Realms of Fantasy yet again takes my money and dies

Realms of Fantasy is closing again, and this time their death is likely permanent. As publisher Warren Lapine explains, he dropped more than $50,000 into reviving the magazine but the horrible economy prevented the fabled magazine's resurrection.

I'm sympathetic to Lapine and appreciate him trying to revive the magazine. And I wish editors Shawna McCarthy and Douglas Cohen all the best in the coming days. But I'm also irritated about this death--irritated at myself.

You see, this is the second time Realms of Fantasy has taken my subscription money to the grave. I wasn't angry the first time. After all, periodicals occasionally fail and I prefer to err on the side of supporting great magazines. And it isn't like I rushed in when RoF returned from the dead. When Lapine revived the magazine, I took a wait and see attitude. I'd heard people at conventions muttering about the collapse of Lapine's previous DNA Publications, so I wanted to see RoF actually succeed before I resubscribed. Instead of subscribing I simply purchased copies from bookstores. If the magazine didn't make it, I wouldn't be out anything.

Then came the infamous "subscribe or we die" letter. I should have taken that as a warning to stay away, but again, I want to support my genre. So not only did I urge others to subscribe, I finally did the sub nasty through RoF's online payment system.

That's when the trouble started. My payment went through immediately but my subscription didn't. I emailed about my subscription. I repeatedly called their customer service number. Despite all that, I only received my first issue two weeks ago. And now the magazine is dead. Again.

As they say, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I saw this coming but didn't want to believe it. So many people told me this would happen, but I didn't listen.

I won't make the same mistake a third time.

Comments

[Nick Mamatas]

Sucker.

[Jason Sanford]

Yep. I'm one of those s-things who are born every minute. And to clarify, it isn't the money I lost. It's that I knew I was flushing the cash down the drain--along with my credibility b/c I urged others to subscribe.

[Greg Bossert]

i was born in one of those minutes as well, alas, alas.

i am more miffed about the story that had been submitted there for 214 days (with a few encouraging responses along the way). somewhat to my surprise, the Duotrope submission tracker does not have an option for "market went under"....

[steve davidson]

lol. I've heard numerous muffled rumblings about DNA/Lapine, but have never been able to get to the bottom of what folks really thought (non-disclosure, can't comment type statements).

What I read that was publicly available, made the "scam" hairs on the back of my neck rise up - but I dutifully remained silent since friends had gotten involved.

Got my come-on and subscribe issues; found the only things really worth reading were the columns, but what convinced me to keep my dollars in my pocket was the insert foil pouch advertising for new age stuff.

When a genre mag runs that kind of advertising, it screams "we couldn't find decent ad matches, just folks we managed to convince to drop a few dimes because 'maybe' they'd get some nibbles" - which means to me that the whole "publishing empire" thing probably was and is now a house of cards. Seen this kind of thing way too often not to run away screaming.

So - not surprised at all at the short-lived outcome.

[SMD]

I'm in the same boat. I only received one issue. Will be emailing them for the remainder of my subscription...

[Kellye Parish]

Which means to me that the whole "publishing empire" thing probably was and is now a house of cards.

^ It's only within the last several weeks that I've started to fall in with the "traditional publishing is dead" crowd, and only because I feel that instantaneous media that is open-sourced to the masses has completely outmatched traditional publishing houses for efficiency. It is a goliath that is dying slowly, but when it finally gives up the ghost, the thud of its descent will be widely felt.

I think probably the biggest problem publishers are running into is that most writers will write whether they make money at it or not. And if they can publish themselves, why should they grovel at someone else's doorstep to do it?

[Mike]

Hope Asimov's and F&SF aren't endangered species. I'm just about to renew my subscription.

[Ilan]

I had the exact same experience - wanted to support a genre mag, and was interested to read it. Payment went straight through, but received nothing for months. They blamed it on the printers, and then after a strongly-worded but polite email, they sent out the june and october issues from the office, which I received. I don't really have the energy to try and claim the rest of my subscription - which was an international subscription.