I also feel like, while I get the "By Furries" part, there is room for welcoming and promoting creators (especially those from disadvantaged / marginalized communities) who are willing to embrace and respect the Furry community. Long way of saying we can embrace those who embrace us, too.

There needs to be easier ways to "seek it out" is all. I mean, I personally have no interest in most video games (more accurately the time or spoons for them), but I would still love to know what is being developed by Furries (and Furry friends) and how I can help support them.

It’s something we are thinking a lot about, and not just for products we are directly involved with. The answer will come from all of us, but hopefully we can help facilitate and empower it.

I don’t think this is universally the case. There is a lot of promoting of Furry-made media within the community. There can definitely be more and we need to figure out ways to reach the community more effectively. People talk about what they know about.

We're always happy to adjust contract terms until everyone is satisfied with the language. Creators made us what we are and we can't imagine doing things any other way.

Our contract terms have ALWAYS been strictly pro-creator, with limited exclusivity terms, very specific usage rights, and all other rights being retained by the creator. Are there instances where we wish we had asked for more? Definitely! But we can always go back to the creators and ask for more.

In light of some magazines pulling scummy things on creators lately, I’m doing a little thread on short story rights. I don't want anybody getting taken advantage of. Also, if you're new, this stuff can be confusing!

This is actually pretty good and matches what we saw in the early days ourselves. Catalog variety is one of the most important things in gaining a sustainable audience, and that takes SO long to build.

No, but eBooks and Audio Books are a big part of our plans going forward. We want to offer as many options for people to enjoy stories in the format(s) they choose as possible.

We were also putting out 5-9 new titles a year, meaning during any given year we were sitting on $45K - $60K in sunk costs and waiting for them to return that money to the pool for use on new things. We say this not for pity. We made it work... mostly. But it's a lean, lean business.

Those groups of numbers were 1) from 10+ years ago, and 2) did not include the work we (staff and volunteers alike) put into them for free. They also don't include all the money that running the business as a whole costs: insurance, legal, rent, utilities, IT, con costs, freight, travel.

Novels were cheaper: $5000 - $7000 for rights and printing. With a cover price of $20 that would see ROI at 350 - 450 copies sold (mix of direct and distrib). A great many novels take 1-3 years to hit that, if ever. (Yes we have several "never" titles.) Again book #3 - #5 of Dev and Lee excepted.

At $15 cover price that was 600 - 800 copies sold. Since sales were always a mix of direct and distributor (50% discount) sales, bump that up to 800-1000 copies. Heat was the most expensive title to make, but also the most reliable at ROI in that one year window (at least after 10+ issues).

Thought I'd explain that last sentence a bit more this morning. Back in the early-mid 2010s (what we consider the 'golden age' of Heat) it cost $9000 - $12,000 to produce an issue. (This was without internal labor time, which was unpaid.) We needed that to earn back so we could do the next issue.

Heat (and only the latter issues: #10 and up) were the only titles we did this with. (The latter books in the Dev & Lee series too, I think.) Our goal was always to recoup the project cost (production, printing and rights payments) within 1 year. Six months if possible.

Hey, we have a lot of love for handmade 'Zines. We'd like to see them continue to make a resurgence!