Electric Literature is a new journal for short stories. The first issue released in June 2009. EL will publish five stories bi-monthly and copies are available for $5 on Kindle, eBook, or iPhone/iPod Touch. For $10 they will print paperback copies on demand. And get this: they pay writers $1,000 for stories.
According to the website, EL's staff believes that "by publishing gripping narratives from America's best contemporary writers and embracing new forms of distribution, we hope to facilitate a renaissance of the short story."
The current issue features stories by T. Cooper, Michael Cunningham, Lydia Millet, Jim Shepard, and Diana Wagman.
No poetry or essays, just stories.
I love that I learn about new places to submit, new places that are supporting what we do from you, Renee. That said, I'm annoyed at this journal. "A renaissance of the short story" by the same famous prose writers that always get attention in lit journals?
ReplyDeleteNick and I spent last night bashing Diablo Cody. It seems not producing has made us bitter. When it's not raining in Chicago, I apparently sweat venom.
Superhero, I hear you. The inclusion of big names is a coup for the journal but it makes the journal seem like a closed network for the unknown writer.
ReplyDeleteI think the editors/founders of the mag know Cunningham.
See http://flavorwire.com/29456/electric-literature-michael-cunningham-andy-hunter-scott-lindenbaum
WOW. Good call! Though to be honest, if I started a lit mag and you'd won a million writing awards (like you're gonna do!), I would still include you, all conflicts of interest aside. And I'd be shameless about it. I mean, one could argue that these writers *do* get published for a reason, and they *do* represent the best of contemporary lit. Still...
ReplyDeleteIf I had a lit mag the cover would read: "We Have the New Renee Simms Story, *And* We Know Her Personally. So There."