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It's April, 2010. This means we've hit the final issue of Jim Baen's Universe. The death of a market is always to be lamented. In the case of JBU, they paid extremely well and reserved a slot every issue for a new writer. That makes the venue's death even more lamentable.
Mike Resnick writes an eloquent valedictory editorial where he explains what happened and why the magazine is closing. There is one statement, however, I'd like to take exception to. He writes: "Lest you think I’m exaggerating, here’s a simple fact. When JBU started up, we were the only e-zine paying what the Science Fiction Writers of America considers a professional rate."
That can't possibly be true. Strange Horizons has been around since 2000. When SFWA raised the minimum pro rate from $0.03/word to $0.05/word, the venue raised their pay rate to follow. They've always made a point of paying pro rates for their fiction.
Obviously, this is just an oversight on Mr. Resnick's part. The sentiment of what he writes, if not the actual fact, may be correct. Besides SH, I don't know if there were any other pro-rate e-zines at the time JBU started, and certainly JBU has garnered far more attention than SH.
From some reason, Strange Horizon manages to publish some of the best speculative fiction today, and still slip underneath the radar. I also think it's neat that whenever a writer is nominated for their first Hugo, SH invariably has at least one story written by them and links to it. Anyone who likes short speculative fiction and isn't reading SH is missing out. (Why, yes, I have donated to SH. Have you?)
(Oh, and in Mr. Resnick's list of pro rate on-line magazines, I think he meant Apex Magazine, rather than Abyss & Apex. They're both professional in quality, but the latter pays $0.05/word up to 1500 words capping at $75.00. SFWA does not consider that a pro rate since A & A will buy stories longer than 1500 words.)
Mike Resnick writes an eloquent valedictory editorial where he explains what happened and why the magazine is closing. There is one statement, however, I'd like to take exception to. He writes: "Lest you think I’m exaggerating, here’s a simple fact. When JBU started up, we were the only e-zine paying what the Science Fiction Writers of America considers a professional rate."
That can't possibly be true. Strange Horizons has been around since 2000. When SFWA raised the minimum pro rate from $0.03/word to $0.05/word, the venue raised their pay rate to follow. They've always made a point of paying pro rates for their fiction.
Obviously, this is just an oversight on Mr. Resnick's part. The sentiment of what he writes, if not the actual fact, may be correct. Besides SH, I don't know if there were any other pro-rate e-zines at the time JBU started, and certainly JBU has garnered far more attention than SH.
From some reason, Strange Horizon manages to publish some of the best speculative fiction today, and still slip underneath the radar. I also think it's neat that whenever a writer is nominated for their first Hugo, SH invariably has at least one story written by them and links to it. Anyone who likes short speculative fiction and isn't reading SH is missing out. (Why, yes, I have donated to SH. Have you?)
(Oh, and in Mr. Resnick's list of pro rate on-line magazines, I think he meant Apex Magazine, rather than Abyss & Apex. They're both professional in quality, but the latter pays $0.05/word up to 1500 words capping at $75.00. SFWA does not consider that a pro rate since A & A will buy stories longer than 1500 words.)
