The following e-mail, sent to subscribers to Noctem Aeternus Magazine, announces its untimely demise:
To the Darkly Faithful,
I have always considered Noctem Aeternus Magazine as a vehicle to expand the horror genre, and to add a good paying market for its writers.
My idea was to create a quality PDF delivered quarterly. The plan was to make the subscription free so we could build a huge circulation, where we could use those numbers in a national sells effort. The goal was to have 30,000 subscribers before the first issue hit mailboxes… unfortunately we only reached 6,000 subscribers.
I paid over $2,000 out of my own pocket to pay the writers for the first issue because we did not have sufficient advertising. The money is not the issue… however, the fact that I misjudged the number of folks signing up for a free product is.
My life is changing, and I simply cannot continue with the business model I set out with.
As many of you know, my wife and I are expecting our first child in August. We have been married for 15 years and this something that has already changed everything. We are also in the process of purchasing a bigger house so when the little one grows into the bigger one, we’ll have the room and I won’t have to give up my den or office.
So, with all that said, I am announcing that Noctem Aeternus is no more. The first issue was its last, unfortunately.
I want to thank each of you for subscribing and supporting. I have heard from hundreds of you about how much you enjoyed the first issue, the stories, the authors.
I also want to thank the authors who became a part of the ride. I had the pleasure of working with some of the best in the business. You are all fantastic.
I want to especially thank Jude-Marie Greene, Rob Darnell, Brian J. Hatcher, Paula Guran, and Ada McMurray for all the hard work and excellent views. I can never say enough about these folks.
All pending submissions are released back to respective authors. I hope you all sell them for more money than you could have made with us.
I am not going away in the genre; I am just letting the magazine go. I will continue to write, edit anthologies, and hopefully write some more.
I will keep this email list going so I can send emails occasionally about upcoming projects and so forth. You are invited to stay, but you can opt-out at any time.
Thanks again,
Michael Knost