# A return to popularity for the short story?



## StephenLivingston (May 10, 2011)

Alice Munro has just received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Are we experiencing a renaissance in the popularity of the short story form?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

StephenLivingston said:


> Alice Munro has just received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
> Are we experiencing a renaissance in the popularity of the short story form?


I don't really think the Nobel Prize for Literature is any sort of barometer for what is _popular_ -- just for what those specific voters consider worthy of the award.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

My take on it would be:  No.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

NogDog said:


> I don't really think the Nobel Prize for Literature is any sort of barometer for what is _popular_ -- just for what those specific voters consider worthy of the award.


I was having exactly the same thought when I read the OP -- but you beat me to it.


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## bhazelgrove (Jul 16, 2013)

I am reading Tom Perottas short stories but I don't think the form is coming back. I think it is still just for the few who appreciate the form.


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## RLC (Mar 19, 2013)

Probably not, which is a shame really, especially since I recently published a collection of my own short works. Although short form novellas like 'On Chesil Beach' and 'The Testament of Mary' do seem to be quite popular.


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## hs (Feb 15, 2011)

I think short stories are becoming more popular because of the growing popularity of e-books rather than the Nobel prize. It's easier for authors and publishers to publish/distribute short stories and it's easier for readers to consume them, especially when they're 99 cents or free.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

I've never liked short stories.. if the book is good I don't want it to end.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

bordercollielady said:


> I've never liked short stories.. if the book is good I don't want it to end.


My feelings exactly. I admire the form and those who do it well, but I tend to not even get short stories by authors I know I like. I got the Kindle so I could read really big fat books. 

Betsy


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## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

If only.

As hs noted above, the ebook makes it possible for writers to put short work out there even in a time when magazines don't publish nearly as much short fiction as they once did.  But that doesn't necessarily translate into the form becoming more popular with today's readers.

And that's too bad.  There are a number of writers who strike me as stronger in the short forms than in the novel.  Hemingway is one and so is Ray Bradbury (yes, both wrote novels, and terrific novels at that, but for this reader they struck gold more often in their short stories).  Harlan Ellison works almost entirely in the shorter forms, though he has written novels as well.  When Joseph Epstein writes fiction, he writes short stories -- he's never written a novel and if he's planning on doing so I've yet to hear about it.  The great Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges also never wrote a novel; short stories, poems, and essays, but no novels.

But as long as there's room out there for short fiction as well as the novel, I'm happy.  I love novels, but on the whole I love short stories even more.


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## James Everington (Dec 25, 2010)

I'd agree with Tony - a good short story is a joy to read, and if an author is new to me I'm more likely check out their short story collections before a novel.

Within the horror genre, off the top of my head I can't think of many decent authors who haven't written in the short story form at some point... I'm sure someone will prove me wrong though!


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I like short stories a lot. I started reading back when there were many monthly fiction magazines being published, and always looked forward to getting the new issues.


Mike


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

i love short stories.  i always have. 

the nobel prize for literature has never impacted my reading.  nor has any other award.


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## DJ Edwardson (Mar 15, 2013)

A well written story can be quite satisfying and I enjoy reading them, but I don't usually hunt for them. Perhaps the Kindle is making them more attractive for authors to write as there is more of a market for them now, but personally I'd be more inclined to read a collection of short stories than a single short work. 

One of my favorite books from my own library is "The Complete Fairy Tales" by George MacDonald, "The Lost Princess or The Wise Woman" being my favorite story there, though they're all wonderful.


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## FrankZubek (Aug 31, 2010)

I love shorter works. Harlan Ellison for one though he is wildly speculative.

I actually hunt for any new short story Stephen King releases ( which he writes in between his many longer works) and then I always buy the newest story collection of his so they are all in one easy place I can access. But I love them so much I HAVE to hunt them down in the many places he publishes them (Esquire, Playboy as well as realy small print run magazines) sine it can tend to be years and years between each collection.

And when the kindle arrived I thought- hey, there must be people out there who will love this format because any and all short stories can be easily accessed on this electronic toy.

But it would seem the short story remains stuck in place with its niche readership.

And the many fold who prefer longer work continues to grow. IN fact I have decided to abandon the short form as I am switching to fantasy novels. IN the middle of a big one now that should weigh in at 200 pages. The longest story I have ever tackled.

I mean, I WILL still do a short story here and there but for now I'm going to try to join the world of novels. Maybe I'll get a larger fan base that way.

After all, what good is a story large or small if nobody is reading it?


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## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

FrankZubek said:


> After all, what good is a story large or small if nobody is reading it?


Oh, I dunno. Think of it as an indie film; nobody's going to get rich from it and it won't set any box office records, but the people involved liked the idea when they signed on.


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## FrankZubek (Aug 31, 2010)

Tony Rabig said:


> Oh, I dunno. Think of it as an indie film; nobody's going to get rich from it and it won't set any box office records, but the people involved liked the idea when they signed on.


Tony
True.... but lets use indie films as a metaphor for short stories and in fact pair them up since they are both in trouble in today's markets.

Even the cast and crew of any ( well, okay MOST) Indie film who put the time and creative energy into the piece still bleed

While an indie film is by nature, aiming at a smaller audience than, say, a Woody Allen film vs a Great Gatsby film, there is still an anticipation by all involved to have it seen by at LEAST those expected minimalistic numbers. And when they aren't met sure the cast and crew are sad but happy that they were at least able to have a final product on film and later on disc....but the feeling of not having fully accomplished the end goal--which is to have even a targeted minimal expected number of people who might like to see the film-- is always there despite the fact they all move on individually to different new projects.
Plus the fact that no matter the size of the financial risk a studio takes- whether its a $5 million dollar budget or a $ 12 million dollar budget, they TOO are expecting to at least make back the investment money. So when an indie film gets made and becomes available and is even put out there on a good week of release and has good marketing behind it and yet still the intended audience for whatever reason doesn't show up in the intended numbers the whole project, from the screenwriter to the cast/crew as well as the studio....... fail.

And in many cases it isnt even anyone's fault but the bottom line is maybe the project was released at a time when everyone who may have gone to it are just in a lull for one particular year and it simply slips between the cracks and winds up on library shelves and in used DVD markets on amazon.
Eventually people still find it and it does get seen.

Or maybe there happens to be just enough bad word of mouth and not enough good word of mouth- of which they might be 3 to 1 but bad word of mouth is easier to work up an effort to spread.

But maybe the market itself is to blame. ( Both Indie films as well as short stories and THEIR platforms of magazines and kindle/ebook infrastructures have to comete daily with the much larger platforms afforded blockbusters and novels)

Indie films have a problem where the market is saturated with blockbusters as well as the fact the money for financing them is drying up because studios are desperate to keep funding the bigger films that bring in the hard cash flow and while that's understandable they just don't seem to want to make the time to nurture these smaller markets (Indie films/short stories)

Short stories have the same problem only in a worse way.
They are by nature, literature. There are no electric shadows flickering on a screen. Reading is by its very nature, much more work for the participant than film is. Films you can just sit there and watch and that's the whole experience. Maybe later on you recall a favorite line or scene ("I'll be back" or "One ping only")

READING is a more physical activity even if it IS just the moving of pages. It also requires thought and remembering previous chapters as you move forward and many people just don't want to be bothered.

Magazines that used to carry stories- even serialize them from month to month have died off and gone out of print. I had been hoping that kindle might pick up the ball and while yeah, they have with kindle shorts and serials, I still have yet to see a major campaign outside of the amazon home pages that announce or remind readers that the short story form is alive and available on kindle as well as through APPS.

I have no ending for this for now but these are a number of thoughts I had just now and I wanted to throw this counterpoint up there to you Tony

Anyway my point is the markets are drying up for both indie films and short stories even though it may not seem that way right this minute but it IS drying up. There are simply too many other entertainment options out there for both indie film lovers and story readers.

I am worried that that is happening- in part- by design if only because there isn't the money ( read that $$$$$$$MONEY with balls $$$$$$$$$) incentive for the powers that be to be worth the trouble of making time and seeding the money to build on these two markets. Blockbusters and big league novels bring in the money. Indie films and short stories, while certainly good for a handful of awards, really aren't the main topic of discussion on the golf course between the power guys.( well, not the majority of them anyway). A majority of power folks are men and they want to discuss the hundreds of millions their few blockbusters brought in this year than the few little known yet highly regarded awards their few little films might bring them. Its a guy thing.

And yet indie films and short stories MUST be nurtured because by their very nature they are NOT a larger budget film or big named author novel that automatically transfers to millions flowing back on the back end. And yet a portion of the readership and the film audience IS out there and wants to go out of their way to experience a smaller story- told either in print or on film.

One more point.... there was a time when studios scoured through magazines to find a number of short stories that could be adapted into films but I guess with the magazines going away the incentive to have a few interns flip through a few dozen magazines FOR source material to film kind of fell off the budget table. At least as a far as I am aware of. If someone knows differently let me know.

Used to be a time when there were plenty of indie films as well as short story markets to choose from but as each year passes there seems to be less and less variety. 
The advertising platforms ( as well as the lunchbox.happy meal platforms) inundate us with reminders of an upcoming film and as for short stories you kind of really have to go to the back of the bookstore and get on your knees in order to find the newest copy of Ploughshares, Alaskan Quarterly or Glimmertrain.

And yet over time- the demographic that loves the blockbusters and current hot novels NOW will outgrow it and when they are finally ready to experience THEIR era of smaller films and shorter stories..... will the market even be around THEN? That's what scares me.


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## chrissponias (Sep 22, 2013)

StephenLivingston said:


> Alice Munro has just received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
> Are we experiencing a renaissance in the popularity of the short story form?


I love short stories, but I prefer a 'short stories collection' in a book than one book with just one short story.


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## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

Frank, my comment re: thinking of it as an indie film was a bit facetious, but I didn't intend to suggest that the cast and crew aren't hoping to reach an audience or that the short story writer isn't hoping to reach an audience of his own.  They are, of course.  

Are the potential audiences smaller than we'd prefer them to be?  Sure.  But then, the audiences for books in general are smaller than we'd prefer them to be.  When William Simon's book A TIME FOR TRUTH came out in paperback around 1979 or 80, at the top of the cover there was a blurb proclaiming "Over 50,000 Copies Sold in Hardcover!"  I forget what the US population was then and I'm too lazy to look it up, but I believe 250 million would be in the ballpark.  50,000 hardcovers, 250 million people.  To sell a million copies in hardcover is to be one of the books that everybody's reading, and that's less than one-half of 1% of the population, and most books don't do anywhere near that much business whether they're short story collections or novels.  Self-publishing tools like Amazon's KDP make easier to get your work out there, but there's no guarantee anyone will see it -- if you build it they may not come.  But if you don't build it at all, it's certain that they won't.

I'm drifting from any point I thought I might be making, but maybe instead of the indie film comment in answer to your question I should have asked a different question:

If you thought there was a good chance that nobody except Mom would read it (and there is), would you write it anyway?


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## FrankZubek (Aug 31, 2010)

Tony
Good point. Yeah, of course I'd still write it. 
Sorry about the long winded rant. I need to cut back anyway. The folks here haven't got the time to read everything on my mind.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

reminder:  we're in the Book Corner here so discussion should be from the point of view of a reader -- not an author. Thanks.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

I follow a few short story markets (as a reader, meaning, magazines that I'm willing to check out).  I'd say there are less of them these days and less paying markets (paying writers) than 10 years ago.  HOWEVER, I find plenty of material via Kindle -- short stories or short collections.  I'd say my options are actually better these days.  One of the things I hated about the magazines that were out there was there was such a limited number of the types of stories I wanted to read.  In an entire magazine I might like one story--usually the high fantasy or cozy fantasy.  And there were only two manages that reliably carried that kind of story.  Even the others I checked out RARELY had those types.  Harder sci/fi was more common.  

In the mystery market, same problem.  I don't like noir.  I do like thriller and cozy and I LOVE funny.  The two main mystery magazines only RARELY carried funny.  And I mean like once a year.    I had stopped buying any magazines other than BlackGate and it was on such an odd publication schedule, it sometimes came out every two years (or so).  

Now?  Kindle makes it possible for me to find various lengths and in any genre.  Even some name authors are writing novellas (Driving Mr. Dead comes to mind).  I don't read a lot of it, but if I want it, it's there and it's even cheaper than an single issue of a magazine.

I don't know if more of it is being read, but I know when I want it I can find it and that was not true 10 years ago.  I'd buy a magazine and usually end up pretty disappointed or I'd love one story.


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