Specialist NY Book Shop Launches Save The Scifi Campaign
Singularity&Co, a new specialist SF bookshop in Brooklyn, is a secondhand bookshop on a mission. They’ve set a goal to bring back into print one cult SF novel each month and provide it online for free. That’s right. And if anyone doubts the interest, their $52000 fully crowdfunded project ought to prove them wrong.
Recognizing that many new Science Fiction and Fantasy fans discover their passion through secondhand shops like theirs, Singularity&Co. decided preserving that experience and heritage was vital not only for the genres’ growth and survival but for that of bookstores like themselves. By utilizing the three pillars of the new publishing paradigm: creators, opinion formers and fans, the bookseller has tapped into a new opportunity to be a decisionmaker in publishing by capturing the energy of fans to great success.
With the rise of Kindle, Nook, and the IPad, thousands of authors have found new life and new income from backlists brought back to shelves via ebook publishing. SF Gateway, founded by Gollancz books, Britain’s oldest and most influential publisher of SF, has a similar project where they bring back classic genre text’s into circulation as ebooks, and so have authors like Mike Resnick, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and small presses like Haffner Press, Paizo and even the University Of Nebraska Press.
The new publishing paradigm involving ebooks, social media, crowdfunding and more is having a huge impact on publishers and retailers andopening new avenues and doors for fans to not only pursue but support their passions. As a result, Singularity&Co and others are finding fans will vote with their wallets, and the culture and future of the genres are all the richer for it.
Singularity&Co can be found at their website: http://singularityand.co/
SF Gateway and Gollancz can be found respectively at: http://sfgateway.com/ and http://www.orionbooks.co.uk
For more on this subject see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/aug/09/save-sci-fi-sf-novels-ebooks
Bryan Thomas Schmidt is an author and editor of adult and children’s science fiction, fantasy and humor books, short stories and articles. A frequent contributor to blogs like SFSignal, Adventures In SF Publishing, Grasping For The Wind and To Be Read, he also hosts Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat under the hashtag #sffwrtcht on Twitter and blogs about writing and creativity on his own blog at www.bryanthomasschmidt.net/blog. Connect With Bryan On Google+
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5 Comments to Specialist NY Book Shop Launches Save The Scifi Campaign
by pubcentral
On August 23, 2012 at 2:23 pm
What a brilliant idea. So many of those old pulp sci-fi books are disintegrating, and keeping them available to readers is an excellent venture.
by JeffRutherford
On August 23, 2012 at 2:43 pm
@pubcentral Totally agree. I’ve got hundreds of 1950s and 60s sci-fi paperbacks, but a lot of times I don’t bother reading them because no matter how well cared for, they collect dust and other crap and trigger my allergies.
Plus, this is the perfect idea for eBooks. Every book ever written should be available for a new generation of readers – not lost forever on the shelves of used bookstores.
And, yes, I’m aware of all the copyright issues. Rights holders should obviously be involved and compensated for those new e-editions.
by Reader2
On August 26, 2012 at 9:33 am
There’s whole new generations who have not had the chance to read these classics and will soon be able to, which I think is a great opportunity to remind people where the genre’s been as they consider where it’s going.
by bookoisseur
On October 9, 2012 at 10:33 am
I visited a few weeks ago. It’s like walking into a time capsule. And it’s great!
by JeffRutherford
On October 9, 2012 at 6:12 pm
@bookoisseur I can’t wait to check out the next time I’m in NYC.