One Post, Many Topics

I’m back! I apologize for not posting in several days – I’ve been busy with a few other projects and found myself short on time. Instead of writing several posts to cover several topics, I’m gonna combine them into one post to save me (and you) time. Here’s what’s going on at Brad’s Reader:

Comment Contest Winner to be Announced

The good news is that a winner has been picked and notified for my April 2008 Comment Contest! I’ll be announcing the winner soon (probably before the weekend), and the $30 Amazon gift card is on its way! If you didn’t win, don’t worry, I’ll be holding many more contests like this in the near future.

Thank you to everyone who left a comment last month! I love reading what you have to say and I hope you keep visiting us and leaving your comments.

A Gem Among a lot of Spam!

As this blog has gained more exposure and become increasingly visible on search engines and even other blogs, I found I am getting more and more spam. It’s not at a critical level yet, so I still enjoy some of the messages I get via the Contact Brad link located on the sidebar.

Recently, I got a message from a gentleman named Wayne C. Long who runs a website called www.longshortstories.com. Mr. Long writes short stories and sells them in a unique way. Rather than throwing them into a book and trying to fight for shelf space at Borders or Barnes and Noble, he uses the subscription model.

New Business Model and the Future of Publishing

This is not the first time I have come across a subscription-based publishing service. I have seen it before, but not as often as one would think. How does a subscription-based service, such as Mr. Long’s, work?

Basically, you pay a monthly fee (or even a one-time annual fee) and then you are guaranteed a certain number of short stories, or even novels, each month. Mr. Long offers short stories. I have seen a small book publisher that sends subscribers a book each month from their catalog of titles.

I think this is an interesting way for writers and publishers to get their work out to the public and still make a some money in the process. For example, it’s very hard to sell a single short story (Amazon is doing it, but has stopped accepting submissions for the time being). But selling a subscription seems much easier. Even if the reader doesn’t like one or two stories he/she receives throughout the year, they are still getting their money’s worth.

I’m not doing a good job explaining this (probably because I’m so tired right now). But I’m planning on a follow-up post to this topic very soon.

Please note that I am in no way affiliated with Wayne Long’s website and haven’t even tried it out, but I plan to explore it further.

Related posts

• Read my guest post on LongShortStories: ‘Resurrecting the Short Story’
• Is subscription-based book publishing a viable alternative?
• Win a $30 Amazon Gift Card!
• Friendly Reminder: Brad’s Reader Comment Policy
• Changes coming soon to Brad’s Reader!

Read More: PSAs, Publishing News