From Eric Flint:

I’m sending this letter to everyone who has at one time or another bought an issue of the Grantville Gazette, the electronic magazine devoted to the 1632 series, or purchased one of the various multi-issue packages we offer. Many of you are regular readers of the magazine.

The purpose of this letter is to tell you that we are making a number of major and exciting changes to the magazine, beginning with the next issue. That’s Volume 11, which will be coming out on May 1st.

The Grantville Gazette, which Jim Baen and I began as an experiment, has proven to be a very successful venture in electronic publishing. Successful enough, in fact, that beginning with Volume 11 we will doing the following:

  1. We’re raising the pay rates for the authors. Up until now, the pay rates for the Gazette have only been semi-pro rates. Beginning with Volume 11, we’ll be paying rates that meet—exceed, in fact—the minimum rates set by Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. SFWA is and has been for decades the recognized professional association for science and fantasy authors.
  2. We’re moving to a regular bi-monthly publication schedule. Up until now, the Gazette has been published on an “occasional” basis—meaning whenever we had enough good stories in stock to put out another issue. In practice, for the past year and half, we’ve been maintaining a quarterly schedule, and we’re now at the point where we have more good stories and articles than we can handle without shifting to a bi-monthly publishing schedule. 
    Beginning May 1, therefore, the Gazette will now be published regularly on the first day of the following months: May, July, September, November, January and March.
  3. I will start writing a regular serialized story of my own, beginning with Volume 12, coming out in July. An episode of that story will appear in each succeeding volume, at least through Volume 16. Thereafter, I’ll either continue the same story or, if that story has concluded, begin a new one. I decided to start with the July issue, because Virginia DeMarce’s story “Second Thoughts” serves as the prequel for my serial, and it will be published in the May issue.
  4. We’ll be maintaining the two existing options for buying the magazine, either single issues for $6 or three issues for $15. And we’re keeping the current package of the first ten volumes for $40. But we’ll be adding a new six-volume package, consisting of Volumes 11-16—May 2007 through March 2008—for $27.
  5. Finally, borrowing from the success of the Universe Club started by the electronic magazine Jim Baen’s Universe, we’re launching our own Ring of Fire Club. Memberships in the Club can be purchased at five different levels, beginning with $50 and ending with $250. All levels of Club membership will receive:
  • Volumes 11-16 of the Gazette;
  • Access to the electronic Advanced Reader Copy of the magazine, which allows you to read stories as they come in;
  • A  copy of the CD which will be included in the hardcover edition of 1634: The Baltic War, mailed to you free of charge. That CD contains most of my own writing, including all published 1632 texts except the later issues of the Gazette. (It does contain Gazettes 1-3.) The CD also contains a number of the reissue volumes I’ve done as an editor. You can see the full Table of Contents by following the link provided below.
  • A free copy of the 1632 Fact Book, the special volume we put together than assembles all the fact articles in Volumes 1-10 in a handy reference guide.

[NOTE: The CD and the Fact Book aren’t quite ready yet. We expect to have the Fact book available for downloading within a couple of weeks, and the CD should be ready soon thereafter. We will notify you when they are available.]


More expensive levels of Club membership will provide you with greater amounts of 1632 memorabilia, including (at the two highest levels) autographed copies of the hardcover editions of 1634: The Baltic War and/or 1634: The Bavarian Crisis, once they are published. (1634: The Baltic War is coming out in May; 1634: The Bavarian Crisis is coming out in October.)

Please join us in continuing the 1632 adventure. You can purchase any one of the packages or a Ring of Fire Club membership HERE: http://www.grantvillegazette.com/

Eric Flint
March 27, 2007