← The best short stories of 1918, and the yearbook of the American short story
Chapter 29
Magazine Averages, January to October, 1918
The following table includes the averages of American periodicals published during the ten-month period before November 1, 1918. One, two, and three a’s are employed to indicate relative distinction. “Three-a stories” are of somewhat permanent literary value. The table excludes reprints, but not translations.
PERIODICALS (Jan.-Oct.)
NO. OF STORIES PUBLSHED
NO. OF DISTINCTIVE STORIES PUBLISHED
PERCENTAGE OF DISTINCTIVE STORIES PUBLISHED
a
aa
aaa
a
aa
aaa
Adventure
177
16
3
0
9
2
0
Ainslee’s Magazine
75
9
1
0
12
1
0
American Magazine
40
17
4
0
43
10
0
Atlantic Monthly
17
16
13
9
94
76
53
Bellman
24
21
5
3
88
20
13
Black Cat
77
9
2
0
12
3
0
Bookman
6
6
6
3
100
100
50
Boston Evening Transcript
14
13
7
2
93
50
14
Catholic World
7
6
4
1
86
57
14
Century
41
34
27
16
83
66
39
Collier’s Weekly
79
36
18
6
46
23
8
Cosmopolitan
54
18
7
2
33
13
4
Delineator
24
10
5
0
42
21
0
Everybody’s Magazine
33
9
2
0
27
6
0
Every Week (Jan. 5-June 22)
53
17
4
0
32
8
0
Good Housekeeping
27
6
1
0
22
4
0
Harper’s Bazar
29
7
0
0
24
0
0
Harper’s Magazine
61
47
26
20
77
43
33
Hearst’s Magazine
47
6
2
1
13
4
2
Ladies’ Home Journal
39
14
3
1
36
8
3
Liberator (Mar.-Oct.)
8
8
5
1
100
63
13
Little Review
6
5
5
4
83
83
67
McClure’s Magazine
42
3
0
0
7
0
0
Magnificat
63
4
0
0
6
0
0
Metropolitan
34
16
7
2
48
21
6
Midland
11
9
7
3
81
63
27
Munsey’s Magazine
40
2
1
0
5
3
0
New York Tribune
43
37
18
7
86
42
16
Outlook
16
8
2
0
50
13
0
Pagan
20
15
7
2
75
35
10
Pictorial Review
31
16
9
8
52
29
26
Queen’s Work
9
2
0
0
22
0
0
Reedy’s Mirror
14
11
2
0
79
14
0
Saturday Evening Post
162
44
9
2
27
6
1
Scribner’s Magazine
44
33
22
14
75
50
32
Short Stories
80
4
1
0
5
1
0
Stratford Journal
28
27
18
14
96
64
50
Sunset Magazine
26
6
1
0
23
4
0
Touchstone
9
8
4
0
88
44
0
Woman’s Home Companion
38
4
2
0
11
5
0
Youth’s Companion
121
9
9
1
7
7
1
The following tables indicate the rank, during the period between January and October, 1918, inclusive, by number and percentage of distinctive stories published, of the nineteen periodicals coming within the scope of my examination which have published during that period over twenty-one stories and which have exceeded an average of 15 per cent in stories of distinction. The lists exclude reprints, but not translations.
By Percentage of Distinctive Stories
Stratford Journal (including translations) .....96%
Bellman .....88%
New York Tribune (translations only) .....86%
Century .....83%
Harper’s Magazine ..... 77%
Scribner’s Magazine .....75%
Pictorial Review .....52%
Metropolitan Magazine .....48%
Collier’s Weekly .....46%
American Magazine .....43%
Delineator .....42%
Ladies’ Home Journal .....36%
Cosmopolitan .....33%
Every Week .....32%
Saturday Evening Post .....27%
Everybody’s Magazine .....27%
Harper’s Bazar .....24%
Sunset Magazine .....23%
Good Housekeeping ..... 22%
By Number of Distinctive Stories
Harper’s Magazine .....47
Saturday Evening Post .....44
New York Tribune (translations only) .....37
Collier’s Weekly .....36
Century Magazine .....34
Scribner’s Magazine .....33
Stratford Journal (including translations) .....27
Bellman .....21
Cosmopolitan .....18
American Magazine .....17
Every Week .....17
Metropolitan .....16
Pictorial Review .....16
Ladies’ Home Journal .....14
Delineator .....10
Everybody’s Magazine .....9
Harper’s Bazar .....7
Sunset Magazine .....6
Good Housekeeping .....6
The following periodicals have published during the same period eight or more “two-asterisk stories” The list excludes reprints, but not translations. Periodicals represented in this list during 1915 as well are indicated by an asterisk. Periodicals represented in this list during 1916 are indicated by a dagger, and during 1917 by the sign §.
*†§ Century Magazine .....27
*†§ Harper’s Magazine .....26
*†§ Scribner’s Magazine .....22
Stratford Journal (including translations) .....18
† New York Tribune (translations only) .....18
*†§ Collier’s Weekly .....18
§ Atlantic Monthly .....13
All-Story Weekly .....10
†§ Pictorial Review ..... 9
*†§ Smart Set .....9
*†§ Saturday Evening Post .....9
Youth’s Companion ..... 9
The following periodicals have published during the same period four or more “three-asterisk stories.” The list excludes reprints, but not translations. Periodicals represented in this list during 1915 as well are indicated by an asterisk. Periodicals represented in this list during 1916 are indicated by a dagger, and during 1917 by the sign §.
*†§ Harper’s Magazine .....20
*†§ Century Magazine .....16
*†§ Scribner’s Magazine .....14
§ Stratford Journal (including translations).....14
§ Atlantic Monthly .....9
†§ Pictorial Review ..... 8
New York Tribune (translations only) .....7
Smart Set .....7
*† Collier’s Weekly .....6
All-Story Weekly .....5
Little Review .....4
Ties in the above lists have been decided by taking relative rank in other lists into account. The New York Tribune and The Stratford Journal gain their high place chiefly through translations of foreign stories, and allowance should be made for this in any qualitative estimate.
Looking back over a period of four years it is interesting to see what magazines have maintained a steady lead during this period. Of the eight magazines whose percentage of distinctive stories has led, Scribner’s Magazine has maintained the highest average of distinction. Below follow the percentages of these eight magazines:
Scribner’s Magazine .....76.5%
Century Magazine .....74.8
Harper’s Magazine .....70.3
Bellman .....70.0
Metropolitan Magazine .....48.5
American Magazine .....45.0
Everybody’s Magazine .....44.3
Pictorial Review .....43.8
Five magazines during this four-year period far surpass all others in the number of distinctive stories published during that time, and Harper’s Magazine leads its nearest competitor by forty-nine stories. The list follows:
Harper’s Magazine .....232
Saturday Evening Post .....183
Collier’s Weekly .....178
Scribner’s Magazine .....166
Century Magazine .....151
Reprints have not been taken into account in the last two lists.