What little theatres are for actors, little magazines are for writers - you have to start somewhere. UK paper literary magazines have been struggling for a while. The Arts Councils sometimes support them, though the councils' aims and objectives change over the years. e-publications and web magazines (often short-lived) have made readers reconsider their subscriptions. Rising postal charges, especially when sending abroad, have hit hard. While subscriptions have plummeted, submissions have soared.
In the States, magazines have been struggling too. Unlike here, many of them are based at universities, which protected them to some extent. But now that universities are strapped for cash and Mr Trump has slashed NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) funding, even some of the top ten impact publications are on the brink. The Paris Review lost $15,000 in funding. One Story had $20,000 terminated. These may not sound like huge amounts of money but magazines survive on a shoestring.
Some paper magazines have become Web-only with mixed results. For some, the reputation that their paper issues built up over decades hasn't carried over to the web version. And whereas paper issues might be archived for posterity by libraries, web versions are less reliably archived (the British Library store a few).
Why don't more magazine editors give up? It's a labour of love (the excitement of discovering new talent), and who knows, a fairy godmother might suddenly appear. "Poetry", a Chicago magazine that started in 1912, battled on for years. They rejected several poems by a Mrs Ruth Lilly. In 2002 she gave the magazine about $100 million.
My story collection "By All Means" (ISBN 978-0-9570984-9-7), published by Nine Arches Press, is on sale from 
My poetry pamphlet "Moving Parts" (ISBN 978-1-905939-59-6) is out now, on sale at the 
A week or so back my contributor's copy of The Literary Hatchert popped through the letterbox and it was a beautiful, thick journal, quite the nicest thing I've appeared in in years and it felt good to have it, like I'd achieved something. I've been doing well this year, a steady stream in webzines mostly and of variable quality but my question is: Who's reading them? I'm certainly not and where would I start because there're hundreds? The first poem I ever had published was in a vanity press because I was like sixteen and knew no better but despite having gatekeepers I still feel that not much has changed; we send out our stuff and share our successes with out friends and they pat us on the back but do they read any of the other contributors' stuff? Not online. A physical magazine at least stands a chance.
ReplyDeleteMy wife published a number of poetry magazines over the years. It"s how we met in fact. When she came to the UK, with time on her hands, she started publishing physical copies and a real labour of love it was and they were beautiful and professional and no one bought them. She sent out copies to those who sent her stuff and they added it to their CVs but what was the point? It's why I object to magazines refusing to take stuff that's been "previously published" because it's probably been read by ten people. And yet I keep sending the stuff out because what the hell else am I going to do with it?
I worry about whether online mags are read. When I got a paper mag I used to read it from cover to cover. It's not so easy online. There are some beautifully produced printed mags/books nowadays - the editors clearly care about presentation. It's expensive though, because nobody will buy them at a price which covers costs.
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