Here is the press release for Locus Magazine’s Indiegogo appeal.
Locus‘s first annual fundraiser is live! Help raise $75,000+ to ensure the future of Locus.
Locus is an enthusiastic community of readers, writers, fans, and industry professionals, and it’s part of the glue that holds SFFH together. Without Locus, the landscape of the field would be forever diminished.
The Locus Indiegogo Campaign has some great donor swag with more being added daily, including author chats, crits, signed books, Locus coffee mugs and tees, acts of whimsy, personalized letters from bestselling authors, and more. Please take a moment to go support Locus today: https://igg.me/at/locusmag
“I’ve been part of the Locus community for over three decades, and I believe it is incredibly important to the speculative fiction community.”
—Neil Gaiman
When Locus Magazine first went to print as a one-page ‘zine in 1968, no one could have guessed it would become such a fixture of the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres, guiding its readers through worlds of imagination.
Over the past 54 years, it has published more than 740 issues, keeping readers, authors, artists, book buyers, industry professionals, and fans up to date on what’s happening in the field – the Publishers Weekly of SFFH. Decades ago, Locus launched a website whose archive holds thousands of reviews, news posts, and articles covering fiction, craft, art, conventions, international events, and more, chronicling the field.
Beyond the magazine, they started the Locus Awards in 1971, celebrating writers, editors, and artists of SFFH; proud to include an award specifically for debut authors as well as an award for community development, historically given to those who boost marginalized voices.
Locus started a writing workshop series tapping our immense community of master writers. They offer internships and have seen many move on to establish publishing careers.
A lot has changed at Locus over the years. Most recently, the way advertisers and readers interact with the magazine has shifted drastically. While the paid subscribership is modest but steady, the online readership—which engages with the free content—is orders of magnitude larger, over 100,000 per month.
At the same time, as costs rise across the board, one of the traditional revenue streams has almost entirely collapsed. Print advertising revenue is down across all print media, and Locus is no exception.
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, they’ve been shifting to a donor-supported model to meet our needs. But Locus is at risk of not surviving this current recession.
“Locus Magazine is the spit and baling wire that holds the entire, bizarre, wondrous enterprise of publishing together. We’re all seriously f—ed if it ever stops working.”
—Cory Doctorow
If Locus ceased to exist, we’d stand to lose much more than the magazine, the website, and the awards. We’d lose a community gathering place where readers, fans, and pros come together to experience:
- Interviews with up-and-coming and established writers, providing an in-depth look at their publishing journey, process, philosophy, experiences, and more.
- Reviews of books and short fiction by award winning critics who pinpoint exciting new titles and writers to look out for.
- Forthcoming Books Lists used worldwide by bookstores, librarians, collectors, and avid readers to make buying decisions.
- News including international reports about what’s happening in the SFFH community around the world, to keep us all connected and informed.
- The Locus Awards, the democratic, readers’ choice award that acknowledges, celebrates, and embraces authors and artists in the field.
- And more, including recommended reading lists, convention and workshop news, workshops, internships, event calendars, and obituaries honoring the life and work of SFFH’s voices.
Thank you for your support! Donate today at https://igg.me/at/locusmag
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I know, it’s an ad. But really: the self-praise and adulation is more than a bit over-the-top. (Sorry, Locus gang, but it’s true.)
Locus has always had a strong sense of self-importance. But it really is unique, and it would be sad if it went away and was replaced by a more commercial operation, or by nothing at all. I’m a subscriber and I hope others will step up and subscribe too. Or donate if that “subscribe” thing seems too archaic and fusty.
Clickity
Better yet, subscribe and donate.
I’ve made donations every times I’ve renewed our subscription for the last several years.
I donated (and I’ve been subscribed for a couple of decades). The fundraiser is now up to %26,750 – a reasonably hopeful sign.
It’s great to see such positive action, and it looks like it’s going very well. Locus supports SF, so I’m pleased to see this, and hope it succeeds.
It seems that quite a few people feel LOCUS remains essential to science fiction publishing, but none of these people work at science fiction publishers anymore.
Do I misunderstand the situation?
I’ve been a subscriber to LOCUS since issue #81 (around 1971, I think? I know I continued to receive issues while in the Army, 1972-75), back in the days of slim mimeographed issues. Would hate to see it fail before I do.
(Still have all those old issues, and pretty friggin’ amazing to see what prices people try to sell such vintage issues for online. Also have a second set, about thirty years worth, left from our friend Anne Braude’s estate after she passed in 2009.)
I am a subscriber already and have been for a long time. I had one item published by them recently (half of the 2022 WSFS Business Meeting report) and donated more than I received in the payment for the article back to them. I also have money going them through Patreon.