During the October live chat, we talked about the pros and cons of print publication and online publication. The discussion raised questions and concerns, and we shared some approaches and resources.
We generally think that online submission systems might help us build regular submission habits, and we couldn't think of any online journals that didn't use online submissions systems.
We also see possibilities for quicker response and publishing timeframes as well as wider audiences for our work in online journals. Finally, an online publication is usually far easier to promote and to share with friends, family, and an existing reader base.
I promised to share a list of literary journals that one of the graduate assistants for Tabula Poetica: The Center for Poetry at Chapman University was compiling. Here's that list. FELLOW SHE WRITERS, GET SUBMITTING NOW!
Blackbird: http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/
Kenyon Review Online: http://www.kenyonreview.org/kro_full.php?file=admussen.php
Shenandoah: http://shenandoahliterary.org/
Word For /Word: http://www.wordforword.info/vol18/content.html
Spiral Orb: http://www.spiralorb.net/
Evening Will Come: http://www.eveningwillcome.com/mainpage.html
Intercapillary Space: http://www.intercapillaryspace.org/
Jacket 2: http://jacket2.org/
ubuweb: http://www.ubu.com/
California Literary Review: http://calitreview.com/
ucity review: http://ucityreview.com/
Unlikely Stories: http://unlikelystories.org/
EOAGH: http://eoagh.com/
And here’s a much more comprehensive list of online literary journals at LitLine: http://www.litline.org/links/onlinejournals.html
Yeah. It's pretty alright. I'm looking forward to submitting there. Right now I'm composing so much that I don't have time to submit; it's alright though, considering that mag's not taking submissions.
I'm happy you enjoyed the site! Essays rock!
Nichole, this journal looks great. After just ten seconds of browsing, I found an essay about Randy Mantooth, and I'm embarrassed about how pleased I am to have that to read.
This is also an online lit journal, though it's momentarily trying to catch up with its backlog of submission (which I love to hear): http:/ / www.freshyarn.com/ It's specifically for essays.
Becky, I like The Review Review! Thanks for the link. I like your list of considerations, some of which are complicated questions to ask ourselves about our goals as writers.
Great article!
I've discussed something similar at The Review Review, laying out the pros and cons of publishing in online versus print journals. The article is called "Should You Publish in Online or Print Journals?"
Henya, do you think you'll submit to any of these? I'm hoping to do some submissions tomorrow, and I'll use this list.
Ann, one woman in my writing group writes long stories and finds that 8000 words is often the high limit (and 6000 is common). She recently won the Kore Press Short Fiction Award (click HERE for that), which accepts submissions up to 12,000 words. She's reworked stories for guidelines, and I have too, which sometimes leads to a good un-cluttering, but there's something awkward, too, about finishing a story and then adjusting it for a contest.
In theory, online journals shouldn't care about length, since they don't face additional paper and printing costs. But it seems as if our online reading habits lack patience, and online journals seem to favor shorter prose pieces. Of course, the relationship between print and online and length is undoubtedly in flux, and that's just my anecdotal sense of the situation.
Good topic for a live chat: how do submissions guidelines affect what we submit, how we revise, and where and how much we submit our work?
Thanks Anna. This is really helpful. I have already submitted to some of these but there are a few I've never heard of. One problem that I am dealing with is the length of my stories fitting the specifications of the journals. For example, right now I am cutting a story that I wrote at 10,000 words to 7,000 words because the Tennessee Williams Short story competition wants 7k. I feel that I am constantly reworking stories to fit guidelines. I have some shorter stories but they're not always the best fit for a particular contest or journal. Is anyone else struggling with this? Any advice?
Ann
Thanks for the useful information. Good links!
:)