Is There an Author in the Audience?
I have long wondered what percentage of the readers of the big three print short fiction fantasy and science fiction magazines were also writers. Mr. Gordon van Gelder offers some numbers in response to a member of the Tangent Online community who theorized that most readers of short SF are actually writers:
I would estimate that the percentage of subscribers who are also published
fiction writers is in the range of 5-10%.It’s impossible to guess with any accuracy the percentage of readers who
want to write _someday,_ but I would say offhand that the total percentage
of our subscribers who write fiction now or hope to do so someday is roughly
20%.And I would estimate that 15-20% of the writers who submit fiction to us also subscribe.
That’s better than I would have guessed. My own private poll put the numbers at about 80% of the subscribers I’ve talked to are writers with plans to submit.
The other bit of news: subscriber age. 40.
We conducted a reader survey in the summer of 2002. About the only generalization
I took away from the survey was that our average age of readers (both mean
and median) is 40. Otherwise, I couldn’t find much that our readers have
in common.
That frightens me. We’re still advancing one year in the average reader age for every year of the survey for at least the last three years, suggesting that we’re still not attracting many new young readers.
Best regards,
Alan
Ammended 1/9/2004
There’s a tricky aspect to having this high a percentage of writers as the audience.
Whether or not those potential submitters agree with the choice of what is published, they will rarely say anything against the status quo. If asked, they will affirm the editor’s choice independant of their own personal preference. Although I’m sure many of these potential submitters enjoy the content of the big three, I know at least some do not because they’ve told me so. However they consider their own career first when choosing to comment and don not say what they feel.
So if 20% of a readership expresses a preformed opinion–many of whom are active and powerfully involved in the community in which these editors spend every weekend–you would need at least 20% of your readership to actively express a dissenting opinion before these editors have any kind of clue.
I can’t imagine getting that kind of response, which makes proactive change very difficult because the horizon always appears sunny. Except readers keep dropping away.
A.
January 2nd, 2004 at 10:09 am
That age thing terrifies me as well. And what\’s more, there are no initiatives that I\’m aware of that are active in bringing genre short fiction to youth. That is one area where I think I could become active, if someone had a great project.
I was thinking the other day about a kind of Worldcon scholarship fund to subsidize the ticket prices of attendees under 18. Because $200 is an insane amount. I can\’t imagine people with a casual interest in genre seeing that amount and deciding to attend, even if they live near by.
-JeremyT
January 2nd, 2004 at 3:01 pm
I don\’t know that con attendance is really going to boost readership in any age group.
I\’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I think maybe Allan is dead on in his comments about the general themes of sci fi today.
Magazines are the battleground. Asimov, once the guidebook to the universe for youngsters and the young at heart, is now a hoity-toity literary mag with \’serious names\’ and \’serious stories\’ about \’serious science\’.
Heck, I\’ve got a subscription, I read it all the time. Do I ever come away going \"Golly gee! I can\’t wait to try that!\" Nope, just doesn\’t happen.
We need sci fi that remembers the basic thing that\’s held all of us anarchistic antisocial writer creatures together since the beginning: A sense of wonder.
Man, the thought that I MIGHT be able to live long enough through medicine and other sciences to see myself, or my kid, or my grandkid open up a used bookstore on the moon, or mars, or heck, even in a LEO Mall… yeah THAT fills me with wonder.
The possible horrors of every single science drawn out in vivid detail over many pages? Nope, no wonder, just yawns. Yes we need to be cautious, but I don\’t think sci fi readers and writers are the ones who need to hear that message.
And for the record, I\’m 27 and finally pushing hard to get published. I\’ve known I wanted to write since high school, but between the media and college, and trying to make sense of the rich tapestry that is the history of sci fi, it\’s taken a bit to really get to where i feel i can write and send out a message that is coherent and will be decoded by the other brains out there in the biomass.
But while some writers are pushing through (and i know a quite a few others), the readers are finding that there are more than a few people willing to cater to their whims if the sci fi mags don\’t want to.
(we\’re excluding longer fiction mostly on the grounds that you gotta start somewhere, and mags and small novels is where most do it, except there\’s no good mags and no small novels anymore!)
ok, i gotta go eat lunch. rant more later if needed.
-rob
January 2nd, 2004 at 4:47 pm
Agreed, two separate issues. I wandered from one train of thought into another. I tend to think a lot about genre from a community standpoint as well.
I think short fiction is probably doomed in its current form. It can\’t seem to compete for the attentions of youth in this day and age.
January 2nd, 2004 at 6:19 pm
mmm, short fiction doomed? maybe so, but only because priorities are f\’ed up. we\’ll pay a hard earned dollar for psuedo burgers that will kill us. but we won\’t throw a few more on the pile shell out for something that might enlighten or improve us, such as a magazine subscription.
the magazines are all catering to the boomers, and those of us who don\’t fit in with the boomer point of view are standing around going… well, i write, i read, but no one buys what i write, and no one sells what i wanna read. bah. you know, you prolly shouldn\’t listen to anything i post today. heheh. first official business day of the new year, and they don\’t replace the person they fired a couple days ago. just slammed for hours.
i hope that the short fiction format doesn\’t die. it\’s supposed to be there for new writers to hone their skill. and as a new writer who is trying to hone his skill, it\’s not exactly easy to break into the market with the economy and market the way things are. and besides, if those mags die, how am i gonna feed my story addiction?
/sarcasm on
i NEVER switch subjects mid-sentence without noticing or thinking to notify anyone who might read about it.
/sarcasm off
hehehehehe,
-r
January 4th, 2004 at 10:33 pm
When I talk to authors and critics who are approx. 30 or younger, they speak of being overwhelmed by the interest. (\"Frankly, I\’d rather be known for the quality of my work than how old I am.\")
On the other hand, it is the rare convention where I am not one of the youngest attendees who isn\’t a guest of a parent.
I\’m 43. That\’s just _wrong._
Best regards,
Alan
January 7th, 2004 at 4:37 pm
Alan,
I\’m still under 30, but heck, I\’ve been busy living instead of writing. But I\’ve still got 3 good years before i pass 30, so assuming no acts of god, i\’ll be published and get to hang out with you in a smoky bar near the Con and we\’ll complain about all the old fogeys together.
As to young writers, i can\’t speak for anyone outside of the little crew of writers that I connect with and workshop with some, but like me, most of them are busy scraping by and trying to get a job that will let them have a house/family/security/time to write. I know I would LOVE to spend some time at cons, and my support unit/significant other thinks it will be fun once we have the time and spare money, but perhaps part of the reason there aren\’t many people my age at the cons is because we\’re busy treading water and getting established?
Seriously though, I did want to say, I really really enjoy future tense and futurismic, and I hope I do get to meet you in person some day.
-Rob
littlebrother@brotherjames.net
January 8th, 2004 at 9:41 pm
Jeremy -
It’s an interesting idea. Have you suggested it to the Con committee? If not, I’ll pass it along.
If I were starting into the Con scene, I think I would find it intimidating and not just the price. Everyone is ancient. _I_ think they’re ancient anyway. It’s not bad, but it takes a bit of extra gumption to jump into a conversation where everyone else is 50+. I like to think that SF cons reduce a lot of the social barriers but if you’re 18, you’re still going to be talking, eating, drinking and hitting the head with 50 year-olds. “They” probably don’t even like Vampire fiction (or computer gaming or interactive multimedia). With the exception of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, vampire fiction didn’t exist back when they were forming their personal tastes in reading. So there’s not even a common body of experience to relate to, except an overall love of the field.
Of course you can always bring your own crewe…
Then there’s an issue with programming. Most of the attendess are, well, on up there. They’ve seen every panel under the sun, so they tend to set up panels with odd topics or topics that appeal to an older set: “Does having children enhance your creativity?” (Boy, does it ever!) There’s nothing wrong with that but it doesn’t meet the needs of the new crop of con goers who enter every five years or so, especially in the area of panels on writing. That’s a major area where new con goers want more panels and established con goers are sick of it.
This hound’s answer? Volunteer on the con committe of your local con. If its hard to break in, suggest they need a dedicated position to represent the voice of the young. Then tell us how it goes.
Best regards,
Alan
January 8th, 2004 at 9:51 pm
Rob -
Good luck on breaking in. In some ways, its never been easier. There are loads of good residency workshops like Clarion or Viable Paradise. (If you can afford the time, I\’d take the longer one, one of the Clarions. It\’s a vastly different experience.) Almost every decent sized town has an established workshop that you can get into if you work hard. More SF/F/H titles are published every year.
On the other hand, there\’s a lot of competition. You already know that.
And the pay rates have reamined the same since early last century. That\’s absolute, not adjusted for inflation. Hugo Gurnsbeck offered his writers a nickle a word. So do many of the major outlets today, sixty years later.
You already know that, too.
You will gain infinite respect as soon as you utter the words \"I write science fiction,\" especially in english departments, and men and women will fawn over you. Oops, sorry, that\’s for a piece on SF screen play writing.
I feel like a fellow heroin addict: If you can kick the habbit, do! But I\’m not even going to try and I wouldn\’t expect you to, either.
Good luck, kick ass, best regards,
Alan
January 16th, 2004 at 11:20 pm
I guess this is where I have to get off my ass and finish one of the novels under construction so I can go to more cons yet claim that I\’m \"off to promote myself.\"
Seriously, it would be great. I\’ll be the one at the bar with the shaved head and the gotee borrowed from Stalin. You can be the handsome one that everyone wants to talk to.
I get one con out-of-state per year. This year might be Worldcon: it\’s in Boston where I can come up with floor space easily. On the other hand, the price is so high, I don\’t see how most authors I know can afford to go.
Good luck on getting your own writing careerr going.
Best regards,
Alan