New Fiction Magazine and the Plight of Publishing

There's a new fiction magazine that just began publishing late last year. It's a revival of Argosy, a magazine that's been around more than a century.

I noticed the site while reading a news item posted at Blue Ear about the trouble the publishers were having getting their magazine onto the shelves of the chain bookstores such as Barnes and Noble or Borders. Having worked in bookselling before my interests were piqued. Even a decade ago publishers were exerting a growing influence over the books displayed at B&N. Over the course of my three years there I noticed the list of titles for table displays becoming more and more detailed, leaving the individual store and bookseller with less freedom to choose what to highlight. Things were never as monolithic as the critics portray, but the defenders of the chains need to be aware that there is power being wielded and they need to wield it as carefully as possible.