Tuesday, October 30, 2007

$12??

I thought about ordering the Fall 2007 issue of The Paris Review. It features a new short story by Stephen King and I’d like to read it. I check the website. $12. Four stories, a handful of poems, and a few features. $12. I’m sorry, I could purchase a full novel for just about that price. The previous issue only had 2 stories. I know this is a well regarded magazine and it publishes prominent and talented authors, but $12?

That’s waaaaaay too steep. I could get the Best of LCRW for $14. Some 20 stories there.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

That is a bit steep. 12 bucks for just a couple of stories? I mean, you can get the entire list of Nebula Nominees for that, or for 8 bucks more you could get a collection of the best stories of a particular genre. So, rather pricey if you ask me. Perhaps this has something to do with the death of the short story though, something that unfortunately feels like it is on its way...

Joe said...

Could be. Dunno. All I know is that it is way too steep. But, I suspect that they pay very well and that it is a niche, upper crust, elite market.

And I base that on the fact that I'm not willing to pay $12 for four stories and a bunch of poems.

SQT said...

I'm cheap that way too. $12 bucks? That's one and a half paperbacks!