From: FX Jozwik

Dear Editor,

Out of curiosity, how much traffic does this site receive per month? I ask because our title CrowHeart is reviewed in the mid-May issue.

Thanks for the review!!!

FX Jozwik\MontFort Press

From: Laurie Gold

I'm getting ready to post a piece on reviews, and one of my reviewers loves SF and visits your site regularly. We're referring to Entertainment Weekly, The NYT, and People in the article, and since we are also a genre site, I would like to include yours.

But I need to get some idea of the amount of traffic to your site. Can you help me out and, say, share w/me the number of visitors you have in a month?

Thanks.

Laurie, FX,

We'd be glad to. First off, I should warn you that there's many ways to answer that question, and most of them are misleading. Second, we recently had more accurate logging software installed, and we're just starting to learn how to use it. So if you can bear with us, we'll try and make some sense of our traffic numbers for you.

For the most recent month that we have complete data (April), the SF Site was visited precisely 116,504 times. It's hard to be sure how many readers that is exactly though, since a single reader who visits the site every week would count as four visitors.

Perhaps more meaningful is the Page Impression data, which is an exact count of how many articles, reviews and other pages were served to our readers. In April this was over 250,000 pages -- or over three million articles a year.

Up until very recently, it's been very difficult to measure accurately just how many people read each article (although our latest server software offers this kind of capability). As we learn its ins and outs, we'll keep you posted. But, on average, each review is seen by several thousand readers.

Hope that helps! Let us know if we can answer anything else for you.

Permission to Reprint Notices

From: Gillian Rubinstein

Hi, Thomas Myer wrote a great review of my novel Under The Cat's Eye in the mid-Sept 98 issue of your terrific site, and I'd like to use a quote from it on my Australian Society of Authors web page entry. It would be no more than one paragraph. Are there any copyright problems with this?

Gillian,
Thanks for writing. We're always glad to have quotes and notices from the SF Site reprinted, as long as they're properly credited.

All of our reviews are copyrighted by the respective authors, however, and it's their permission that needs to be sought for extensive quotes and reprints. In this case, Tom Myer is happy to give his permission.

The Birth of a New Magazine

From: Erika Maria Lacey

Where would one send a copy of a relatively new magazine to you? (Snail mail). I saw your listing, and would like to send a copy of Harbinger (an Australian SF mag) to you.

Erika,
Thanks! As always, we enjoy receiving (and promoting) new magazines, both at the SF Site and our sister site, FictionHome, which covers genre magazines exclusively.

We have two editorial offices, one American and one Canadian. The address for both is on our staff page, and materials are welcomed at either one. We'll look forward to seeing it!

Is Self-Publishing For You?

From: Mark Ortman

Hello Editor:

I found your site through Alta Vista. We have launched a five star site (Suite101.com) to help writers decide if self-publishing is a viable alternative.

Our site consist of articles, a quiz, faq's, newsletter, valuable links and information on Mark Ortman's award-winning books: A Simple Guide to Self-Publishing and A Simple Guide to Marketing Your Book. Please check out the site and a link would be appreciated.

Wise Owl Books
Self-Publishing Resource Center by Wise Owl Books USA
www.wiseowlbooks.com/publish

From: Lindsay Stambaugh

Art by Eric Rohmann

Hello! I was looking through your site, attempting to find a new book that looked like a good read, when I remembered a series that I started about a year and a half ago. It's by Phillip Pullman, not really a series actually -- a trilogy. Or rather, would be if there was a third book.

I checked out your site from every angle I could think of, and there doesn't seem to be any hint of when the sequel to Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife might become a reality. Has Mr. Pullman given up any idea of writing a third, or is it out and I just haven't been able to find it? Or has it simply not been published yet? If you have any idea about when it might come out, or whether it already had, I would sincerely appreciate your help. Thank you!

You're certainly not the only one awaiting word on the final book in the series, which is now called His Dark Materials. Lela Olszewski's review of The Subtle Knife, in our September 1997 issue, was one of the strongest endorsements we've ever given to a Young Adult novel.

We're happy to report that the final book in the series, titled The Amber Spyglass, is scheduled for hardcover publication in August in both North America and the UK. In the US it will be released by Knopf, who also published the first two volumes. Rest assured, when we know more so will you.

On the Hunt for Good Fantasy

From: Simon Fuller

I have just read David Eddings Belgariad and Malloreon and I was wondering which books of a similar nature are worth reading. I have read Tolkien as well... I need some more of this high standard.. and I am not sure now what to read.

Regards,
Simon Fuller
England

Simon,
It can be tricky giving a blanket recommendation to readers looking for something in a "high standard," simply because tastes vary so dramatically. However, it's a little easier once we have an idea what you enjoy. For this reason, we've crafted a set of pages which help direct you to authors you may like, based on authors you know you do. They're called the "If You Like..." pages.

Given what you've told us already, according to our list there's a great chance you'll also enjoy David Duncan, Robert Jordan, or Terry Brooks. Please give them a try, and let us know how we did!

Next Issue

Art by Thomas Canty

Predicting exactly what will be in the next issue of the SF Site is something of an inexact science. But we currently have reviews of many new and upcoming releases in house, including:

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 12 edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
Messiah by Nancy Kress
David Brin's Out of Time: Yanked! by Andrei Condrescu
The Stars Asunder by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald
The Knight, the Harp, and the Maiden by Anne Kelleher Bush
Spinners by Donna Jo Napoli
The Gnomewrench in the Dwarfworks by Nick O'Donohoe
The Wizard's Map by Jane Yolen
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler

and many others. Plus our usual columns and detailed New Arrivals features. Be sure to join us on June 15th. We'll be here.