Furry Writers' Guild Forum

A Glimpse of Anthropomorphic Literature (Quarterly Furry Zine)

Publishing and Marketing
#41

Some information:

First, a reminder that submissions for Issue 3 close in just under a month. Get your submissions in! www.goalpublications.com/submissions-guidelines.html

Second, after much thought, we’ve decided to take the next quarter off. Once submissions close for Issue 3, submission will not re-open until September 16th, barring the conditions met in our third point.

Third, this break will be one more chance to see if the zine is going to sell. Even at less than a dollar per issue, sales for GoAL have been low, to say the least. We were going to hold out until a 4th issue to make any decisions, but we’ve decided that 3 issues are enough, if sales don’t increase to the point of making a break-even.

When we created A Glimpse of Anthropomorphic Literature, the goal was never to make a ton of money off of it, but to give the fandom a constant, highly-competitive market for fiction, reviews, and articles. For this to happen, though, we need to at least make back the money we’re putting into it. For a bit of perspective to how low things have started out, we’ve yet to make enough money back to pay for a single piece of fiction to any of the issues.

Thank you to those who have supported GoAL thus far, whether through submitting or purchasing.

#42

I still owe you for this… if anything, because I took up your time.

#43

I’m sad to hear this, though historically, zines of any type have a rough road. You’ve done a good thing here, and I’m rooting for it to last.
On that note, where have you posted/advertised about the magazine, and more importantly, where can we maybe post, shout, share to get the word out?
Are there threads in place on other forums like FA and SF etc. or can we be spreading the word there for you?

Ideally, I suspect the idea is to market the zine to places where anthro readers might gather, but I’ve tweeted, shared, facebooked etc. about it.
Maybe we can all pitch in in a more organized fashion?

#44

Posted a signal boost journal entry to my FA and Weasyl accounts. I don’t know how many of my FA watchers are still around anymore, especially when it comes to reading journal entries, but hopefully it helps a little. :slight_smile:

#45

I’ve discussed the problems with a few, and I’ve made my decision concerning the future of A Glimpse of Anthropomorphic Literature.

Issue 3 will be the last issue of GoAL. Also, GoAL will now be sold exclusively through the Bad Dog Books store.

Concerning Issue 3: we will be extending submissions through May 31st in an attempt to get more submissions and keep the content within GoAL at the same quality level of the first two issues. I plan to have Issue 3 released on July 1st, 2016.

Again, thank you to those who supported GoAL in any way. This was a fun project, and hopefully more tight, high-quality markets can rise up from the fandom to really help showcase how good some of the writing is within furry literature.

#46

I have at least one submission this round, but I tend to take my time up to deadline to edit and such. ^^;

#47

I’m sorry to hear that. It would have been nice to see it at least go a full year. I’ll see if I can get something sent your way now that I have a couple more weeks to work on it.

#48

It will be a shame to see GoAL go. I’m proud to have made my small contribution to this awesome project.

Can’t see what you get up to next, Sean!

#49

Damn. And here I had just picked up the first two copies just recently.

#50

Well dang, GoAL was my one chance at being published since I tend to do shorter pieces.

But all the best and all of this is understandable.

#51

If you submitted, you have a response. We’ll post further when we have a planned release date.

#52

Bummer.

Well, time to get back to writing for other markets I guess. I feel like the furry market is closing fast.

#53

I have some news. Nothing is definite yet, but these are some things I’m working on:

First (the obvious one), I’m working on getting things situated for the final issue. Contracts have been sent out, and I’ll be working on editing after all that’s done.

Second, there’s a chance I’ll be taking all three issues and combining them to have a print version available, which ties into my third and final item: Goal Publications may, in the near future, be open as a regular furry publisher. I’ve been doing research on this almost as long as I’ve been editing, I think I’m confident enough to give it a go. IF THIS DOES HAPPEN, I may also open up another annual anthology market, along with a market for full-length works. I have a couple more things on my to-do list before this will be more definite, but things are looking good so far!

#54

That’s good to hear Sean, I look forward to seeing what you decide to do.