Reading science fiction like it matters since 1989.
Waiting for Spring to Spring
As is so often the case, we planned for spring and got more
winter. There was a storm on Friday, April 1, much rain and a pile of
snow further north and east, delaying some arrivals. I had a surprise
appointment for root canal work on Friday too, so it wasn’t the best
of days. But we all finally assembled on Saturday once again, and got
this issue done in spite of all of us being relatively tired and behind
on work in general because of the months of bad weather. We have
had to cancel, or be seriously short of staff at three of the last five
Weekly Meetings. Still, the Work Weekend proper turned out to be
sunny, though unseasonably chilly.
Nearly all of our Work Weekend staff went to ICFA this year,
and Orlando was warmer than average. I took a bunch of pictures,
some of them on page 3 and pages 22–23. It is a fine conference
for people interested in the serious study of the fantastic in all its
manifestations, and great for hanging out with interesting people
and arguing. Plus you get a lot of good writers—Connie Willis,
Terry Bisson, Joe Haldeman, Paul Park, Cecelia Holland, Eileen
Gunn, Jeff Ford, Peter Straub, Geoff Landis, Mary Turzillo, Steve
Erikson, Ted Chiang, Kit Reed, and far too many more to list—to
hang out with. John Clute missed this year, and was missed. It was
the first year in their lives that the Hartwell kids did not attend,
and we are going to have to provide them with a dose of Florida
later this year, I think.
Next weekend, the family is driving to Toronto for Ad Astra
(Kathryn and I are former GoHs, returning for their anniversary
con) and after that vacationing for the week, ending in Westport
with a dramatic reading of the play now then again, based on John
Cramer’s Transactional Interpretation of quantum mechanics, with
commentary afterward by John himself, who arrives to spend a week
in Westport before working at Stony Brook later in the month. We
expect to have many pictures for NYRSF next month.
In the continuing saga of ebooks, Publishers Weekly printed
their annual “Facts & Figures” issue a couple of weeks ago, and listed
all the adult ebook fiction and nonfiction that have sold over 10,000
copies. Out of the approximately 200,000 new titles published and
the uncounted number of older titles still available, only 275 adult
frontlist and backlist and 83 childrens’ books reached that level. I
found the gross numbers small, and figure that if all the smaller
publishers not reporting were included, the numbers might be two
or three times as large. But even so, it goes to show that the vast
majority of ebooks are still making hundreds of dollars in profits, not
thousands—which conforms with my reading of the sales figures to
which I have direct access. If you are interested in the facts of sales
figures, that issue is worth checking out. My favorite detail is that 2
of the 275 books were Ender’s Game and Gone with the Wind. You
may have other favorites. Those of you who are interested in the
odds of making money on literary properties can do some interesting
calculations. We have not yet seen in 2011 a bump up in ebook sales
comparable to the bump in 2010.
NYRSF struggles along, always trying to sell more subscriptions
and renewals, and back issues, and to encourage more volunteer
contributions. We are on a tighter budget than we used to be, and
it is getting to be time to upgrade the software and the computers in
the next year or so. Thanks to all of you who have ordered bunches
of back issues, and to all who have had to be patient through the
miserable winter while we catch up on the pile of work accumulated.
And for anyone new to the magazine, note that we accept PayPal,
give discounts to SFRA and IAFA members, and have an ongoing
sale of back issues, 40 for $20 and 80 for $40, our choice, or $2.00
each, your choice.
—David G. Hartwell
& the editors
A PDF copy of the NYRSF issue in which this article first appeared is available for purchase at Weightless Books.