Fictionwise closing shop

PaulLev

Cadet
I received word earlier tonight that Fictionwise will be permanently closing on December 4, 2012.

The site was a pioneer in e-publishing when it launched back in 2000. It began as a short story site, and only published short fiction which had been published "professionally" elsewhere. I did quite well with them back in the day, and still have 22 short stories (actually, short stories, novelettes, and novellas), all science fiction, on the site. Indeed, given that all of those stories were reprints, the money was especially sweet. But in many ways the very notion of "professionally" published showed the site was wedded to the past.

Barnes & Noble bought them out in 2009, and the handwriting has been on the wall - or the screen - since then. Fictionwise was no match on its own for Amazon, and Barnes & Noble apparently looked at them as a poor relation from the other side of the tracks.

I'll miss the site. You can get to the site here, in case anyone wants to look around. Fictionwise branched out into nonfiction of all lengths and books.
 
When I first heard that they'd been acquired by B&N, I figured this would be the end result. There was no incentive for B&N to keep around two sets of online stores (Fictionwise, and the B&N store). Surprised that it took this long, to be honest.
 
Not when their new owners (B&N) were already trying to sell short fiction through their own store (for the Nook), and even setting up their own method of publishing that fiction (through the Pubit service)...
:smiley:
 
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