With Patrick Ruddell poised to take the sci-fi world by storm with the soft launch of ScienceFiction.com, there’s a lesser-known group in the domain development world getting ready to do the same in 2011 with fiction: Hillcrest Media Group, the owners of several media properties including Published.com and Fiction.com.
Earlier today, TechCrunch broke the news to their readers that Patrick Ruddell, domain investor and blogger (better known as Chef Patrick), dropped $175,000 for the domain ScienceFiction.com in order to launch the “TechCrunch of Sci-Fi”. TechCrunch writes, “The domain name had been held back by a finance company called Domain Capital due to a defaulted loan, and Ruddell contacted two sci-fi geek friends to turn it into a business. Fast forward to today, and ScienceFiction.com has launched as a way for fans to access information about all things science fiction, ranging from movies, TV shows, games, books, comic books and technology.”
If Hillcrest Media Group has been following the news, they have to be delighted to see the price of ScienceFiction.com selling for $175,000.
Why?
Back in July, Hillcrest Media Group acquired the domain name Fiction.com for a mere $90,000 in a private sale brokered by Moniker.
As we wrote about in July, the company even boasted of the domain name acquisition.
2011 looks to be an exciting year for online sci-fi and fiction enthusiasts.
And it’s defintely exciting times for domain investors, young and old. Patrick Ruddell only entered the domain industry in 2008 and as Ron Jackson writes, “Now here he is, less than two years later, at the helm of ScienceFiction.com.”
Patrick Ruddell also managed to secure the matching vanity URL @sciencefiction on Twitter and on Facebook (facebook.com/sciencefiction) – something many big companies have been unable to do as they expanded their reach into social media.