I’m not the sort of person to defy change just because I like the familiar. The world moves on, and in the book market that means some huge shifts in the past decade and probably the coming one. But it’s worth remembering that these changes don’t always follow the pattern we expect, as shown by the short story market.
When I started seriously writing, and reading about how to get published, it was still said that the best place to start a career in science fiction and fantasy was with short stories. Even by that point this was clearly not true – the magazines that published short fiction were facing huge declines in readership, in print form at least, something Warren Ellis demonstrated every so often by looking at their sales. Having accepted the wisdom I was given, it looked like I’d been sold a crock – short stories were on the way out, in favour of cheap paperbacks and other forms of entertainment. That decline looked set to continue until there was almost no short story market at all.
But the past few years have shown that’s not true. I doubt the sales figures for the print magazines are any better than they were, but high profile markets like Interzone are clinging on, and new magazines are even being launched. Websites have created a new model for the speculative short story magazine, cutting costs by not being printed and posted out, getting income from advertising, subscriptions and donations. Electronic distribution also makes it easier for them to expand their readership through the instant connection of links on social media. Podcasting has let them reach people who don’t have much time to read, but who enjoy listening to a story on their way to work.
Short stories have also become a marketing tool. Indie authors regularly give them away for free. Neil Gaiman has done the same. Even I’m posting a flash story every Friday, as a way to hook readers on my fiction – yes, that’s right, I’m not entertaining you just out of the goodness of my heart, it’s also for the dark motive of getting you to buy more of my books and so help me make a living off this.
It’s also worth noting that anthologies keep on coming out. Star editor John Joseph Adams has created a series of interesting collections that bring stories together to explore a single theme, in a way magazines and websites seldom do. And that old publishing classic, the ‘years best whatever’ anthology, keeps appearing on the bookshelves.
The short story marketing looked like it was dying, but instead it’s diversified and prospered, creating something more intricate, fascinating and far reaching than ever before. I still think new authors are better off writing novels, but the potential is there. It leaves me wondering, what other forms of storytelling will go the same way. And how will books diversify as time moves on?