A Bad Week for Magazines: Write Now! Ends
I would think that a magazine aimed at aspiring comic writers would have a built-in market, but maybe it’s easier to fill pages with art samples than scripts. Write Now!, published by TwoMorrows, announced today that its final issue would be #20.
Write Now!, the professional “how-to” magazine on writing for comics, animation, and sci-fi, concludes its six-year run with TwoMorrows Publishing this February. The final issue, #20, is solicited in the December issue of Diamond Comic Distributors’ Previews catalog, and is available for ordering now.
Six years and 20 issues? Maybe frequency was an issue; that works out to just over 3 issues a year. This is the second magazine to cease publication in as many days. Comic Foundry said money wasn’t the issue, but a lack of time to maintain quality; in contrast, sales also appear to be a factor here:
“… while our readership has been fanatically loyal during its run, both Danny [Fingeroth, editor] and I [John Morrow, publisher] feel the magazine has reached a point where the economy is taking a toll on its circulation, and the increasing amount of time involved in its production might be spent more productively elsewhere. So we’ve jointly decided that #20 will be the last issue.”
The last issue will ship in late February; I hope people are still interested in the Spirit movie by then, after it’ll have been out for two months. There’s also a best of collection available.
Subscribers will be informed that they can receive a refund or a credit towards other TwoMorrows publications.
5:26 pm
In magazine publishing, advertising sales are usually far more important than subscriptions for revenue. A drop in ad orders can kill an otherwise popular magazine.
5:27 pm
The TwoMorrows magazines carry relatively little advertising for their length, though (especially little if you don’t count their pages of house ads).
5:28 pm
This is terrible, sad news. TwoMorrows puts out such great publications, and while Write Now! was not my favorite, it was appreciated. I’ll definitely continue to support the JKC and Rough Stuff. And, of course, BI! Back Issue! magazine is one of the best magazines I’ve ever read. Always a cover-to-cover read.