In case you aren’t aware, Suvudu – Random House’s online portal/community for fans – recently launched a blogging site called Universe.

Universe is similar in many respects to webzines/blog platforms like SF Signal, TOR.com, BlackGate and, yes, even Amazing Stories.  Their common threads are – content provided by fans, for fans on subjects of fannish interest and, acknowledgement and respect for the sensibilities of that community.

A variety of different approaches have been taken by these sites to acquire and publish original content;  many of the contributors are professional writers, artists, bloggers, at least to the extent that they are recognized by the community as such (based on the quality of their work) and sometimes – if not always – get paid for their contributions – either in cash or in-kind.

Universe represents a horse of a different color, as is detailed by Justin in his article –

Suvudu Universe: Hai Can I Haz Ur Stuffz?

It is not anyone else’s place to tell a blogger what sites they should contribute to, what form of compensation they should accept or what rights they ought to sell, but here at Amazing Stories we do believe very firmly in being completely up-front and transparent about what we are asking for and what we offer in return.  We think that every publication should do so.

We also strongly encourage every content creator to read all of the terms, rights, requirements, privacy statements associated with any website they may wish to associate with, seek legal counsel if they are not sure of the consequences of what they read and to make their decision of whether or not to participate based on a long-range view of their possible career, rather than a short term desire to simply see their name in print.