Before MRM became the new owners I used to get my print copies of Asimov's/Analog in the mail every month without fail but when they took over it would take *months* before I got a new issue which was very disappointing. With that and this whole mess I won't be resubscribing again.

A message to the publisher. In all the decades these magazines have been around, please point to a single case of an author complaining about illustrations being made for their stories. I await your response with bated breath.

Co-signed. Asimov’s has published me and I have huge respect for Sheila and Emily. But this statement makes no sense. I don’t know what artist contracts looked like before, but the magazine presumably had no problem previously commissioning art based on the stories it published.

Most of the people with skin in the game understand perfectly that illustrating a piece of written work gives neither party the "RIGHTS" to the work of the other. Nice try, MSM, but this won't fly.

This is almost a word salad. people who are shocked that Must Reads has been in publishing business for years and seems out of their depth; the freelance world, historically it used to pay vastly more and work for hire dominated. They are likely unused to rights-savvy artists and are flailing.

Yep. The statement is a whole lot of words to say "we don't understand copyright."

Same here! Art has been commissioned for stories of mine several times, and has even been used as a magazine issue's cover art! MRM's argument is complete BS.

Are they saying that the illustrator is likely to steal the author's copyright (?) and therefore to mitigate against that risk... they get nothing

Looks like their argument is "We can't possibly create a fair contract that allows illustration based on a story." Massive side-eye from someone who has been in at least two anthologies with accompanying illustrations based on my stories.

Yep

If the owners don't do this, they will be remembered for destroying the legacy and future of the SF/F genre's Big 3 magazines. 7/

The editors of these magazines aren't to blame -- the new owners are. If they want to right MRM's sinking ship, they need to offer fair contracts and be open with what is going on. 6/

It's not easy to take over publishing these magazines. If MRM had been open with people in the genre about their struggles, they'd have likely been granted grace. Instead, they keep having issues with contracts that should've been fixed a year ago. And they're silent on late delivery of issues. 5/

The SF/F genre wants to support Asimov's, Analog and F&SF. The genre understands that there will be issues with a new owner taking over the magazines. But Must Read Magazines has pushed the patience of the genre with secrecy, bad contracts and silence. 4/

How long must readers wait to receive the print copies they subscribe to? That's how you lose subscribers. In good news, MRM finally started publishing e-editions of their magazines in an easy to read epub file as opposed to a mere PDF. In bad news, it took over a year to do this. 3/

How many times must writers and illustrators push back on these BS contracts? How many times must we hear that authors and illustrators wasted months trying and failing to negotiate fair contract terms? 2/

I love Asimov's Science Fiction and the magazine's editors. I've published many stories in the magazine. I subscribe to the magazine. Despite that, I'm done with the new MRM owners. This statement is BS. The new owners have squandered the goodwill of their magazines' readers, writers, and fans. 1/