Wed Jan 28, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman

Fight the downturn! Here's how...

Yes, we know it's getting ugly out there. If Robot 6 has a daily roundup called Food Or Comics, and we're covering stuff that they're missing, it's just outright brutal.

So what to do about it? Kristine Kathryn Rusch, award-winning author and editor, posted the following to an email list regarding the shutdown of Realms Of Fantasy:

If you’re really worried about the magazines, subscribe to them.  If you already have a subscription, give a few gift subscriptions.  If you can afford it, ask if the magazine has lifetime subscription rates and buy one. Or purchase a five year subscription.

In this economy, an upturn in subscriptions will help any magazine.  If everyone on this list bought a subscription, either as a gift or for themselves, that would seriously help. 

If you read the information on Realms, it’s pretty clear that the downturn in the fourth quarter hit Sovereign Media hard.  Apparently, they rely heavily on newsstand sales.    This is one area where the digests have already suffered, so their losses in the fourth quarter won’t be as severe as other companies.  However, they’ll see a trickle downward of subscriptions as renewals don’t come in at the usual pace. 

So they have time—provided that people continue to renew or subscribe anew.

Just a thought in all the gloom and doom.

That's good advice in general. If you are in a position to do so, subscribe to your favorite comics. If your local store has a pull list or subscription list, take advantage of it-- if they know they'll have some set income coming in, that will help them budget.

If there are online comics or websites you like, drop some cash in the tip jar.

If you're downloading comics, buy paper editions as well. It'll be good practice when MinuteMan loses his job and stops buying and scanning the comic that you were reading.

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