What is the Apex Web Team?
A group of like-minded individuals who want to claim their ticket to fame and fortune when Apex Books owns the New York publishing scene. They help spread the word about our books and the company.

What is involved?
It’s real easy. All you have to do is run one banner or widget on your website.

How do I get the banners or widgets?
Email Jason Sizemore at jason@apexbookcompany.com. He’ll hook you up.

What do I receive for joining the Apex Web Team?
You get a permanent discount to our store. The more banners or widgets you run, the bigger the discount. In the future, we plan on expanding the goodies to include author-signed books made available only to web team members, freebie giveaways, and more.

For more information visit
Apex Web Team page.

What is the Apex Web Team? A group of individuals intent on spreading the Apex brand across the internet.

What do they get out of the deal?
You mean, other than the feeling of participating in a global domination plan? Web Team members receive discounts on Apex products, get “first” offers on special deals, and a chance to help a small press succeed.

What do I need to do to join?
All you have to do is fly our blog widget on your website. Alternatively, you can run one or more of our Amazon aStore banners, or the Apex Magazine banner below.. The more widgets and banners you fly, the bigger Web Team discount you receive.

To get started, email Jason Sizemore (jason@apexbookcompany.com) and ask to join the web team. He will send you a text file that contains the various scripts you can use. Once you have them on your website, email Jason again and he will send you your discount code and welcome you into the Brotherhood (Sisterhood). Your name will be listed with the other Team members below (you can opt out of this).

If you use this banner, please link to http://www.apexbookcompany.com/.

The Apex Web Team

Sunday, January 11
Apex Digest issue 1 sold out – The first issue of Apex Digest, Spring 2005, is now sold out. At least there are none left in our stock. We suggest checking out popular online retailers such as Horror-Mall.com to grab the last of these.

Tuesday, January 13
Apex Magazine Welcomes Guest Editor Michael A. Burstein – Apex Magazine is delighted to announce that the April issue will be a special one devoted to the concept of how the future will remember the past, and edited by award-winning writer and Apex author Michael A. Burstein.

Michael will be looking for dark science fiction stories devoted to the concept of memory, including the slipperiness of history and the dangers of forgetting the past. Stories for the special issue should be submitted as per the guidelines given on our submission page.

The Apex Publications ‘Apex Web Team’ – Jason is assembling a “web team” of Apex fans that will canvass their corners of the Internet with Apex widgets. In return, they’ll be listed as a member of the “Apex Web Team” and will receive a discount on any and all orders they place through the Apex store. See the link above for the widgets and more information.

Wednesday, January 14
The Fix has posted its review of Apex Magazine - July 2008 –
Z. S. Adani over at The Fix has posted a review of Apex Magazine’s July 2008 issue! Read the whole review here!

Thursday, January 15
First Look: Harlan County Horrors edited by Mari Adkins – Harlan County Horrors is a regional based horror anthology by Apex Magazine submissions editor Mari Adkins. The striking cover art is by Billy Tackett, a favorite of Apex fans. Harlan County Horrors is scheduled for publication in October, 2009. Follow the link above for a partial list of authors contributing stories, as well as a first look at the cover art.

Friday, January 16
The Fix Reviews Matt Wallace’s THE NEXT FIX – Ziv Wities over at The Fix has posted a stroke-by-stroke review of Matt Wallace’s dark science fiction collection THE NEXT FIX. Read the review here! And make sure to check out the free fiction sample of “A Place of Snow Angels” from THE NEXT FIX!

Apex Editor and Author News

Alethea Kontis has published her poem “Rabbit in the Moon” at Everyday Weirdness.

Jason Sizemore has had his story “The Dead and Metty Crawford” reprinted at NVF Online.

Link Salad
The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror will not be continuing in its current incarnation.

An awesome picture of the Martian sunset via Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Buy a Hugo Award Nomination for $850. Win for $8,800. Via SCI FI Wire–theoretically.

Save the Short Story – A Web site dedicated to preserving the much-maligned and much-neglected art form known as the short story. Visit the site to learn what you can do to save the short story.

Want a permanent discount on all your Apex orders? To receive freebies such as shot glasses and ARCs? Or do you want to provide an assist to a company that publishes such great authors as Jennifer Pelland, Fran Friel, and Michael A. Burstein?

Then join the Apex Web Team!

Details can be found here.

One thing that constantly blows me away is the Apex fandom. We have some of the most dedicated fans in the business. Believe me when I tell you that I’m truly grateful for this. In the midst of a recession, the fans came together and lifted Apex out of the mud.

Another fantastic feat pulled off by the fans involved broadening the Apex sphere of relevance. People who’d never heard of us came to the website and bought books based on recommendations from friends (Apex fans).  It is EXACTLY this sort of word-of-mouth marketing Apex needs to succeed and be a major player in the small press world.

To this end, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. How does a cash-strapped guy spread the gospel of dark SF?

Before I dive in with the rest of this article, I need thank S.F. Murphy for sparking the idea I’m about to propose. He commented in a blog post that Apex needed widgets. I nudged him with an email to share a bit more of what he would like in an Apex widget. After our conversations, I found a website that allowed users to build quick and sharp-looking widgets based off website RSS feeds. In the process, I also noticed that Amazon allowed its associate members to build widgets linking to their aStores (and you know I’m all about the aStores!)

So this is what I have in mind: a “web team” of Apex fans that will canvass their corners of the Internet with Apex widgets. In return, you’ll be listed as a member of the “Apex Web Team” and will receive a discount on any and all orders you place through the Apex store. It’s our digital version of the venerable rock band “street team.” Instead of flyers stapled to telephone poles, we’ll have widgets glued to blogs and websites.

Would you like to join the ‘Apex Web Team’? There are a few stipulations.

Stipulations
You have to let me know you’re flying the widget. Otherwise, how will I know you’re a part of the team? Email me at jason@apexdigest.com for the script code and your private, multi-use COUPON CODE.

The size of the widget you display determines your discount.

The widget must be somewhat prominent. This doesn’t mean you have to place a flashing banner at the top of your front page (but hey, that’d be great!). It does mean the widget shouldn’t be hidden at the bottom of a huge multi-screen wall of text, beneath even the banner exchange banners. :)

Your discount will be available immediately, but we do hope you fly the widget(s) for a regular, lengthy time frame.

Discount Schedule

1. Fly any of the widgets and receive a discount of 10%.
2. Fly two widgets (or more!) and receive the highest discount of 15%.

And here are the widgets:

Feed Widget

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