Well... yes and no. I have been published in about 25 respectable literary magazines over the course of several years and thousands of submissions. The days of Fitzgerald knocking out a short story and selling it to a literary magazine for thousands which support a lifestyle is well and truly over. Literary magazines don't pay. You are lucky if you get a "free copy" assuming physical copies exist. Then so many of the good lit mags also charge a fee to even submit.

Eventually I got tired of the literary magazine grind. I had to make a decision. Did I want to be the kind of writer who published literary work that may or may not be read. Or did I want to be the kind of writer who wrote more mainstream work that might get some eyeballs (which literary people disdain).

Which writer was I? I thought on it long and hard and made the decision to move away from submitting to literary mags and starting pursuing opportunities that pay, if even a little. (hence here I am at Medium, among other places)

Fantastic story. I am so glad you wrote it. It is a good resource for writers starting out to understand the journey.

Also, I am going to be this annoying person, but here's a link to my story "Lessons from 1,000 Rejections" which speaks a little to my experience in submitting to lit mags. https://medium.com/feedium/lessons-from-1-000-rejections-a53d355adaed