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Short fiction has never been a lucrative business. The 'slick' magazines that paid top-dollar for fiction were able to do so because people bought the magazines
by Finnucane 3y ago
Short fiction has never been a lucrative business. The 'slick' magazines that paid top-dollar for fiction were able to do so because people bought the magazines for the other content. The 'pulp' magazines typically paid very low rates for fiction.
- AlbertCory 3y agoSupposedly, F. Scott Fitzgerald made good money with his short stories. But yeah, they were a prestige addition for the slicks.
- bamfly 3y agoFor a time, you could make a living writing short stories for genre rags. A matter of a few decades, but still. Without needing to be a household name, even. They're still the only places that pay non-famous and non-trendy people any money for short fiction. Most literary fiction publications below the tippy-top don't pay a dime, and lit-fic fosters a culture of accepting that state of things, even shaming people for asking about pay. Can't make a living in genre short fiction and the odd hastily-written pulp novel anymore—hasn't been enough demand for decades—but getting a check feels good, at least, even if it's two figures, and you won't get that in lit-fic.
- Finnucane 3y ago> For a time, you could make a living writing short stories for genre rags If you could write fast and didn't mind the occasional can of dog food.
- bamfly 3y agoTrue—it usually wasn't an amazing living. But it was a not-totally-implausible direction to go, if perhaps not the best move. Isn't even that, now. IDK what the equivalent poorly-paid-but-is-a-career-in-fiction-writing move is now. Probably video game writing, though you won't be getting to come up with your own stories at the bottom rungs.
- Finnucane 3y agoSupposedly Bob Silverberg at his peak, could do 10,000 words a day. He shared an office with another writer who was driven mad by the nonstop typing.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoThis model is coming back in a few small ways. Established writers I like Brandon Sanderson have shown that you can crowdsource funding for full length novels. They're also a large number of less established authors that produce chapters and are funded by patreons are equivalent as they go, similar to the magazine model. Lasting probably at least there is a cool ecosystem of essentially book club podcasts. Some of the more successful have patreons of Their Own and kick back a percentage of donations to the original authors. I think it's very cool to see some more diversity in literature funding models
- vkou 3y ago> Established writers I like Brandon Sanderson have shown that you can crowdsource funding for full length novels. ... If you're already an established household name.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoThat's exactly what I wrote. And it's cool
- rezendi 3y agoI'm reading _Divine Invasions: A Life Of Philip K. Dick_ and just got to the point where he sold his first short story. He was paid $75 for it, at a time when the mortgage on his (old, small, but still) two-story Berkeley house was $27.50. This was 1950.
- Finnucane 3y agoSee below about the dog food: a story from PKD's life.
- goodbyesf 3y ago> Short fiction has never been a lucrative business. A perfect example being Edgar Allan Poe. One of the greatest writers in history could barely support himself and his wife with his short stories and poems. Tragic.
- tasbir49 3y agoIt's depressing because short fiction has the ability to evoke strong emotions in such few words. I remember finding Flowers for Algernon much more impactful as a short story, than I did as a novel. Perhaps it was because I read the short story first.