polyphony and short fiction
Polyphony 7 is going to call it quits by tomorrow if they don't gain enough preorders to cover the costs.
I'm wondering what's going on. It has to be more than the economy which yes, definitely sucks. There are many (way too many) who are living on extreme frugal budgets, who have to get their entertainment free, or go without.
So my questions are for everybody else. Polyphony has always aimed for that difficult-to-define place where the fantastic and "high literary quality" (whatever that means) meet. It's generally acknowledged to be a good magazine--good enough, in fact, that 650 people sent submissions to the last call . . . but a fraction of that number has pre-ordered.
There are award-winning names on that TOC. There are new names. Maybe new names make readers wary, but what about when the new names are sharing a TOC with well-praised names, under the helm of good editors? Deborah Layne has teamed up editorially with Forrest Aguirre, whose name crops up constantly when various circles are giving out plaudits and awards. So . . . where is the readership?
Is short fiction reading shifting to the net?
"I don't want to pay for a short story when I can read them for free." I heard that at LosCon last November. The context was book writers offering short fiction as free advertising. At the time I nodded; I'd just been invited to join Book View Cafe, so I thought, "I can do that." Later on, though, it bothered me a little, because first of all I wondered if it really works. Then I wondered if readers are turning more to the net for short things, and wanting them at a convenient click. What about writers who work in short forms, are the markets vanishing before them like so many mirages?
Back to Polyphony. Why isn't it one of the hottest sellers among genre writers and readers? They don't pick incompetently written stories. They do pick some dark ones, but not uniformly so. They also try to choose stories that experiment with voice, style, plot, ideas, etc.
Anyway, thoughts on short fiction, Polyphony, or net publishing welcome--and even if you can't order a copy, if you could boost this signal (I nearly missed it) that would be great.
I'm wondering what's going on. It has to be more than the economy which yes, definitely sucks. There are many (way too many) who are living on extreme frugal budgets, who have to get their entertainment free, or go without.
So my questions are for everybody else. Polyphony has always aimed for that difficult-to-define place where the fantastic and "high literary quality" (whatever that means) meet. It's generally acknowledged to be a good magazine--good enough, in fact, that 650 people sent submissions to the last call . . . but a fraction of that number has pre-ordered.
There are award-winning names on that TOC. There are new names. Maybe new names make readers wary, but what about when the new names are sharing a TOC with well-praised names, under the helm of good editors? Deborah Layne has teamed up editorially with Forrest Aguirre, whose name crops up constantly when various circles are giving out plaudits and awards. So . . . where is the readership?
Is short fiction reading shifting to the net?
"I don't want to pay for a short story when I can read them for free." I heard that at LosCon last November. The context was book writers offering short fiction as free advertising. At the time I nodded; I'd just been invited to join Book View Cafe, so I thought, "I can do that." Later on, though, it bothered me a little, because first of all I wondered if it really works. Then I wondered if readers are turning more to the net for short things, and wanting them at a convenient click. What about writers who work in short forms, are the markets vanishing before them like so many mirages?
Back to Polyphony. Why isn't it one of the hottest sellers among genre writers and readers? They don't pick incompetently written stories. They do pick some dark ones, but not uniformly so. They also try to choose stories that experiment with voice, style, plot, ideas, etc.
Anyway, thoughts on short fiction, Polyphony, or net publishing welcome--and even if you can't order a copy, if you could boost this signal (I nearly missed it) that would be great.