Apex Magazine and options

[Apex Publications]

There’s been some debate on the series of internet tubes about
workable business models for online content. Some, like Cory Doctorow,
believe free is good. If you give out a quality freebie, people will
shell out money for more of that product. I like to think of this as
the ol’ street dealer’s trick of giving out samples of coke to get
people hooked on their drug. Others have argued to me that offering
content such as short stories online, you have to go to a subscription
or pay-per-play system.

I can’t say either one has worked for Apex Magazine. A combination of
the two has not worked. Sponsorship worked for two months before
enthusiasm for it died.

I’d like to try an alternative.

I’d like to see how many fans of short fiction (and Apex Magazine) are
out there that would donate $10 (or more) on a recurring, yearly basis
to help pay for magazine costs. Our yearly cost is around $10,000.
Doctorow was given $10,000 to write one single story. For your
$10,000, you get 24 months of Apex Magazine.

If you want to help keep Apex Magazine alive then please send me an
email to ja...@apexbookcompany.com. I don’t want to start collecting
$10 (or more!) from people unless I know there are enough fans
interested.

Please spread the word if you want to help keep Apex Magazine around.

Jason Sizemore
editor-in-chief