The Gazettes started as an experiment: a professionally edited, officially sanctioned "fan magazine" published electronically.

Initially released as serialized e-magazines, they were later published as e-books (taking a page from the Baen Books experience with E-ARCs—Electronic Advance Reader Copies, which had been instituted several years earlier.)

Because the electronic sales were successful, Baen contracted with Flint for more issues, to be published 3-4 times per year (bimonthly, starting in 2007[2]).

[5][6] On August 16, 2022, Lucille Robbins, the widow of Eric Flint, officially announced the immediate shutdown of both The Grantville Gazette and the Ring of Fire Press.

The reviewer for Booklist wrote that the printed edition of the Grantville Gazette V "add[s] dimensions to Flint's singular alternate-history creation.

[34] Many of the continuing serials had been republished as single volume collections by the publishers of the Gazette through their own Ring of Fire Press to make the material easier to access by its readers by not having its readers search through various Gazette back issues to access a previous episode of a particular serial.

[35] Starting in 2017, the Gazette began to offer an award for the best short story that was published during the previous calendar year as determined by its readers.