The State of Literary Magazine Publishing
How many magazines do you currently subscribe to? How many of those magazines do you actually read more than one article from? How many of these are literary publications? These questions are ones that concern the editors, contributing writers, and publishers of today's literary magazines. The questions plague them because the answers are rarely in favor of literary magazines. Many literary publications, even some of the most famous, are suffering in subscription shortages. Many literary magazines fold due to lack of readership, because they are unable financially to keep the presses rolling. This is true despite the fact that there is an overabundance of materials to be reviewed and considered for publication in these magazines. It is important for the continuation and success of these magazines that these problems are addressed and solved. I would like to discuss the above issues in detail, and outline some of the possible solutions that others and myself are considering.
Barbara Bazyn has published more than 60 poems in small journals. Almost half of these journals folded after she saw her work published in them. I could not help feeling immediately like there was something wrong with that story when first seeing the bio-bit alongside an article she wrote for Poet's and Writer's Magazine in the March/April 2000 issue. As a writer sending out manuscripts to these journals, I felt disheartened at the thought of the folding of these thirty or so magazines. That meant that there were that many fewer magazines that my colleagues and I could submit work to, making it that much harder for us to get published. In, "Out of the Slush Pile, Into the Canyon: What Does It Mean to be Published," Bazyn describes the various calamities writers face when sending their work to various journals; yet, she ultimately goes on to explain how many of the problems writers face originate from their abuse of the system. She argues that there is a decline in recognizing "good poetry." Bazyn blames this on the university allowing students to major and study creative writing instead of teaching literature appreciation. She feels that encouraging writers to become "professional" is leading them into failure. "At the moment, we probably have several thousand published-but unread poets teaching thousands of creative writing students how to become published-but-unread poets" (68). The same statements apply in fiction courses in college. She feels that the key to helping literary magazines up their readership is for writers to practice self-restraint, and to discontinue mass submitting their work to magazines. This, she feels, will make the magazines only have quality material in their pages, resulting in more readers. "What does it mean to be published in a magazine that has 250 readers?" -- Bazyn's big question (68).
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