The Mammoth Book of SF 22

although circulation continued its slow decline. Asimov’s and Analog changed their trim size, getting

larger although dropping pages, losing about 4,000 words’ worth of content in the process, and The

Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction changed from their decades-long monthly format to a bi-

monthly format of larger but fewer issues, losing about 10 per cent of their overall content in the

process. Opinion among industry insiders was divided as to whether these were sensible money-

saving measures that will help the magazines survive or bad ideas, risky last-ditch attempts to save

the magazines that could backfire; time will tell, I guess. With another big postal hike looming on the

horizon in 2009, rising printing costs, and some major magazine distributors (including two of the

nation’s biggest) beginning to charge a seven-cent-per-copy surcharge for all the magazines they

distribute, a surcharge many magazines just can’t afford, things are looking precarious, and if the

cost-cutting moves that Asimov’s, Analog, and F&SF are taking turn out to be ineffective in offsetting

rising costs, all of these magazines could be in serious trouble. (Just as I was finishing work on this

Summation, word came in that Anderson News, the huge magazine wholesaler and distributor who

had been one of the distributors demanding a seven-cent-per-copy surcharge for every copy of the

magazines they handle had been forced to suspend operations because many publishers had balked at

paying the surcharge and stopped shipping them product. The CEO there says that the company is

working “towards an amicable solution” with the publishers, and it remains to be seen how this

situation will ultimately play out.)