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Show HN: The first issue of Compelling Science Fiction

compellingsciencefiction.com

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Re: Show HN: The first issue of Compelling Science Fiction

#2

Post by mojoe »

Two months ago I posted about a new online science fiction magazine I was creating: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11151062

I'm happy to report that the first issue is now live! I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback. I will continue to refine the magazine as time goes on, but I believe we have a great collection of stories for you, which is what we set out to do.

Re: Show HN: The first issue of Compelling Science Fiction

#4

Post by mojoe »

anotherevan wrote: post #3

Would you consider publishing an epub format version (either of the individual stories or altogether for each issue)?

We definitely have an epub version, it can be downloaded right now by patrons of Compelling Science Fiction on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/compelling

We're currently discussing additional methods of distribution of e-reader formats. We would like to set up an automated system that emails subscribers .epub/.mobi versions to their address of choice, but we need to put together an in-house subscription system first.

Re: Show HN: The first issue of Compelling Science Fiction

#5

Post by personjerry »

mojoe wrote: post #2

Two months ago I posted about a new online science fiction magazine I was creating: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11151062 I'm happy to report that the first issue is now live! I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback. I will continue to refine the magazine as time goes on, but I believe we have a great collection of stories for you, which is what we set out to do.

I asked this on the original thread too but never got an answer, and I ask it again because I'm not familiar with how publishing works: If I submit a series of short stories, would I still retain the right to collect them into a book and have it published elsewhere, like Asimov did with Foundation?

Re: Show HN: The first issue of Compelling Science Fiction

#7

Post by mojoe »

3stripe wrote: post #6

Love the concept, good sci-fi is hard to come by. Design thought: the reading experience would be vastly improved by a larger font size and shorter line length. See https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/ or similar for inspiration.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will certainly review the link you sent! I don't have any volunteers who have front-end design experience, so there is a lot of room for improvement.

Re: Show HN: The first issue of Compelling Science Fiction

#8

Post by kbaker »

mojoe wrote: post #7
3stripe wrote: post #6

Love the concept, good sci-fi is hard to come by. Design thought: the reading experience would be vastly improved by a larger font size and shorter line length. See https://edwardtufte.github.io/tufte-css/ or similar for inspiration.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will certainly review the link you sent! I don't have any volunteers who have front-end design experience, so there is a lot of room for improvement.

In Firefox, you can click the little book icon to turn on better readability. (Reader View)

It definitely improves the layout, you can copy that design basically. Smaller content width, bigger fonts.

Also, thanks for putting this together!!!

Re: Show HN: The first issue of Compelling Science Fiction

#9

Post by mojoe »

personjerry wrote: post #5
mojoe wrote: post #2

Two months ago I posted about a new online science fiction magazine I was creating: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11151062 I'm happy to report that the first issue is now live! I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback. I will continue to refine the magazine as time goes on, but I believe we have a great collection of stories for you, which is what we set out to do.

I asked this on the original thread too but never got an answer, and I ask it again because I'm not familiar with how publishing works: If I submit a series of short stories, would I still retain the right to collect them into a book and have it published elsewhere, like Asimov did with Foundation?

I'm sorry I missed your question the last time around. Yes, you retain the copyright, I just buy 'first world electronic print rights.' This means that I'm buying exclusive rights to publish electronically for a period of time (in this case 6 months) and after that I have non-exclusive publishing rights (so you can sell or publish reprints any time after 6 months). After 3 years you have the option of terminating my non-exclusive rights altogether, although you don't need to to sell your own reprints. I've been told by authors that my contract is the most author-friendly they've seen (it's based on SFWA's model magazine contract).

Re: Show HN: The first issue of Compelling Science Fiction

#10

Post by mojoe »

kbaker wrote: post #8
mojoe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will certainly review the link you sent! I don't have any volunteers who have front-end design experience, so there is a lot of room for improvement.

In Firefox, you can click the little book icon to turn on better readability. (Reader View) It definitely improves the layout, you can copy that design basically. Smaller content width, bigger fonts. Also, thanks for putting this together!!!

Thanks! It's an expensive hobby :)
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