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
PERIODICALS (Jan.-Oct.)	NO. OF STORIES PUBLSHED	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.

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