The old Cosmopolitan had a circulation of one million, and Collier's also had a circulation of over a million. Writers were paid thousands of dollars, and a short story writer could make a living then. Instead, people watch an installment of Dallas or Dynasty. Writers used to write stories to pay the bills and write novels on their own time. Now that's flip-flopped.
Writers have to write novels to pay the bills.
It's a dilemma. As difficult as it is to publish a novel, at least one can count on some money from a novel, but not from stories. For many, short story writing is a luxury. McGrath thinks the situation may be changing, though, with the arrival of new magazines such as Grand Street and Vanity Fair. The New Yorker receives between 200 and 500 stories a week and publishes about two a week.