From BookLove:
Talebones and Lone Star Stories are both closing down. Both are good magazines with a history of good stories. Both owners site a loss of passion for the amount of work the magazines require. Talebones owner Patrick plans to continue the Talebones name as a yearly anthology in 2010.

This reflects a similar decision by Apex Publications owner/editor, Jason Sizemore, who has stated in several interviews that running the magazine, in print and digital form, has been the most time and money consuming aspect of his business and with the least return. Sizemore, showing more transparency than other places, cites the distribution system for print magazines as the main problem of running a magazine while most others on the front and back sides cite diminishing subscribers and interest in short fiction.

And further added for here:

So I do understand that the economy is making things tough, but Talebones, Lone Star Stories and Apex didn’t say money was a primary reason for the closure/hiatus. All three cited time strains and little return for the effort. Again, Jason Sizemore has repeatedly, publicly stated that the magazine side of Apex Publications took up far more time, effort and money than the book side (which is why he made the decision to concentrate on books).

I understand stress and burn out, and think it’s good of these publishers to admit up front that they are just burning out and need a break (I also understand from personal experience, how hard it is to find reliable assistance and worse, someone to take over for you should you need a break).

But as a writer I can’t help but be incredibly frustrated. I made a goal to send out 100 submissions this year, but things are absolutely dismal out there. Half the problem is a glutted, tired market with publications folding, closing or getting overwhelmed because of the closures. It is almost impossible, for example, to find an open, pro or semi pro paying market. All three of these magazines where ones I really wanted to see my work in. Ones I read, enjoyed and regularly aimed stories at.

The other half of the problem is I’m becoming a snob. I’ve gotten incredibly tired of getting pennies for full stories, plus, bolstered by some pretty positive rejects from managing editors I feel confident that I can, or am close to selling to pro and higher level semi pro markets. This in turn has made me want to wait for good markets rather than settle for a low paying market. I mean, when the editor of Asimov’s gushes about your story, how do you turn around and sell it for $10 or give it away 4theluv? You don’t. Not if you want to build a real career. (Hobbies are different, so if you are a hobbyist please feel free to disregard this.)

So a lot of my stories are sitting rather than circulating, because the market is closed off and I refuse to accept whatever I can get anymore. I really think my stories are better than that.

So when I see good magazines closing, it really hits hard. It’s the sound of doors slamming shut. What’s worse is that any starts ups will face the distribution and subscriber problems as well as having to build a positive reputation up for themselves in a tough, tiring time.  It’s not something that’s easy to get started right now (or ever).

As a writer with two dozen or so shorts to sell and only one novel it’s seriously contributing to the stress of trying to establish myself. Why keep writing short stories when there seems to be no room for them?

But even that is bunk, because there’s been a revival of sort of the anthology. Look on any bookshelf and you’ll more anthologies and collections than 5 years ago (or maybe I’m wrong and I’m just more aware of them) as publishers embrace brands and name recognition as a way to introduce the fan bases of established authors like Laurell K Hamilton, Neil Gaiman and Jim Butcher, to new voices in popular spec fic.

So is the readership there or not?

Well I haven’t got an inside look at the sales of anthos like Many Bloody Returns, Wolfsbane and Mistletoe and  Bite, so I can’t say for sure, but it looks like the short story market is good…for novel writers. If you’re lucky enough to have a nice number of already published shorts now might be a good time to push a collection rather than new magazine submissions. And if you aren’t that lucky, then maybe it’s time to just hold off for a better market environment.

Of course, like an agent said on Twitter the other day, “There’s always a market for awesome.” So maybe it’s just time to push ourselves and try to step up our game. Even if nothing comes from it it’s good to learn not to become complacent as writers, to always push ourselves to be better, whether we have a reader base, or are still trying to break in.