Comments on: Subscription drives alone will not save the short fiction magazines

By: Pete

Pete — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:11:44 +0000

1) I think many of these short fiction magazines are managed by enthusiasts rather than the more business oriented marketeers, and with such a niche market, marketing strategies are more important than ever.

2) Its becoming more expensive to produce these magazines, and the population base isn’t growing. To pass the cost onto the customer will reduce the likely subscription rates. Could it also be that people are reading for entertainment less these days?

3) People are becoming more internet savvy, and there are many options for short story readers and writers to read/publish short stories online, without subscribing to the paper versions.

By: Drake Koefoed

Drake Koefoed — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:09:05 +0000

Brian has it. Why would he pay to read stuff when he might not like it? I’ve submitted stories to mags that were printing junk, and they just sent me form rejections. If editors have no ability to sort out a decent story, then their mags will fail.

By: Brian Malone

Brian Malone — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:06:18 +0000

Paul, the reason why I don’t subscribe is easy . . . I’ve never felt that I had found a magazine that interested me consistently, issue after issue, especially with just handfuls of good stories. I browse the major pubs available in U.S. bookstores, and I read a good deal more short stuff online. What makes publication is usually not what I want to read. I can forgive the occasional misfire, but the editors of the major publications generally just don’t print stories that interest me. So I’m going to wait to subscribe until I find that perfect fit: an editor that knows what I want to read.

By: Usiku

Usiku — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 03:45:21 +0000

Well said. Communication with customers and potential customers. Does anyone know the relationship or correlation of short fiction to the state of poetry magazines?

By: Tracking « Torque Control

Tracking « Torque Control — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:45:27 +0000

[...] Paul Raven: What we are missing are the cold hard facts. Why are subscriptions to short fiction magazines dropping? Subscription drives are an admirable thing, but until the source of the problem is located, it�s like adding more water to a leaking bucket. We need to find the hole and patch it. [...]