school author fan clubs, Twitter and Facebook let fans support and follow writers. Connecting through these online channels can feel more intimate, more like a two-sided relationship between author and reader. What’s more, authors can communicate with readers when they sell a story to a publication or when an anthology features their work, so readers can discover and support these creative ventures.
Traditional publishers seem to be noticing this trend of great short fiction, as the past year has seen the introduction of at least two year’s best anthologies in the science fiction and fantasy genres: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy series, edited by John Joseph Adams and various co-editors, and the forthcoming The Best Science Fiction of the Year, edited by Clarkesworld editor Neil Clarke. These series will provide further opportunities for writers in the speculative fiction genre, and bring greater attention to these stories and the publications where they originate.
Ultimately, all these changes mean more options for readers: More stories, and more ways to read. A greater diversity of writers’ voices and subjects. And more ways for readers’ own voices to be heard by the people creating and publishing all of this literary abundance.
These technological changes have created a new Golden Age of speculative fiction in a variety of forms, which will help bring new readers into the genre and keep current readers intrigued, challenged, and entertained. I can’t wait to see how further innovation is adopted by publishers and authors in the service of connecting great stories with readers.
About the Author
Margot Atwell works with publishers and authors as the Publishing Lead at Kickstarter. She is the author of Derby Life: A Crash Course in the Incredible Sport of Roller Derby and co-author of The Insider’s Guide to Book Publishing Success, along with articles for SF Signal, Moviefone, Derbylife.com, Publishing Perspectives, Publishers Weekly, and The Huffington Post. She is also the publisher at Gutpunch Press. She lives in Brooklyn and tweets as @MargotAtwell.
Editor’s Desk:
Best. Wife. Ever.
Neil Clarke
Typically, the art I select for the cover doesn’t have any particular connection to that issue’s contents. I’ve always viewed the cover as its own feature, independent of the rest. During one of my recent monthly art quests, I came across Rudy Faber’s “Robot in Love” and I knew right away that I wanted it for this issue. No, it has nothing to do with any of the stories or articles. On April 1st, Lisa and I will celebrate our twenty-first wedding anniversary.
We don’t look like this couple, of course, but it’s easy to project our path onto theirs. I like to think they get past that awkward beginning phase and eventually get married. They have Peeps as hors d’oeuvres at the reception and rocket off to somewhere a bit warmer for their honeymoon. They sell a termite-infested house to buy the house to buy another one that they’ll raise their children in, and a few years later, they have a little cyborg running around. Three more years in and they have a set that never fail to entertain and inspire. Sure, they’ll be some rough spots: the loss of a third child in pregnancy; his mechanical heart failing and needing some organic parts to keep going; betrayals by friends, being fired, and more; but together they weather it all.
This robot/cyborg loves his wife and family. We know how lucky we are.
When our first son was bor
n, Lisa quit her day job to stay home and raise the kids. Financially, it was tough, but we both valued that aspect of our childhoods and wanted our children raised that way. It’s meant that for the last sixteen years I’ve been the primary source of income for our family and that has meant continuing a twenty-seven year technology career in academia. For many years, I loved that career and I was happy doing it. Lisa humored and encouraged my side businesses—a bookstore, then a magazine and publishing company—and even started a few of her own (Polka Dot Cottage). I don’t think either of us suspected that one of these would present itself as a second career for me, however.
Since my heart attack, nearly four years ago, I’ve been actively trying to build Clarkesworld into that career. Each year is better than the last, and with Forever, The SFWA Bulletin, The Best Science Fiction of the Year series, and other anthology projects beginning to pile on the plate, I’m finally running into a wall: time. The day job is now an obstacle to future success.
Sixteen years since leaving the traditional workforce, Lisa is going back to work, not because she wants to, but so that I’ll be able to jump at some of the recent opportunities. Her job—when she gets one—will provide the health insurance we need and cover the income gap between the day job and editing income. It’s not here yet, but I’m simply overwhelmed by this gift, and promise that I’ll be working hard to make sure I can do the same for her sometime soon.
What else can I say but “Best. Wife. Ever.”
About the Author
Neil Clarke is the editor of Clarkesworld Magazine, Forever Magazine, and Upgraded; owner of Wyrm Publishing; and a three-time Hugo Award Nominee for Best Editor (short form). The innagural edition of his Best Science Fiction of the Year anthology series will be published by Night Shade Books this June. He currently lives in NJ with his wife and two children.
Cover Art:
Robot in Love
Rudy Faber
About the Artist
Rudy Faber is a freelance illustrator, freelance concept artist and painter living in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. As a professional illustrator Rudy mainly works on children’s books and young adult novels, a branch of illustration he enjoys tremendously. In the weekends Rudy loves to paint realistic portraits and the human figure. Although Rudy considers oil painting as a mere (albeit very passionate) hobby and isn’t so much looking to pursue a professional fine artist career, a handful of his paintings have been on exhibit in places like Amsterdam, Melbourne (Aus) and Tucson AZ, as well as in his hometown of Leeuwarden. Rudy is mainly self taught in all of his techniques.