Considering the Quality of Best

Over on the SMFS, there's been a lot of discussion about what makes a short story professional enough to meet the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar list. While the MWA is an organization of professional writers, I wonder if they and all of us are missing the point about the "best" short stories.

Now I have nothing against the Edgars or any of the other awards available to writers. Awards are nice, they draw notice to writers, help them promote themselves by adding a "winner of ..." after their names. That's cool. But in the process of making a list of what is "best" are we losing sight of the story itself?

Many people can remember the writer who wins, but do they remember the story or even the title? And what makes a story "best"? Is it the place where its published? The author who wrote it? How much he got paid for it? And yet, these are all considerations for stories to be nominated for the major awards.

Perhaps that's why I love the Derringers and the Spinetinger Awards. The short-listed stories are chosen by their merits as a story, not where they were published, how much the writer was paid, or even who the writer was. These awards are pure story driven and the word "best" here means exactly that. People voted for the story that was the best read for them, the story that touched them on some level and made them declare that story "best".

Now, I'm not ranting against awards here. They have their place, they make readers take a second look at a story they might have otherwise skipped, they sell books and get a writer's name out there for people to recognize. That's all good, but more importantly they're getting stories read. I'm just musing about what qualifies a story for the title "best".

It was this comment from a SMFS member that set me to musing. "And if you don't think that mentioning you are an active member of MWA or have been nominated for the Edgar at some time wouldn't make an agent or editor sit up and take notice, you are just fooling yourself." The saddest thing about that comment is that it is probably true. It is no longer about the best story but about the writer who can bring the most sales to the cash register. And that's a very sad commentary on today's publishing business.