Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I just wrote a blog post on this topic, and I'm curious to see how the forum (or even Nathan) feels about online lit mags.

Not long ago, I was reading a writers magazine. A group of four agents were being interviewed about what they were looking for, and they unanimously said that they like to see writers that have been previously published in literary magazines - which we all knew already, yeah? - but that they don't read and aren't really interested in online lit mags.

On one hand, I understand that there are a lot of newer 'zines out there that don't have the money, the following, or the staff to be super picky about their selections, or there are sites that offer "free for all" publishing. I can see how it would be difficult for publishing professionals to take those sorts of sites seriously. On the other hand, online journals are gaining in popularity, and there are some pretty credible magazines out there now that publish exclusively online content. As in, there are several that have real editorial staffs and are publishing content that is on level with some of the more credible print magazines out there.

I'm curious as to whether or not those agents from the interview share a mindset with the industry (or even the public) as a whole. If you're published online in a credible online journal (like Narrative), is that going to be viewed as a serious publishing credit (as it should be!), or is it going to get more of an eyeroll and "oh, they were published online"? What about from the writer's viewpoint - do you think you can only be taken seriously if you're published in print?

I'm biased as I'm in the process of starting up an online lit zine, but generally speaking it's very frustrating to me when people don't embrace the Internet and when someone thinks less of something because it's online, it reeks of stuffy elitism to me.

The fact is that for me, as a writer, I'd much rather be published somewhere online where there's potentially a global audience vs. a small lit journal that's only read by other writers who had to buy an issue just so they could submit their story in the first place. And at the risk of ending on a cliche, good writing is good writing and a good story is a good story no matter what the medium.

I don’t know how most literary agents feel about online literary magazines, but as a reader and writer, I like and respect good ones, such as Eclectica Magazine http://www.eclectica.org. Eclectica has published Pulitzer Prize winning authors and Nebula Award nominees, as well as previously unpublished authors. (I consider myself extremely lucky to have a very small piece published there.)

I'm such a dork. I rushed right over there and submitted three of my short stories. :-) Thanks for the link, Marilyn!

Christi,

That's fantastic! Good luck with the work you submitted! I think Eclectica Magazine is awesome.

Should you mention credits if you had published under a pen name?

What about poetry credits? Are they worth mentioning?

I definitely think you should mention all the publishing credits you feel are important, including those written under a pen name. Poetry can be included as well, if you feel it’s a good example of the quality of your writing or if it adds significantly to your writing resume.

While on the topic of online Literary Magazines, here's a new magazine that I'm a part of - http://www.onomatopoeiamagazine.com/