Let's talk about short fiction and its neverending death

[pabba]

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

Comments

[micheleis]

I just blogged about this yesterday too. It is tough out there, but at the core we don't write stories to sell them, we write them to tell them. Of course it is a nice time to reassess what is and isn't working for us and focus on the most promising choices.

[pabba]

I'm gonna keep writing, but the push for getting it out there right away, in terms of submitting, is fading.

[micheleis]

It is. I suppose that this is the point where a lot of writers who aren't in it for the writing, or aren't stubborn enough to keep going give up.

[sandramcdonald]

We can't tell them without viable venues, alas.

[ecmyers]

That's one of the things that makes me lose enthusiasm for submitting short stories, like pabba. The other is that for whatever reason, the markets that do exist don't seem to want the kind of stories I tell, and even if I could figure out what they do want, I'm not inclined to write them just to make a sale anymore... I still have the urge to write shorts sometimes, and will even submit them, just not with the same drive and energy that I once did. I have a huge list of things to send out, as soon as I figure out where to submit.