There is a report over at SFSCope.com that Realms of Fantasy will cease publication with its April 2009 issue. If this is confirmed then it’s very sad news indeed. Realms of Fantasy has been around since 1994 and seemed a very solid, dependable publication. With the loss of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and with F&SF going bimonthly, this is bad news indeed.
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Definitely not a good time to be in the magazine business. I know I’m going to miss RoF a lot.
F&SF going bimonthly is a bad news? If it ensures the magazine’s survival, it’s good news!!! (of course, there will be a very slight loss of word count, but that’s also the case with the Analog/Asimov’s new format, no more, no less).
It’s bad news in the sense that it is a sign of hard financial times. Any steps the magazines take to survive, if they’re successful, are welcome. I’d much rather have a bimonthly F&SF or a shorter Asimov’s than lose either of them. But, it shows they’re struggling a bit, which is bad news. RoF is terrible news. Same of YBFH. And sad news that Wheatland Press have had to suspend publication.
Sheila Williams said on Asimov’s forum:
“…I’ve just returned from dining out with friends and I spent most of today working on the June editorial, so this is the first that I’ve even noticed Jonathan’s post. Don’t worry. The company took some very good cost cutting measures last year which have been good for our bottom line. Newsstand and subscription figures are almost even with last year, and any loss seems to have been more than made up for by new Kindle subscribers. Our April/May issue celebrates our latest milestone–it’s the 399/400th issue. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I think Jonathan, and everyone else, should continue to keep plenty of shelf space available for future issues of Asimov’s.”
So, upbeat news, particularly about the Kindle sales.