Resurgence of Short Stories
I have been following several discussions on LinkedIn about the market for short-form fiction for a couple of weeks. It is amazing to me how short-sighted and ignorant of history some people are. Several people seemed to believe that short stories have never been a viable outlet for writers or that writers who are "serious" about their craft would never debase themselves so much by writing short fiction. (I've paraphrased and may have added some embellishment). One commenter in a discussion went so far as to say you could not be a good short story writer if you wrote long-form and that short story writers could never write a decent novel. (Um, ever hear of Stephen King, John Updike, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, Isaac Asimov, William Faulkner, etc...) As a result of all this conversation, I decided to give you my take on what's happening in the short story market and why. I'm no business insider, but I believe a little history goes a long way to understan...