SF drought for magazine

[TomMazanec]

Does it ever happen that, by the random vicissitudes of chance, or by some outside situation, the slush pile runs dry? Everybody is too busy worrying about covid, or there just aren't enough stories for the issue this time around? What would a magazine editor do if that should occur?

 

[Venusian Broon]

I'd be amazed if a well run magazine would run dry of material. (Especially in times of covid, because every man, woman and granny is apparently writing!) But then I'm thinking of top-tier magazines that pay like Analog. And because of this and the long-term reputation such a mag has and the relationships with lots of authors they have developed, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a gap in their output coming up, that they could not directly ask a big name if they had a story they wanted to submit, so that they could 'star' in an issue.

(There definitely has been some issues of that magazine where the number of stories was cut so that a big name author could publish a very big short story. Oh, and they also included an in-depth interview with him, so that's adding more padding!)

So one assumes if a magazine editor is desperate they would try and exploit their relationships with previous authors and other contacts, no? Most working authors who have previously submited short stories must have loads of shorts or ideas lying about.

 

[Bick]

It can't 'run dry' I think, as VB says, as there will be dozens of rejections and holds each month, to which they could always return, and they plan 4-6 months ahead. They could return to the old slush pile and see if the author still wants to publish I guess, as often I understand items are rejected or held back simply because they didn't want to publish, say, two time travel stories close together. So I think there's a lot of flexibility to fill issues with things that are in the slush pile for some time.

I've also read that slush piles for the big magazines are huge and need several 'first readers' to get through - so if worse comes to worse, they can simply drop their standards for a story or two to fill the pages.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I agree.

Many, many years ago, long before I became a member here, I was one of several unpaid editors at a small press magazine. It was not well produced, and (as I discovered to my chagrin after leaving the magazine) was not even paying authors the very meager amounts it promised them, but you would not believe the number of submissions that came pouring in. If even a two-bit concern like that one (happily long-defunct) could attract so many writers eager for publication on its pages, any reputable—or even half-way reputable—magazine or e-zine is never going to have its slush pile run dry. There are just too many aspiring writers, and even writers who have enjoyed some small success but who are looking for more exposure in the hopes of boosting their careers, for that to ever happen.