FSF Survey
Gordon Van Gelder is conducting a brief survey on the FSF blog concerning short fiction reading and purchasing habits.
http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/blog/2008/08/21/questions-about-publishing-short-fiction-online/
Go on over and help him out if you're inclined. If you're in the biz, the comments he's received so far are interesting. In general, I'd say posting free fiction online helps the individual authors more than it does the magazines (and I'll extrapolate to anthologies based on my own experience). During pixel-stained techno peasant days I posted some free stories from Polyphony. They're still there at the WP website.
My sense is that posting free stories online (if you're main product is PRINT) increases your online visibility (whatever that is and for whatever that's worth) but doesn't drive sales.
Although it may send readers looking for longer works by the individual authors. That seems to be what the readers at FSF are saying anyway.
http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/blog/2008/08/21/questions-about-publishing-short-fiction-online/
Go on over and help him out if you're inclined. If you're in the biz, the comments he's received so far are interesting. In general, I'd say posting free fiction online helps the individual authors more than it does the magazines (and I'll extrapolate to anthologies based on my own experience). During pixel-stained techno peasant days I posted some free stories from Polyphony. They're still there at the WP website.
My sense is that posting free stories online (if you're main product is PRINT) increases your online visibility (whatever that is and for whatever that's worth) but doesn't drive sales.
Although it may send readers looking for longer works by the individual authors. That seems to be what the readers at FSF are saying anyway.