More on SF/F Short Fiction

[Scott H. Andrews]

An article at IRoSF by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10519) about the state of short fiction markets nowadays and in lean economic times is generating lots of debate in the comments section, including posts by editors Sean Wallace and Jetse de Vries.

I personally think Jetse is on the right track about the content. I think the movement in fantasy short fiction over the last two decades towards less traditional types of fantasy has contributed to its diminishing appeal. That was one reason I started Beneath Ceaseless Skies--to try to bring back some of that classic fantasy vibe to great fantasy short fiction.

[Kenneth Mark Hoover]

Scott, do you think these trends we see in all genre fiction are mostly cyclic? At least to some degree?

[Scott H. Andrews]

Interesting question!

Actually, I think the trend in genre short fiction toward more literary things is not cyclic. I think it's a response to the changing array of entertainment options that readers have, and the changing audience for short fiction.

In the 40s and 50s, movies and watching TV were not everyday things, and the genre fiction had very cinematic, external narrative tones, and lots of people read short fiction (magazine circulation numbers in the hundred-thousands). In the 60s, movies and TV proliferate, and in genre fiction the limited point-of-view (the more internal narrative tone that goes deep inside the protagonist's head) evolves as a response to that because inside a character's head is a place that movies and TV can't do as well. Short fiction is a natural place for experimentation to start, since it takes less time to write and it's cheaper to produce. At the same time, fantastical things begin to creep into literature as magic realism develops.

Then in the late 70s and early 80s video games and cable TV arrive, providing more distractions for the casual short fiction reader, and the huge success of the U.S. editions of Lord of the Rings makes fantasy novel trilogies the hot thing. Short fiction circulations drop and some magazines shut down as lots of readers switch to reading novels exclusively. In the 90s the internet arrives, siphoning away even more casual short fiction readers, and circulations go down even more.

With all those casual readers gone from short fiction, only the diehards remain. Some of them are hard-SF fans, who keep reading Analog because it delivers exactly the niche content they like. But most of the diehards are fellow writers, who grew up on short fiction and/or write it themselves, and they like reading other writers' short fiction, including experimental stuff from genre writers and literature from non-genre writers. So genre fiction overall starts to get more literary as the writers experiment with literary things, and the audience of other writers enjoys reading it and nominates it for genre awards.

Fast-forward to today. In genre short fiction overall, the circulations are lower still and the content even more literary. Literary fantasy writers and magazines are winning lots of the genre awards. This blend of literary and the fantastic is so popular that even longtime mainstream authors start doing alt-history or fantasy-tinged fiction. Analog remains as a bastion for its niche audience, and their circulations although lower than in the past are still the highest of any text genre magazine (about 18,000, compared to about 10,000 for F&SF). But with the internet thriving as a place for people to find niche things, small online markets like Flashing Swords pop up for the small audiences who want something different.

So if you count those niche online markets, maybe it is somewhat cyclical. But if you look at the top markets, then no, I don't think things will ever come back to a point where, for example, swords and sorcery will dominate the short fiction markets. The audience that was reading it when it last dominated has moved on to other things (like novels), so there is no readership now to support it.

What will the future bring? One reason I think audio fiction is so cool is that, with commuters and iPods, podcasted short fiction seems to reach some of those casual readers who don't have time to read text short fiction anymore. I think ebook versions may in the next five years reach the point where podcasts are today, because ebooks might also better reach those casual readers on portable devices.

But I don't think that any short fiction magazine will ever have a hundred thousand circulation anymore. For whatever reason, the short fiction format seems to have gone obsolete in our society of online games and fat novels.

[BearMountainBooks]

As I was noting to Scott the other day, it seems that more and more short fiction is appearing in anthologies. I was surprised at the number of anthologies that appeared in the www.bookspotcentral.com march madness competition. And even more surprised at how many people had read the books. One of my favorite urban fantasy novels (New Tricks by John Levitt) was up against short story anthologies at two different levels and eventually got beat out (the nerve!)

I wonder if the ability to print faster and cheaper (POD) is helping more authors publish in anthologies or publish collections--rather than search out a magazine or e-zine. As for readers? No, there have never been enough of them. For short stories or novels! I would think that short stories would do quite well, especially online ones because so many people are online these days. I stopped buying physical magazines when it became a chore to get my hands on the occasional issue. It's far easier to grab a quick story online when I'm in the mood--like blog and forum reading--than it is to buy an actual magazine and devote a lot of time to getting through the whole thing. Online reading is generally cheaper too. I'd bet over half the online zines are donation run!

The March Madness at bookspotcentral is still going on. There's a great Dealer's Choice category, which this year happens to be my favorite reading category--urban fantasy and there's the all-time favorite and the 2008 favorite lists. They're down to the last...oh, let me think...16? books? Something like that. Good place to check out some good book lists.

Maria

[Grace Seybold]

You know what I wish they would do, is sell more short story magazines in places like airports and train stations. I do a fair amount of long-distance train travel and I find that short story collections, in anthology or magazine form, are the perfect kind of reading for those trips. Just meaty enough to hold my interest, unlike the gardening and sports and celeb magazines they do have, but not so involved that I can't put them down after awhile - I can read in a moving vehicle but prefer not to for more than half an hour or so at a time. So short stories are much better than novels for that, for me. They always have a wire rack of romance novels and thrillers, why don't they carry any short story magazines? Not even necessarily SF/F (although obviously I would love that!) Surely the same people who are buying thrillers would buy Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine or whatever.

[Unregistered]

I've also wished for short story magazines in airports. It's where I'm most likely to make an impulse buy of that type--generally because I find myself bored. I always carry a book or two, but sometimes I just want something short. Apparently the readership isn't large enough or some other reason I can't guess.

[Scott H. Andrews]

I think the shrinking of newstand offerings of short fiction is partly a result of the distribution changes that happened around 1990.

The buying-out of the small presses by big comglomerates was one quantum change in publishing in the last twenty years, but the buying-out and consolidation of small book and magazine distributors was another. "Indie" distributors used to know their local markets well and would distribute accordingly--the newstands near the university campus sell more SF/F mags, so we'll stock more there.

When this was all consolidated, distribution became much more homogenous, with decisions based on overall sales figures. Stephen King and John Grisham sell lots of copies, so we'll stock the airports with them. Smaller-selling things of all types got displaced, and short fiction by 1990 was already selling way less than it had been ten years before. Nowadays it seems like all you can find in airports is uber-bestsellers like King and Grisham.

This may be one advantage to electronic short fiction and the online ways it is distributed. Online consumers seek out what they want, even if it's a fringe thing hard to find in mainstream stores. And online markets can provide it with much lower costs.

The catch is that, in order to read great literary adventure fantasy on your plane trip, you've got to plan ahead and download it to your portable electronic device before you get to the airport. :)

[Kenneth Mark Hoover]

Selling short fiction at airports and such is a good idea. They used to do it. Heck, I remember as a little boy I went to the drugstore or grocery store to buy comics. Now you have to go to a "comic book shop".

It really cuts back on possible readership, imo, but I do understand the costs and distribution problems involved. :(