What’s Going on With PiQ
- Posted by Johanna on June 14, 2008 at 11:17 am
- Category: Books About Comics
Ok, here’s the story. Yes, I put up a post Friday afternoon about PiQ magazine closing. I was asked to take it down by a staffer because they weren’t ready for the news to be public yet and needed to handle some “obligations” carefully. (No, I don’t know what that means, but having gone through several layoffs in the past few years, my sympathy is with them and it’s never a good thing for anyone involved.)
Since the news is now being published by others, I have restored the post. (Link via) In response, Simon Jones (never safe for work) speculates a little too much on my comments. I don’t know which “parent company” was being referred to.
Update: The official acknowledgement has now been posted, blaming the magazine’s demise on “low advertising revenue, poor business management and a lack of proper marketing and promotion”.
I will very much miss the magazine because it was something I could show non-comic readers, and they immediately liked it. It was attractive and involving and modern-looking without being off-putting.
June 14, 2008 at 11:31 am
… and sorry about linking to the story earlier. When I was writing the entry, you hadn’t removed it yet.
June 14, 2008 at 11:40 am
You just happened to catch it during the two hours it was up, lucky you. No hard feelings - I suspected that the internet would demonstrate that there’s no erase key. I wish the freelancer notifications would have said to keep it quiet, that they would have a formal statement later when they were ready, but that’s easy for me to say in hindsight. And I don’t know that it would have helped any.
June 14, 2008 at 12:38 pm
[...] final issue will hit stands in July. Over at CWR Johanna explains why she originally deleted her post on the matter, but has restored it, seeing as how news is spreading ’round the [...]
June 15, 2008 at 2:42 pm
[...] a busy weekend. I went out with friends on Friday night, and while I was out there was a spasm of internet uncertainty about whether the magazine PiQ, the successor to Newtype-USA, had folded. The final [...]
June 26, 2008 at 11:10 am
I know I’m late in commenting on PiQ’s last issue but thought I’d add my two cents.
There are speculations about the stability of ADV as a company that seem to be fueled by the death of Newtype USA and now PiQ. Perhaps they have just decided to focus on what they do best, anime & manga.
Publishing is a tough business that can bleed a company dry if subscriptions, newsstand sales and ad sales don’t add up. In the case of ADV they may want to focus on what makes the most money and stop fighting an additional battle.
Just a thought.
As for PiQ as a mag it was nice, not a Newtype USA replacement by any means, they served two different markets in my view.
June 28, 2008 at 8:49 am
[...] PiQ Magazine Folds: Editor Kevin Gifford lists reasons new print magazines won’t survive. His first reason was one I hadn’t been aware of: advertisers are abandoning print. Combine that with a lack of patience among investors — wisdom used to be that you’d expect to quit losing money after three years, but PiQ’s backers couldn’t even wait four months — and you have a recipe for failure. [...]