Magazine Averages

October, 1919, to September, 1920

The following table includes the averages of American periodicals published from October, 1919, to September, 1920, inclusive. One, two, and three asterisks are employed to indicate relative distinction. "Three-asterisk stories" are of somewhat permanent literary value. The list excludes reprints.

Periodicals (Oct.-Sept.) No. of Stories Published No. of Distinctive Stories Published Percentage of Distinctive Stories Published

Atlantic Monthly 19 18 15 11 95 78 58

Century 43 36 25 12 84 56 28

Collier's Weekly 97 24 8 4 25 8 4

Cosmopolitan 75 17 7 3 23 9 4

Dial (including translations) 19 19 15 11 100 78 58

Everybody's Magazine (including translations) 75 23 7 0 31 9 0

Harper's Magazine 57 43 32 15 75 56 26

Hearst's Magazine (including translations) 76 17 6 4 22 8 5

McCall's Magazine (including translations) 41 15 7 3 37 17 7

McClure's Magazine (including translations) 53 24 16 13 45 30 25

Metropolitan 78 20 12 6 26 15 8

Midland 13 11 11 8 85 85 62

Munsey's Magazine 83 14 5 2 17 6 2

New York Tribune (including translations) 48 31 5 1 63 11 2

Pagan (including translations) 21 10 8 6 50 40 30

Pictorial Review 46 30 28 25 65 61 54

Red Book Magazine 117 17 4 2 15 4 2

Reedy's Mirror (including translations) 30 16 8 4 53 27 13

Romance 89 23 6 1 26 7 1

Scribner's Magazine 51 36 23 10 72 46 20

Smart Set (including translations) 127 51 25 14 40 20 11

The following tables indicate the rank, during the period between October, 1919, and September, 1920, inclusive, by number and percentage of distinctive stories published, of the twenty-one periodicals coming within the scope of my examination which have published an average of 15 per cent in stories of distinction. The lists exclude reprints, but not translations.

By Percentage of Distinctive Stories

1. Dial (including translations) 100%

2. Atlantic Monthly 95%

3. Midland 85%

4. Century 84%

5. Harper's Magazine 75%

6. Scribner's Magazine 72%

7. Pictorial Review 65%

8. New York Tribune (including translations) 63%

9. Reedy's Mirror (including translations) 53%

10. Pagan (including translations) 50%

11. McClure's Magazine (including translations) 45%

12. Smart Set (including translations) 40%

13. McCall's Magazine (including translations) 37%

14. Everybody's Magazine (including translations) 31%

15. Romance 26%

16. Metropolitan 26%

17. Collier's Weekly 25%

18. Cosmopolitan 23%

19. Hearst's Magazine (including translations) 22%

20. Munsey's Magazine 17%

21. Red Book Magazine 15%

By Number of Distinctive Stories

1. Smart Set (including translations) 51

2. Harper's Magazine 43

3. Century 36

4. Scribner's Magazine 36

5. New York Tribune (including translations) 31

6. Pictorial Review 30

7. McClure's Magazine (including translations) 24

8. Collier's Weekly 24

9. Everybody's Magazine (including translations) 23

10. Romance 23

11. Metropolitan 20

12. Dial (including translations) 19

13. Atlantic Monthly 18

14. Cosmopolitan 17

15. Hearst's Magazine (including translations) 17

16. Red Book Magazine 17

17. Reedy's Mirror (including translations) 16

18. McCall's Magazine (including translations) 15

19. Munsey's Magazine 14

20. Midland 11

21. Pagan (including translations) 10

The following periodicals have published during the same period ten or more "two-asterisk stories." The list excludes reprints, but not translations. Periodicals represented in this list during 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918 and 1919 are represented by the prefixed letters a, b, c, d, and e respectively.

1. abcde Harper's Magazine 32

2. bcde Pictorial Review 28

3. abcde Century 25

4. abcde Smart Set (including translations) 25

5. abcde Scribner's Magazine 23

6. McClure's Magazine (including translations) 16

7. Dial (including translations) 15

8. cde Atlantic Monthly 15

9. be Metropolitan 12

10. c Midland 11

The following periodicals have published during the same period five or more "three-asterisk stories." The list excludes reprints, but not translations. The same signs are used as prefixes as in the previous list.

1. acde Pictorial Review 25

2. abcde Harper's Magazine 15

3. de Smart Set (including translations) 14

4. McClure's Magazine (including translations) 13

5. abcde Century 12

6. Dial (including translations) 11

7. cde Atlantic Monthly 11

8. abcde Scribner's Magazine 10

9. ae Midland 8

10. ace Metropolitan 6

11. be Pagan (including translations) 6

Ties in the above lists have been decided by taking relative rank in other lists into account.