The following announcement has the unanimous support of the Board of Directors of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. They believe it is fair both to writers and to Dell Magazines. Indeed, by shifting electronic rights into a “non-exclusive” arrangement after only one month, they feel this represents a gain for authors.

While acknowledging that SFWA cannot and is not negotiating for any specific right on behalf of any specific author, and recognizing that authors are free to negotiate the terms of their own contracts, the Board of Directors do support this solution and urge SFWA’s members to consider it.

----------

Dell Magazines appreciates the guidance and assistance provided by SFWA regarding the electronic publishing of our science fiction and mystery magazines.

Since our initial involvement with online electronic magazine publishing, Dell Magazines has limited the sale of Science Fiction and Mystery eZines to coincide with the newsstand on-sale/off-sale timeframes. The income from e-zine sales is nominal but has served as a useful way to enhance customer service, as well as increase distribution and thereby recognition.

Naturally, e-zine publishers incur costs associated with both the conversion of print magazines to electronic format and website support of the magazines, and Dell Magazines also has relatively heavy magazine file conversion costs.

Several months ago, one of our online e-zine licensees advised us that they were losing money on the sale of our magazines due, they believe, to the short on-sale time-frame. Dell Magazines is also losing money on much of this business. However, there is a small but loyal group of customer who enjoy the e-zine format and we would like to continue to provide this option both as a customer service and as another avenue for distribution with potential for significant future growth.

In an effort to continue offering Dell Magazines Mystery and Science Fiction magazines in an online e-zine format, we believe it will be necessary to extend the on-sale time-frame to nine months. Of course, exclusive rights will remain in effect for only the first month (of the print magazine), after which all electronic rights will be non-exclusive.

We appreciate the understanding and cooperation of our distinguished authors in helping us offer these magazines in as many avenues as possible, meeting the needs of as many customers as possible, and maximizing the distribution and thereby the exposure of the magazines.

Please contact us with any concerns or questions.

Thank you,

    Dell Magazines

Posted January 21, 2006