Just last month I reported that Warren Lapine was ceasing publication of Realms of Fantasy after having acquired the magazine in March of 2009.
Late yesterday came the news that Kim Richards Gilchrist of Damnation Books had bought the magazine and would begin publishing it essentially immediately. The December 2010 issue (which had already been finished under Lapine) would go out to subscibers and the February 2011 would be the first published under Damnation Books, thereby continuing the magazine without a break.
From the Damnation Books website:
Future plans include continuing to produce the same quality fiction magazine in print and to expand digital editions for ebook and desktop readers. The April 2011 issue will be themed ’dark fantasy’ to coincide with World Horror Convention 2011 where Damnation Books will be hosting a party, and a booth in the dealer’s area.
The same text is on the Realms of Fantasy website. It also notes that the magazine is reopening for submissions. I’d like to suggest to the new publisher that they move to electronic submissions as part of moving forward with the magazine.
Beyond that, I don’t know what to say. It’s getting harder and harder to run a newsstand-style print fiction magazine. Given the fact that the magazine has ceased publication twice in just over 18 months, I’m not ready to jump up and shout hooray about this news.
At this point we also don’t know anything about the staff. Add that to the fact that Damnation publishes horror (they call it dark fiction), and I’m not sure what that means for the editorial bent of the magazine going forward. Looking at their website at their new releases and topselling titles and I don’t get the name recogniation I get looking at a typical issue of Realms of Fantasy.
My point? I’m taking a wait and see attitude. I’m certainly not going to dismiss this out of hand just because I don’t know anything about them. I don’t follow horror/dark fiction, so I have no idea how Damnation Books is regarded in the field.
Their main website gives no indication how long they’ve been around, which would give some idea of their longevity and therefore their potential success. On their Facebook page, it’s noted that Damnation Books launched in 2009. On their main website, it does not indicate whether they are a traditional print publisher or an electronic publisher. Again, on Facebook, they call themselves an ebook publisher. I don’t know, and can’t tell, if they have any experience working with printed material or magazines.
If they’ve never worked with magazines before and don’t know anything about subscriptions, fulfillment, distribution, amortization, and so on, it could be interesting. It’s a steep learning curve with not much room for error.
Despite how it sounds, I do wish Gilchrist and Damnation Books success with Realms of Fantasy. They are doing some interesting things with ebooks and appear to have a lot of energy and enthusiasm, which is important. I have no idea if their current experiences will translate to success with a print magazine. I will be sad if I’m back here in a year or so announcing the closing of Realms of Fantasy again.
John Klima is the editor of Electric Velocipede which won the Hugo in 2009 and has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award four years in a row. In his deep, dark past he worked for newsstand publications like Asimov’s and Analog and therefore speaks from experience.
So, I see the headline and I think, “When I heard that they were going under, I started feeling really guilty about letting my subscription lapse. Maybe I should subscribe again and support this magazine that I loved when I did subscribe.” Now, I’m not so sure. I liked the old Realms of Fantasy, but I’m really not into ‘Horror’ at all, so I’m conflicted.
-Beren
I agree with you on the electronic subs. Here’s hoping they move into the 21st century instead of rellying on snail mail submissions.
I *am* a subscriber – I subscribed to RoF when the last call for help went out, and received one issue. There was no communication to even confirm the subscription when I first purchased it. There was no communcation when the magazine went under (I heard about it through friend’s tweet). No communication about it being purchased by Damnation Press, either.
I’m not terribly optimistic…this just seems like more of the same. Maybe they’ll prove me wrong, but I have a feeling I’m basically out the money I spent on the original subscription.
Thank you for the post John. We hope to do you proud. I’d like to point out that we also own and run Eternal Press. Both Damnation Books and Eternal Press focus on ebooks with trade paperbacks also offered. EP has been around since 2007 and DB since 2009.
We are currently negotiating with the Realms staff to keep many of them on but can’t make any kind of announcement until those contracts are signed. The former owner of Realms is also going to be consulting to teach us what we don’t already know. Plans are to continue with the print as it is currently and to expand the digital market. For those wondering, we did pay more than $1.00 for the magazine. A lot more.
We use the same software to format books as Realms does the magazine and have distribution in place so those elements won’t be new. I don’t know why people suddenly think because one of our companies sells dark fiction (not only horror, but dark fantasy, thrillers, erotica, science fiction and more) that Realms will suddenly be a horror magazine. It’s called Realms of Fantasy so it will remain fantasy.
We are coordinating a dark fantasy theme for the April issue because we are already set up with booth space and a party at World Horror Convention. That’s one issue out of many to come.
We are prepared to work at proving ourselves. All current subscriptions will be honored and I understand that includes Dreams of Decadence subscriptions (which were applied previously to us to Realms of Fantasy subscriptions).
As for email submissions. I’m leaving that one up to Shawna. She’s the one who has to read them all. ;)
Good luck, Kim!
The magazine’s died and been reborn twice in a fairly short period of time. Naturally there’s going to be a lot of uncertainty during the transition period and that breeds speculation and rumor; there are a lot of people who care what happens to RoF. Statements like the above where you clarify your intent and plans to the extent they can be at this point go a long way toward encouraging people to give you the benefit of the doubt.
Most of us are hoping for the best, so good luck.
I whole heartedly support anyone trying to make a go out of a print magazine these days. It’s an incredibly difficult task competing against all the broadcast and digital distractions out there.
Best wishes to a succesful re-re-launch.
Seth
I sent in my subscription money for Dreams of Decadence right before this announcement — and I see no information on either that mag’s site or on the RoF site (where its publication was announced) about whether that periodical will continue. Is there news on that as well?
-Alana
The Following is all,Somewhat true.I can be reached at the email(If anyone wishes) What is the word on this,The New word as of 2019 And where can I get back issues?