The State of Science Fiction Short Stories

I often speak here on this blog about the state of the book industry. Here is another take on the industry that is mostly under the radar screen for most general readers: Science Fiction Short Stories. I've always been impressed with the science fiction genre. It seemed to have figured out a way to identify, cultivate, and publish new writers and exciting new material. There are so many online (and some print) magazines whose life blood are new writers. There are many writing workshops and organizations, from Critters to Clarion, focused on grooming new writers. I've always thought that if general literature was doing the same, instead of pushing the Creative Writing Masters degree route, we would be getting better literature and a more diverse set of writers, both in terms of color and material.

So is this genre going away? SFSignal's column "Mind Meld" asks the question: Is the Short Fiction Market in Trouble? —

David Moles, a finalist for the 2008 Hugo Award, says...

The SF short fiction market is toast. And if you've ever stayed at a London bed and breakfast, you'll know the sort of toast I mean: toast that's been out of the toaster and cooling on a toast rack till the only reason you can spread butter on it is that it's acquired the consistency and tensile strength of a silicone rubber trivet. If you want to know what short SF's future looks like, look at poetry's present. Then subtract all the teaching jobs and grant money...

Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Hugo Award winning short story writer, says...

According to Locus, about 3000 new short stories were published last year in the science fiction and fantasy genre. Someone wrote that we're in the new golden age of sf short fiction, and I agree. So in the number of stories published, no, the market isn't in trouble. It's doing well...

Jeffrey Ford, a short story writer, says... (I really love this guy. He has such a great way of putting things)

The short fiction market? You mean like money? From this writer's point of view, and that's the only point of view I can legitimately speak for on this topic, it seems to me like the pay pretty roundly blows. I suppose, if you really hustled, you could make a living at it, but even then you'd be shitting a slim turd...