Major publishers have made cutbacks, literary magazines have changed publishing frequencies. For as many new magazines and presses that are starting out, many are throwing in the towel and calling it quits.
And why is this?
M-O-N-E-Y!
Well, some of it has to due with personal health and commitment issues (mainly for online, but for some print magazines as well). There are a lot of magazines folding due to the fact that subscriptions are down and they cannot keep publishing if they can’t even break even. Some magazines that have been housed and supported at universities find their funding sources cut off, meaning they have to scramble to find a source of income to keep publishing.
It is really sad. Contests have been suspended, some magazines that paid contributors for publishing their work have had to either cut down the amount or stop paying altogether.
Despite the floundering of literary publishing, the staples are still around, from the Hudson Review to The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review to Shenandoah. There are also new magazines springing up (many of them online, but some new print magazines such as Paul Revere’s Horse) that hope to challenge the decline that is being seen.
There are also new presses popping up, hoping to succeed where traditional publishing seems to be struggling. Digital media, e-books, POD – they are jumping onto the digital revolution, believing more people will flock to electronic media versus traditional print media.
Give me a musty old book anytime, I hate reading online if I can avoid it, but there are a lot of people taking to the new digital age.
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