Five years ago I had the idea to make a zine that would feature long stories. I set the minimum at 4,000 words and determined to pay $50 per story. I also determined to put out at least three issues. We sold just enough to make the next issue, and then the next one. I think I had wanted to follow a bimonthly schedule, but in reality we follow a sporadic schedule, just getting them out whenever they come together. There are some issues that we’ve paid to get printed (saves me a lot of time), but most issues have been printed, by me, at home, and stapled, by me, at home. There was a drop in sales in 2022, I think because many of the regular buyers joined the book club, which includes a subscription to the zine. There are issues that have sold about two copies, and there are issues that have sold 50+. Either way, we always get a decent number of copies out into the world. Every book club subscriber gets one, and we have a small cohort of zines subscribers, and we try to give away copies of the latest issue with book orders. We don’t sell ads, so the zine is entirely reader-funded. Not the best business model, I’m sure, but it works for us. At some point we raised the pay to $100 per story. I think this is still not quite “pro rates,” so I’m sure there will be someone out there who will be mad about it, but odds are they won’t read this or hear about it, and anyway we look forward to bumping the pay again one day if we’re able. This zine is an unprofitable labor of love and we will keep making it as long as people are interested in it.

Today we release issue number 25 of King Ludd’s Rag. This one features stories by Jacob Stovall and T.L. Xue. Former KLR contributor Zach Kocanda took over as editor of KLR this year and has put together three excellent issues. You can buy the new one for $5, or we’ll also send it free with any order of in-stock books (excluding preorders, because we don’t have copies to send out yet).

The holiday season is always a lean time for us but we actually need it to be a busy time this year. As we head into the end of the year we especially need to sell some more book club subscriptions for next year. We’ll be publishing four books, four zines (3 KLR, 1 Hellarkey), and four poetry EPs/micro-chaps/zines), all of which are included in the book club, for $120. The books will be signed by the authors.

From today through the end of the year we’re offering 15% off any order with code MALARKEY at checkout. This includes book club subscriptions.

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