What's Clarkesworld?

Clarkesworld (clarkesworldmagazine.com) is a science fiction & fantasy magazine that has been publishing free monthly issues online since 2006. Each issue includes roughly 45,000 words of fiction (typically five-to-eight stories depending on their length) and four non-fiction pieces. All of our fiction is also released in audio form via our podcast. We have won three Hugo Awards, a British Fantasy Award, and a World Fantasy Award. Our fiction has been nominated for or won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Locus, Shirley Jackson, Ditmar, WSFA Small Press and Stoker Awards. Neil Clarke, Editor-in-Chief, has been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Editor eleven times and won in 2022.

Why are we on Patreon?

Patreon is one of the spokes in the wheel that keeps our magazine running. We might offer our issues online for free, but that doesn't mean we can get away with not paying for content and people's time. Those expenses add up quickly and like PBS, we count on readers/listeners like you to keep the ship afloat. Some choose to buy digital subscriptions via B&N, Weightless Books, etc. We also sell anthologies, take PayPal donations, and even sell advertising. Patreon is just another avenue available for you to support us and perhaps the most flexible of the lot. Whether it's $2 or $25/month, your pledges add up to something reliable and significant. Ultimately, we are on Patreon so we can continue to publish the stories we love.

Goals

Our authors are already paid at a rate 50% above SFWA's standard rate, so our current focus is on fair pay for our staff (proofreaders, narrators, interviewers, editors, etc.). Every little boost we can make to their paychecks helps. Each is important to every issue and deserves to be fairly compensated for their work.

Rewards

While you can opt for "no reward," different levels of support can yield various rewards depending on the tier you select. Here are some of the things we offer:

Subscriptions (on select tiers) We’re a magazine, so it only makes sense to offer supporters an option to receive a subscription. Our subscription tiers are digital Clarkesworld subscription, digital Clarkesworld and Forever Magazine (a reprint magazine also edited by Neil Clarke) subscription, and a Clarkesworld Print subscription. All digital subscriptions come in EPUB, MOBI/KINDLE, and PDF formats. International print subscription (outside the US) require an additional fee. Please see the reward tier details for more information.
Membership on our Discord Server (on all tiers) What's Discord? It's an free text app you can download for your phone or computer. We're using it as our text-based chat room. All tiers come with free membership to this community of Clarkesworld supporters. There, we talk about all sorts of things there from books to what makes us reject a story.
Citizenship (on select tiers) Immigrate now! Clarkesworld needs and welcomes citizens. By choosing one of the citizenship reward tiers you earn the rank of Citizen, Burgermeister, or Royalty, (perhaps someday even an Overlord) in our world. Citizens in good standing will have their names included in the Census section of our annual Clarkesworld anthologies. Yes, your name in our book. Citizenship tiers do not include subscriptions. If you want both, see below.

The dollar amounts listed for rewards are the minimum monthly payment necessary to receive that reward. After you've clicked on a reward tier to join, you may increase your monthly payment to add on other rewards (or international shipping costs). If you've already signed up, you can increase the amount by following these directions. Any amount in excess of the minimum amount will be applied towards citizenship. (For example, join the $2.99 digital subscription and change your pledge to $4.99 to get the subscription plus the Citizen reward tier.)

Questions?

Still have questions? Feel free to drop Neil an email at neil (at) clarkesworldmagazine.com.

Thank You!

You have no idea just how much your support means to us. Thanks for taking the time to support our efforts.