Let's talk about short fiction and its neverending death
This year, already mid-way through 2009, has been terrible for the short fiction market. My boss and editor of Clarkesworld, Neil Clarke, has some summaries and numbers about what's been going on over the past year...seriously, read it. Then come back here. Wait, also go read Sandra McDonald's take on things, too. Back? Okay, good.
Just this week brought about the announcements that Lone Star Stories and Talebones were closing as well. Allow me to quote movie-Elrond with, "Our list of allies grows thin."
There's very little money to be made in short stories. There's also a slim chance of building a career upon it (though some certainly have). Mostly, short stories are about passion, about the love of writing and telling tales in either conventional or non-conventional manners, about writers finding their voices and exploring unknown skills. Placing a story, selling it to a magazine that wants to hand over money for something you magically put together from words bouncing around is probably the greatest feeling a person can experience save for, maybe, giving birth. I've never been pregnant though so I can't claim that fully.
However, that feeling is becoming harder to achieve--and hold on to--with each passing day. Markets that once welcomed submissions from anyone, anywhere are now gone, leaving us with a dismal list of uncertainty.
While Neil holds firm that the short fiction market is moving forward positively thanks to outlets like Tor.com and Thaumatrope, I have to disagree. Of course, I would. I'm a writer, and I'm seeing it from a writer's side. Tor.com doesn't no allow for open submissions, and Thaumatrope is a Twitter-zine, something of which is like a nibble to a delicious sandwich. Neither really excite me about the future of short fiction, and neither really give me, as a writer, the opportunity to try and go somewhere. The Big 3 are still the Big 3, glaring down from their cold-fused clouds and gates of admantium, and while Realms of Fantasy died and then came back, they are still closed. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but they couldn't even give away 200 free copies of their new issue. Which is...well, y'know.
Now, if a market isn't shut down completely, it's on hiatus or closed to submissions for a specific/unknown amount of time. This is disheartening, of course, but there's little that can be done about it. The mantra is just keep writing, just keep writing, right? Maybe. Probably not. Might be better to focus on something fruitful. Yes, there's a somewhat decent number of markets that are now SFWA qualifying rates, but the biggest concern from a writer, from a submitter, from a hopeful soul, is whether the market is still kicking and whether it is open for submissions. A closed market is a closed door, with nowhere to go.
All of this has been written off the cuff so I'm sure I'm flubbing somewhere. Obviously I'm in the "not doing well" camp, and I know I'm not alone. Also, getting the bias out of the way, I read slush for Clarkesworld and therefore have to cross them off my list as a submittable market, too. Woo and boo at the same time!
Thoughts?
Just this week brought about the announcements that Lone Star Stories and Talebones were closing as well. Allow me to quote movie-Elrond with, "Our list of allies grows thin."
There's very little money to be made in short stories. There's also a slim chance of building a career upon it (though some certainly have). Mostly, short stories are about passion, about the love of writing and telling tales in either conventional or non-conventional manners, about writers finding their voices and exploring unknown skills. Placing a story, selling it to a magazine that wants to hand over money for something you magically put together from words bouncing around is probably the greatest feeling a person can experience save for, maybe, giving birth. I've never been pregnant though so I can't claim that fully.
However, that feeling is becoming harder to achieve--and hold on to--with each passing day. Markets that once welcomed submissions from anyone, anywhere are now gone, leaving us with a dismal list of uncertainty.
While Neil holds firm that the short fiction market is moving forward positively thanks to outlets like Tor.com and Thaumatrope, I have to disagree. Of course, I would. I'm a writer, and I'm seeing it from a writer's side. Tor.com doesn't no allow for open submissions, and Thaumatrope is a Twitter-zine, something of which is like a nibble to a delicious sandwich. Neither really excite me about the future of short fiction, and neither really give me, as a writer, the opportunity to try and go somewhere. The Big 3 are still the Big 3, glaring down from their cold-fused clouds and gates of admantium, and while Realms of Fantasy died and then came back, they are still closed. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but they couldn't even give away 200 free copies of their new issue. Which is...well, y'know.
Now, if a market isn't shut down completely, it's on hiatus or closed to submissions for a specific/unknown amount of time. This is disheartening, of course, but there's little that can be done about it. The mantra is just keep writing, just keep writing, right? Maybe. Probably not. Might be better to focus on something fruitful. Yes, there's a somewhat decent number of markets that are now SFWA qualifying rates, but the biggest concern from a writer, from a submitter, from a hopeful soul, is whether the market is still kicking and whether it is open for submissions. A closed market is a closed door, with nowhere to go.
All of this has been written off the cuff so I'm sure I'm flubbing somewhere. Obviously I'm in the "not doing well" camp, and I know I'm not alone. Also, getting the bias out of the way, I read slush for Clarkesworld and therefore have to cross them off my list as a submittable market, too. Woo and boo at the same time!
Thoughts?