Apex Magazine and Apex Publications Editor Interview: Jason Sizemore
Tags: Andrea Pawley, Apex Magazine, Apex Publications, Jason Sizemore, Magazine Spotlight, Weightless Books
Weightless Books interviews Jason Sizemore, Editor of Apex Magazine and Managing Editor of Apex Publications.
Q: In June 2015, you announced that you quit your day job to work on Apex Magazine and Apex Publications full time. From all appearances, that seems to be going quite well, but tell the truth – is your household eating more Ramen noodles as a result?
Sizemore: In college, I once bought a crate of Ramen noodles at the local Costco. 144 little packets of delight.
After I ate the last one, I vowed NEVER AGAIN.
Your question has made me ill with memories!
Q: Apex Magazine and Apex Publications continue to win awards as do the stories, novels, and collections you publish. Most recently, “This is Horror” named Apex Magazine the fiction magazine of the year and Apex Publication’s Sing Me Your Scars by Damien Angelica Walters as the short story collection of the year. What other awards would you most like to win?
Sizemore: Although I covet and desire any and all awards, the two that I would most like to win are a Hugo rocket and a Stoker haunted house. Most visitors to my house know squat about literary awards, but when you have a big silver rocket or an awesome scary house on your mantle, those will draw notice.
I would love to see Sing Me Your Scars win an award. Damien Angelica Walters’ fiction is widely respected and liked, and I think she is deserving of the recognition.
Q: In August 2015, you published For Exposure: The Life and Times of a Small Press Publisher, your collection of semi-true and sometimes humorous essays about how you became the Apex Overlord. Six of the 13 chapters contain eyewitness rebuttals of your statements, and one chapter includes a separate fact-check. Are you a forgiving Overlord, or will those who disagree with you learn the errors of their ways?
Sizemore: Forgiving? Not at all. I remember every slight and askew glance cast my direction!
That said, I do recognize that my perception of events is open to interpretation. Those I wrote about the most—Maurice Broaddus, Sara M. Harvey, and Monica Valentinelli (to name a few)—I felt it only fair to give them an opportunity to have their side of the tale be told. Do I agree with their versions? Mostly, no.
Q: In February 2016, you kickstarted Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling Anthology. Congratulations on exceeding your funding goal! What can the backers and other readers expect to find in this collection?
Sizemore: Jaym Gates and Monica Valentinelli are dynamic and hardworking editors. They’re also perfectionists. I think you’ll find Upside Down reflects that attention to quality.
Here is a free word association I did for Upside Down in preparation for this question: fun, diverse, thoughtful, subversive, Galen Dara art.
Apex Magazine, a three-time Hugo Award finalist and World Fantasy Award-winning online magazine publishing the best horror and science fiction, is available DRM-free from Weightless in single issues and as a 12-month subscription.
Raised in the Appalachian hills of southeastern Kentucky, Jason Sizemore is a three-time Hugo Award-nominated editor, a writer, and operates the science fiction, fantasy, and horror press Apex Publications. He is the author of the collection of dark science fiction and horror shorts Irredeemable and the tell-all creative fiction For Exposure: The Life and Times of a Small Press Publisher. He currently lives in Lexington, KY.
Playing with the Hydra: Guest Post by Jason Sizemore
Tags: Apex Publications, Jason Sizemore
As a small press publisher, I don’t know what to do with Amazon.
Capitalism is an odd beast. In the short run, capitalism rewards the hardy, the stubborn, and those clever entrepreneurs who find their way through the harsh rapids of today’s economy. In the long run, the little guys are shoved aside while the most successful, such as Amazon, Apple, Walmart, and countless mega-corps go on to rule the world.
This isn’t an indictment of capitalism. I live in ‘Merica, after all. Capitalism is the American way, and for that, I am happy. But it does place the small business owner in a tough position. Do you fight the powerful, many-headed hydra, or do you hitch a ride on its back waiting for one of the heads to reach around and swallow you whole?
In my new book, For Exposure: The Life and Times of a Small Press Publisher, I outline my troubles with the publishing distribution system. Because the returns system is archaic and unnecessary (and certainly not environmentally friendly for a greenie like myself), I elected to turn away from the IPGs and DBDs of the world and opted for the print-on-demand business (POD) model. The POD model is viable due to the force of nature known as Amazon.com.
If you’re not familiar with the POD model, let me give you a brief description. POD allows a publisher to keep very little inventory while maintaining the ability to reach customers via 3rd party vendors such as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Chapters. Because digital publishing has become an integral part of small press revenues, I lump it into the overall POD model as a subset. Basically, the model has two arms: trade paperback and digital.
And guess who has the easiest POD service to use for trade paperbacks? Createspace (owned by Amazon). And guess who has one of the easiest and the highest royalty rates for eBooks? The Amazon Kindle Digital Publishing (KDP) program.
Both are wonderful services, and I praise Amazon for making them user friendly. Both have enabled the tidal wave of self-publishing to occur which has benefited of many, many authors. But…
What if the hydra wants more? We’ve seen the power Amazon has exerted over the Big 5 publishers by removing various publishers’ books from their online store when they want a better contract. What happens should the hydra want to pay less royalty to the small publishers and authors who used KDP and/or Createspace? If KDP drops the royalty rate from 70% to 35%, then what can we do?
I see a lot of Amazon evangelicals stating with certainty that this will never happen. I sincerely hope they’re right, and perhaps they are, but having the health of your business reliant on the whims of one megacorp strikes me as a dangerous game, toeing a dangerous imaginary line that flickers back and forth.
Two weeks ago, I did some quick analysis on Apex sales figures by all vendors so far in 2015. For all digital sales, the percentages broke down like this:
Kindle 79%
Nook 7%
Direct Sales 5%
Weightless Books 4%
Kobo 1%
iTunes 1%
Other 3%
Even though Apex provides product links to the Amazon, Nook, Weightless, iTunes, and Kobo editions on every product page, a huge majority (a whopping 79%!) still buy our books and Apex Magazine from the hydra.
It’s been pointed out to me by my well-meaning accountant that if Apex focused strictly on Amazon, we would probably increase our revenues. Perhaps that is true, but the thought horrifies me. It would place Apex firmly on the wrong side of “don’t be part of the problem, be part of the solution” equation.
I always tell our customers to buy from whichever vendor they like the best. If pressed, I will suggest buying from an independent vendor, like Weightless Books, or directly from Apex. I realize that Amazon pays the bills, but in a capitalist economy, competition provides a better shopping experience for both businesses and consumers.
As Apex has done, many small press publishers have embraced the multiple independent vendors (though quite a few small publishers are Amazon exclusive). The Big 5 think only in volume and that leaves a lot of quality indie vendors in the cold. Making all titles available over multiple indie market places would be a good start, but not the only answer. Readers need to seek out sites like Weightless Books and, instead of giving their money to a megacorp, consider supporting the hardworking indie folks.
Other than continuing to carry the banner for indie stores like Weightless Books and Drivethru Fiction and choosing to turn to B&N and Kobo for megacorp purchases, I’m not sure what else Apex can do. It is possible that small press and self-publishers have reached the point of no return. We’ve engineered this hydra. At this point, with 79% of our eBook sales going to Amazon, is our only option is to continue to feed it?
From my end, that may just be Apex’s only option, but it isn’t the only option open to the readers. Money, in our society, speaks louder than words. Therefore, might I suggest buying an Apex book or For Exposure: The Life and Times of a Small Press Publisher from Weightless today! That will be a great first step toward helping create a fair market…
On sale: $2.99 all this week!
ABOUT THE BOOK:
For Exposure: The Life and Times of a Small Press Publisher
Apex Publications
182 pages
ISBN: 9781937009304
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born the son of an unemployed coal miner in a tiny Kentucky Appalachian villa named Big Creek (population 400), Jason fought his way out of the hills to the big city of Lexington. He attended Transylvania University (a real school with its own vampire legend) and received a degree in computer science. Since 2005, he has owned and operated Apex Publications. He is the editor of five anthologies, author of Irredeemable, a three-time Hugo Award loser, an occasional writer, who can usually be found wandering the halls of hotel conventions.
Apex Magazine Interview: Sigrid Ellis and Jason Sizemore
Tags: Andrea Pawley, Apex Magazine, Jason Sizemore, Magazine Spotlight, Sigrid Ellis
Weightless Books interviews Apex Magazine’s publisher Jason Sizemore and new editor-in-chief Sigrid Ellis.
1. How do you know when you have the right balance of science fiction, fantasy and horror for an issue of Apex Magazine?
Sigrid Ellis: Hah! Well, I’m new at this. The proof is yet to come. As your readers are probably aware, I am taking over Apex Magazine from Lynne Thomas and Michael Thomas. Whether or not I know the right balance remains to be seen!
At the moment my managing editor, Cameron Salisbury, and I have selected and organized fiction for our first four issues of Apex. Our conversations have focused on questions of tone, length, and how the works relate to each other. Is one lighter than the other? Too light? Are they thematically linked? Too linked? Do they have things to say to each other? What about point of view? First person, third? Tight narration or omniscient? Is one more descriptive than the other? Does that work?
I could go on.
Whether a piece is science fiction, fantasy, or horror has not so far been my chief concern. That may change, of course, in the future! I look forward to the feedback from our first issues, and what that may teach us.
2. What’s changed in short fiction since Apex Magazine started in 2005, and how have you responded to it?
Sigrid Ellis: It is my observation that genre short fiction has been served notice, a notice declaring that diversity is no longer sufficient. What we as readers, fans, and decent human beings call for now is representation. Cat Valente, Lynne Thomas, and Michael Thomas made Apex Magazine a force for representation. I hope to continue that work.
Jason Sizemore: We joined the fracas right as the tide of electronic books hit the genre. It has been an interesting ride!
The most obvious change is the general presentation and distribution of the work. Podcasts, eBook issues, and online content have all expanded while the print industry has shrunk.
In terms of aesthetics, I think the biggest shift in short fiction is toward darker and bleaker work. We’ve always published dark work (the original name of Apex Magazine is Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest, after all), but over the years we’ve grown more experimental in what is published.
3. Name a recent favorite Apex Magazine story and one from more than a year ago.
Sigrid Ellis: My favorite recent story is Rachel Swirsky’s “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love,” from issue 46.
Looking further back, Genevieve Valentine’s “Armless Maidens of the American West” in issue 39 is a favorite.
What stands out for me in both of these stories is how adroitly the authors pull off an exceptionally difficult task, that of writing in the second person. Second person narrative is not to be toyed with lightly!
However, let me note, very clearly, that what I find impressive is the use to which they each put that narration. Both of these stories are intensely emotional. They are grounded in character and detail. They each raise somewhat painful questions, about wildly different topics. Valentine’s piece looks at complicity in exploitation, and the right or ability of a person to own and alter that complicity. It’s a story about the tangle of autonomy. Swirsky’s story is a parable of the pain of love. It’s a fable describing the joy and rage and helpless fearful grief that are all, inextricably, part of loving another human being. And it is a revenge fantasy against the damage caused by blind injustice.
Jason Sizemore: A recent favorite would be “The Performance Artist” by Lettie Prell (issue 44). Lettie’s story might be the best deconstruction of society’s fascination with reality television and self-spectacle that I’ve encountered. And the end of the story is a gut punch.
A favorite from the archives would be “The Green Book” by Amal El-Mohtar (issue 18). This was our first Nebula nominated work. Amal did an incredible job creating a short story that is a bit House of Leaves and a bit Twilight Zone.
4. Your author interviews are packed with information. Have you ever been surprised by something uncovered in one of them?
Sigrid Ellis: All author interviews are a bit of a surprise! While I know the work of many of Apex’s authors, I don’t particularly know them personally. I find myself clicking on the interviews with excitement, looking forward to meeting the human being behind the story just as much as our readers.
5. Apex Magazine started podcasting recently. Is that because you decided to stop sleeping and needed something more to do?
Sigrid Ellis: Hah, well, I already don’t sleep. But, no, podcasting is simply a part of the new models of fiction consumption. Readers – myself included! – are becoming accustomed to having fiction available across platforms and media formats. I can buy a novel from Amazon, start to read it on my laptop, go listen to the audio version in my car while I drive home, then pick up my tablet and continue reading after dinner. The more formats we provide, the more people will find the format that works for them. And that leads to more people enjoying the work.
Jason Sizemore: There’s an old school PSA commercial where one kid pressures another kid to do drugs…the bad kid says something like “Come on, everybody’s doing it.” It was kind of like that situation. All the top short fiction zines had a podcast, so Apex Magazine needed one!
Of course, I love the podcast format and am happy that we’ve ventured into it. In 2014, I hope to expand our podcast to include all our original fiction ran per issue.
6. Are you on any upcoming science fiction and fantasy or horror convention panels?
Sigrid Ellis: My next convention is Wiscon, in Madison, Wisconsin, over Memorial Day weekend. I pretty much always end up on a handful of panels at that convention and I expect this year will be no different. Look for me there! I’ll probably have things to say about Apex Magazine and about my other editorial project this winter, the comic series Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios.
Jason Sizemore: I’ll be doing Confusion in Detroit (Jan 17-19). Then I’m at Millennicon in Cincinnati (Mar 14-16).
7. What are you reading now besides submissions for Apex Magazine?
Sigrid Ellis: The Great Mortality, by John Kelly. It’s a history of the Black Death. Also I am perpetually re-reading my way through the Phryne Fisher mystery series, by Kerry Greenwood. I’m on my, hrm, my fourth re-read of all nineteen books.
Jason Sizemore: Sitting on my nightstand is Skinner by Charlie Huston. The audiobook in my car is Shift by Hugh Howey.
Apex Magazine is an online prose and poetry magazine of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mash-ups of all three. Apex Magazine, which is available for DRM-free purchase from Weightless Books, received a Best Semiprozine Hugo nomination in 2012. A new issue of Apex Magazine is available the first Tuesday of every month.