Baen's Online Short Story Submissions

[Recovering_Cynic]

Are any of you familiar with Baen's online short story publication system?  I looked at the website and it said that they weren't currently taking submissions because they were full up, but I also heard a rumor somewhere that Baen was shutting down.  Is that true?  Has anyone published with them or know what's going on?

[Silk]

Unfortunately, the rumour is true. Long story short, they weren't able to get enough subscribers t maintain it.

[guessingo]

That is not surprising. short stories don't sell very well.

[Bookstore Guy]

Cynic--It's important to note that Baen isn't shutting down, just the magazine that has been around for 4 years (your post makes it sound like you heard all of Baen is closing down, which is not gonna happen).

I think that if short stories, in general, maintained a higher quality, and that if the market as a whole paid more for them, then they could see a small resurgence in readership.  But that isn't gonna happen (those 2 issues are related and cyclical).  It's not just that short stories don't sell well.   That's like saying, "yeah the US economy is having trouble" and acting like that in itself is the singular cause of its own problems.  There are a ton of problems behind the scenes that have led to the consequence of "short stories dont sell well."

[guessingo]

what are the problems behind short stories not selling well?

[Bookstore Guy]

Pay, quality of existing stories, reader base, availability, Writers of the Future, etc.  There are tons of reasons, most of which are interconnected.

Writers of the Future may be seen as a good thing--early exposure to new writers--but a large portion of the "winners" don't go anywhere.  And a large portion of those stories are very amateur, and in some cases, garbage.  However, that is most people's only exposure to short fiction, so all they see is the below average quality (because WotF doesn't always pick the best--they often go with whatever political agenda that is vogue--several published authors I know have stated this from personal experience) .  When all you see is that kind of writing, you assume the rest of the market is crap.  Which leads to sales, availability, etc...you get the point.  That's my opinion, of course.