I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been participating on Amazing Stories. Each and every one of you – bloggers, readers, commenters, artists, fans and behind the scenes folks have contributed directly to what I consider to be a wonderful success.
We’re now just a bit over seven months into this experiment and the goals I’ve set towards achieving our main goal – that of bringing Amazing Stories back as a professional fiction market for science fiction, fantasy and horror – are largely on track. (So much so its scaring me: I keep on waiting for the other shoe to drop and it never does. Instead, more amazing things keep on happening!)
Since we’re a bit over the half-year mark of a one year plan, I think it is high time (not to mention the urging of my fellow blog team members) to ask you all – How Are We Doing?
What do you think? Are you enjoying the mix of subjects and viewpoints we’ve been presenting? The reviews, interviews, essays and advice? Are our art features and novel excerpts exciting you? Our foreign language pieces? Is there something else you’d like to see? Something we’ve missed? A subject we’ve ignored?
Let me know. If you have a question about where we’re going, what we plan to do, how we hope to get there, a suggestion for another subject, changes you’d like to see, leave a comment here. On Sunday I’ll choose some of those questions and comments and answer them in a new semi-regular feature – Ask the Editor.
Oh. That image? It’s Duncan Long’s design of Amazing Stories’ first mascot – the EXP – 01. It’s listed on the International Spaceship Registry as the SS Amazing. We’re going to be making that image available as a limited edition collectible T-shirt (we’ll be introducing a new ship design every year). Why don’t you ask me about that this Sunday?
Based on anecdotal feedback to me, I think we’re doing pretty well. I put the word out to dozens of people so far and have heard back from quite a few that they’ve found the site, enjoy it, and are following it now. However, none have told me they are commenting. I know we measure blog comments, but do we also have info on the number of site hits? How about blog hits? Knowing you, Steve, you probably track these too. Maybe you could share them with us?
I like this site a lot.
Here I read intelligently written articles and usually intelligently written responses. I hate blogs that list articles that are just links to other articles (io9 is particularly guilty of this.)
It is a little too geared to writers for me, but the articles do not bother me.
I like this board a lot.
Here I read intelligently written articles and usually intelligently written responses. I hate blogs that list articles that are just links to other articles (io9 is particularly guilty of this.)
It is a little too geared to writers for me, but the articles do not bother me.
Oh, and, could the shirt be offered in more than black. Already have enough of those. Maybe a dark blue or sand?
As background, my reading in high school started with Asimov, Bester and Ellison. Then was lead further down the rabbit hole with Dick, Goulart and Robinson. Each author a distinct voice in the genre.
What I enjoy most is when my Droid sounds it’s ringtone with H. Jon Benjamin as “Sterling Archer” telling me that emails have arrived from Amazing Stories.
Each email something different with which I can break from what I’m doing to refresh my sense of wonder.
Thank you for that.
The graphic for the T-shirt looks great and the idea of a new shirt ever year is, in a word, nifty.
My question is when, when, when can I slip that fine “shmata” over my head.
I am doing quite well, I suppose. Still having little panic attacks when I have to edit something (afraid of pushing the wrong button) About the mix of subjects and point of view, that is the idea for me of a interactive magazine. The essays about literature, publishing specially, are helping me a lot not to despair now that I am trying to enter into the English market (yes, it is a different market than in Spanish, I am talking about the way every thing works) I am learning a lot and I hope the others are learning with the Spanish language post.
How’s it work in Spanish?
It seems that quite well. We have to be aware that not all the people that read our post are commenting. That can give us the idea of “nobody reads my post”, but it is not so true. I know there is a lot of people reading our posts.