FICTION SITED: A Look at
Fiction Online
by Corin Cummings
Websites featured in
this article:
As noted by TDR editors, there's been a lot of speculation
that the short story is a dying form. It's becoming increasingly
lifeless and pretentious, we hear, as the field of its practitioners
narrow to MFA teachers and their students trying impress each other.
Fewer magazines are running short fiction; fewer publishing houses are
interested in it, and nobody's making money. But what if I told you that
there are thousands of people publishing and distributing creative
writing in another way, without agents or well-connected professors,
without corporate or market approval? It's online, of course.
While writing on the web is often disparaged and more often ignored, I
think of it as a phenomenon similar to the much-celebrated Samizdat
movement of Soviet-era Russia and eastern Europe. Our oppressor isn't
the government (yet), but (1) the prevailing value in publishing of
reliable profit over risk and (2) an increasingly small and established
group of editors and writers, often who seem of homogeneous tastes,
deciding what gets published.
Obviously, there's more to it than that as well. Internet publishing is
cheap, easy, and is unrivaled as a channel for distribution. In some
ways, it really is a better way of publishing. The work is immediately
and perpetually accessible; it can be shared around the world in an
instant. The big holdup, as I see it, is hardware. Nobody likes to read
on the screen. I think that's unlikely to change, no matter how long we
have to get used to it. What we need is something portable, affordable,
and with total print quality, sort of the literary equivalent of the iPod.
That's when we'll see online publishers actually compete with
traditional houses.
I've been reading, submitting, and occasionally publishing fiction
online for five years. There's no question that you have to search out
the good stuff, but when isn't that true? Movies, music, books, you
always have to hunt down the best work. The best thing about fiction on
the Internet is that you can immediately share what you've discovered.
You can let its creator know you liked it. The most rewarding
experiences I've had as an online writer is getting emails from
strangers who have enjoyed my work. I also regularly hear from other
writers who've discovered a link to their stories on my
site (it's okay, we all google ourselves). Like samizdat, this is
how the good stuff gets passed from hand to hand.
For this article I contacted the editors of some of my favorite sites
and asked them a few questions. This is not an exhaustive survey of the
online story. I know there are lots of sites out there I haven't seen.
Nevertheless, here are the sites I think are the best and some words
from their editors.
Please note: I have edited responses.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond to my questions.
Failbetter
Editor: Thom Didato
HQ: Brooklyn, NY
Updated: Quarterly
Online Since: 2000
Just months after appearing in these very virtual pages, several
recent failbetterers have had stories appear in "The New
Yorker." Coincidence? We think not! (Homepage boast, Spring
2004)
Impact on the literary establishment
TD: "What was once a forum for self-publishing and some rather poor
genre site stuff, the Web now houses both emerging and well-established
authors' works. Due to the cost (and audience) benefit, a good portion
of academic-affiliated journals have moved to online only, and almost
all traditional print journals now have a online presence. Just look at
the likes of traditional literary publications like The
Paris Review, Virginia
Quarterly and/or Ploughshares
and see what they've doing now with their online sites (audio
interviews, back issues, etc). Heck, the Iowa
Review Web has in fact become its own entity. Meanwhile original
online publications continue to prosper (both in number and
readership)."
The online byline
TD: "For a long time, the online pub credit was looked down upon,
but those days are becoming increasingly numbered. Those in the know
(writers, editors, agents) recognize the merit of quality online
publications."
Prize anthologies
TD: "While the editor of Best American Short Stories still
hedges on recognizing work published online, the Best American Poetry
editors do consider and recognize poems published online. And as for Pushcart
Prizes, since Failbetter has had work recognized in that annual
award anthology, I can tell you first hand, that the Pushcart folks
definitely do recognize the online literary community."
Who cares?
TD: "About 30,000 individual readers cared enough to stop for each
Failbetter issue last year. Now, in some eyes 30,000 may not seem a lot,
but in comparison to the standard lit journal distribution, that's an
impressive number. Then again, I'll site that recent NEA study about the
lack of general readership and ask, Since when has literature, truly
great literature, been readily eaten up by the American populace? And
for that matter, the works in Failbetter are not intended for general
mass consumption (nor did the writers likely write them to be). No, way
I figure, for a five-year-old publication, 30,000 hungry and happy
readers is fine with us (though we're not against upping that to say
30,001, or 30,002, or...)"
The future
TD: "Failbetter, while remaining an online quarterly, will begin
printing an annual anthology in 2005 --and we're not alone in this
trend. What I think the future holds in store for literary publications
is a sort of "meeting of the minds" between online and print
with those publications that last the long haul pushing the envelope of
each medium while using both (print/online) to secure their given
audience and spread the good word. Quality, no matter what form (or
format) it is delivered in, will always be well received."
TD recommends: Web Del Sol
"the grand daddy of online lit pubs."
Mississippi
Review
Editor: Frederick Barthelme
HQ: Hattisburg, MS
Updated: Quarterly
Online since: 1995
"To me the Internet looked like a wonderful opportunity to
spread the literary wealth, and it still does."
Finding audience
FB: "Nobody "buys" books anymore. I mean, students
buy some books, well-to-do folk buy a certain kind of books, etc. It's a
very target marketplace. And literary work, well, let's just say it's
not a big seller.
"So the Internet is great because you can do literary work, art
work, and push it out there and it will find its audience. And it's
better than book stores or magazines because you can get all kinds of
stuff from the comfort of your own trashy apartment."
Crap & Knopf
FB: "While [the ease of publishing online] may bring some crap
to the fore, publishing on the Internet also brings out into the public
eye lots of strange and wonderful stuff, a lot of stuff that Knopf is
not going to publish, but which, in its own peculiar and isolated way is
symptomatic and revelatory, and tells us about our world in a way we
might not hear through other channels. Art communicating with us in its
own way using whatever means are available.
"Publishing is a mess, now more than ever. Most of what is
published is not very good, and this applies equally to the crap books
we could all identify, and to the "literary" books that are
very often touted in the literary press, in reviews, etc.
"By contrast, a lot of web sites do very interesting but very small
scale stuff. It's detailed, it's focused, it's very self-aware. A lot of
it is funny (by contrast, print publishing is like television, the funny
stuff gets worn away by the time it gets to the screen, because only the
broadest stuff really counts)."
Tastes better online
FB: "Most of all, the online web sites publishing fiction have
better taste and more interesting ideas about what we might be writing
than the mainstream literary press. Take a look at a half-dozen web
sites and a half dozen literary magazines, and you'll see where the
vitality is. It's on the web. There's excitement, enterprise,
experimentation, play, writing, art. In the printed lit magazines you
find the same rather dreary fodder that's been there a good while. It's
not that there is no good work being done in print, just that the web is
much more lively and scattered and hopeful-it's a richer environment in
which to publish.
"For me the online option is splendid because it prizes
individuality, peculiarity, humor, a wide range of views about the world
we live in. I guess that's a good thing. And it levels the field
somewhat, since you can make a decent looking web site without spending
thousands of dollars on some Flash-crazy web designer. The truth is, I
think, that by and large the work that you bump into online is usually
more interesting, and more idiosyncratic, than what you'll find at
B&N."
State of the story
FB: "I don't know that we have to 'save' the story. It's true
that stories get less attention now than they did a while ago, but you
always have a segment being popularized. You give your anthology a
catchy name and suddenly there's a renaissance. These things run in
cycles, so if the story is in decline at the moment, wait fifteen
minutes."
Where is it going?
FB: "This is a question that doesn't want answering. As I said
years ago in a comment to Atlantic Unbound, to the degree the large
publishers and corporations take over the Internet and online publishing
they will destroy it, homogenize it, make it just like the stuff that
they churn out 24/7. To the extent that online publishing remains in the
hands of individuals-writers, artists, small magazine editors,
interested parties, persons of interest--it will prosper and enrich our
literature."
The fat cats
FB: "I don't think they're terrified yet. For a while the
publishers and the mag people were trying like the devil to figure out
how to make a buck off the Internet. Some have succeeded, others have
not. Acquisition editors and agents read the fiction on the web, just to
keep their hands in. I think everyone knows there is lots of interesting
stuff on the web, and new stuff coming online every day. So they watch
and try to cherry pick."
It's not the writing, it's the machines
FB: "My sense is that nobody who reads well still thinks this
about publishing online. There is still a fear of computers and so on
that shapes some uninformed opinions. I know smart people who still
don't have a clue about using computers and are forever calling Geeks 'R
Us to get their computers rebooted, or get reconnected to the Internet,
but that kind of fear is wearing away over time. Eventually it will not
be a factor.
"A lot of people cannot bear to read off the screen. That's a
simple tech problem, and as soon as you give these folks a good quality
high-res LCD they'll be perfectly comfortable reading off a computer
screen. They might not prefer to do so, but they won't be afraid
to."
Pindeldyboz
Fiction editor: Shauna McKenna
HQ: Astoria, NY
Updated: weekly
Online Since: 2000
"We get more accesses on a weekly basis to Pboz than most
literary journals sell of a given print run. So, you know, there."
The small audience for short fiction
SM: "Yep! Book sales for short story collections, anthologies, and
literary journals are dismal, so all signs point to the grim fact that
short fiction isn't so very popular with the larger reading public. The
silver lining (and how can there be a silver lining, you may ask) is
that the limited audience for short fiction is passionate and expert.
When you connect with that kind of a reading audience, you're doing a
shimmy on Cloud 9."
Impact
SM: "As the big publishing houses huddle into fewer and fewer
conglomerated camps, perhaps online publishing is what will save fiction
from an ugly all-or-nothing commercial vs. art stratification like you
find in Hollywood and television... Not to harp too much on the theme of
the over-commodified literary marketplace (I've been much preoccupied
lately), but I think it's in the online realm you'll see publishers and
editors taking more risks with subject and style, simply because there
aren't the same financial repercussions if they fail."
The future
SM: "I think it'll be in a holding pattern for a little while. Like
it or not, the literary world naturally organizes into hierarchies, and
until recently everything online was thought of as secondary to
everything in print. The efforts of some open-minded and hardworking
individuals have started to bring about some change, but I think it'll
be a little while yet before the majority of writers feel like
publishing online is an end unto itself."
Tough love
SM: "If you toss out the notion of career and contribute to
publications -- online and print alike -- that have their hearts laid
out and bare, witnessing in that strange vulnerable mass a sickly fetish
with good literature in whatever form it comes, you'll be feeling fine.
Broke, maybe, but fine."
SM's other recommended sites:
Tatlinstower
Editor: John Rubins
HQ: Urbana, IL
Updated: Monthly (currently on hiatus)
Online Since: 2000
"TT writers have been contacted by agents and print journals,
and I've also been told by writing instructors and profs that they have
used TT stories for their courses. All of this is in addition to the
stories having been read by thousands."
Lit today
JR: "Most everything in America has become institutionalized
and this includes the enjoyment of literature. I wish it weren't so but
it does look like it is the case... [But] I think art does matter, and I
wish more people believed this in our culture, that as metaphor it is a
powerful mirror, a way in which we might begin to define ourselves, but
there are other forces at work in our culture, very powerful forces that
do not want people to see the value in their lives and our relationships
--who are more interested in making as many people as possible feel
inadequate."
Impact
JR: "I think [online publishing] has scared a lot of publishers. At
a CLMP conference a number of years
ago I heard managing editors saying things like, "Don't be stupid
by going on the web, you can't give this stuff away for free," even
though they were heading magazines where the subscription and sales
income met only a half or a little more of their production costs and
whose circulations were a thousand if they were lucky. But many print
journals have embraced the Barnum approach of giving the town a free
parade first before charging them for the big top, and they offer some
content online, and this has turned out to be a good marketing
tool."
On Awards/Anthologies
JR: "Look, who gives a fuck what Bill Henderson thinks of their
writing? Who the hell is he? You know how many people buy those
anthologies? --take a look at the rankings on Amazon." [#156,625
on Nov. 1]
Wish list
JR: "I wish there was more content and better content online and
more indexing and some reviewing, real reviewing of online content, and
I wish that writers cared more about reaching readers than adding a
"notable" credit to their resumes.
The C-word
JR: "If you are worried about how to launch your career, or how you
are going to win the Nobel maybe you shouldn't be writing. Look at all
of the fiction out in the past ten years in America --there something
about all of this stuff, even so-called literary work, that just screams
and screams career, which I think is really just a euphemism for $$$$$$.
Where are our souls for Christ's sake? In the past ten years, the only
truly accomplished book that I can safely say must have been a labor of
love, that is a work of art, is Danielewski's House
of Leaves. Where are all of the other books that seem to cost their
writers something? The idea of writing as some kind of investment, as a
career is very dull. Accountants have careers, writers have lives."
Identity
Theory
Editor: Matt Borondy
HQ: Gainesville, FL
Updated: Monthly
Online Since: 2000
"People read it, or at least mistake it for porn long enough to
stay at the site for a few seconds."
Benefits
MB: "I think any time you get published and have the opportunity to
receive feedback, it's a good thing, and with the Internet you can get
almost instantaneous feedback from a lot of different people. The ease
of getting feedback from readers is probably the best part of publishing
online, from a writer's standpoint."
The haters
MB: "It seems like the primary reasons for the general disregard
for online publishing are twofold: there is less name recognition (no
one's heard of most of the sites, even the really good ones) and less
editorial strictness. A lot of the sites just haven't had time to build
a reputation yet, and once they do, they die out anyway."
Moving to print, getting cred
MB: "A lot of sites are going the print route--Small.Spiral.Notebook
comes to mind--and we will end up doing that soon enough. One of the
things that was interesting was that storySouth
million writers competition that highlighted some of the best fiction
that was published online. That kind of stuff is really good for the
"industry."
Small.Spiral.Notebook
Founder / Managing Editor: Felicia Sullivan
HQ: New York, NY
Updated: Quarterly
Online Since: 2001
"Small.spiral.notebook boasts a steady readership of over 8,000
readers a month, worldwide. I venture that as supremely successful for
an emerging writer desiring to get their work out there."
Audience
FS: "Initially, small.spiral.notebook evolved because I recognized
friends and peers who were wonderful and prolific writers and for some
reason were not being published in the mainstream, or perhaps stodgy,
literary journals and the high-brow slicks. The journal was created for
the purpose of fostering writers. The audience, I perceived, would
solely be other writers. However, over the course of almost four years,
I've slowly noticed that audience expanding. Notably, with the ease and
accessibility of accessing good writing online, I found people really
responding to good stories. And these emails and letters didn't come
from MFA candidates or aspiring writers, they came from housewives in
Missouri, high school kids who maybe have just discovered their first
inspiring writer."
Going forward
FS: "I think this is a crucial moment for online journals. Editors
must be selective, must strive to publish the best work. Essentially,
they need to implement the same methodology of the print journals and
need to be consistent. I've seen online journals make a huge splash with
the glitz design and big-name authors, however, they disappear within a
few issues, a year. The momentum fades. For the online world to reach
the prestige (and I do believe that this is a realistic possibility) as
the print world, editors need staying power."
Props
FS: "Online journals have been recognized in the Best American
Non Required Reading (edited by Dave Eggers). Remember, print
journals have had a vast head start. I think we need to be a bit more
patient with the online world's acceptance in the literary community. I
think we need to be a little less demanding and a little more determined
and persistent. As an editor friend of mine at a highly regarded
literary journal once said, if you consistently put good work out there,
it will be acknowledged."
Paumanok
Review
Editor: Katherine Arline
HQ: Hersey, PA
Updated: Quarterly
Online Since: 2000
"I think of the people who read and contribute to The Paumanok
Review as a community that shares a love for words. ...To me, TPR's most
important critics are its readers."
Impact
KA: "I hope it has encouraged new writers to find first
publications. When I was started writing, print publishing was an
incredibly difficult market to break into, not solely because of the
quality of the competition, but also because of the emotional impact of
waiting so many months for a solitary rejection slip to trickle back. In
my opinion, the best thing about online publishing is the fluidity of
communication. In the course of a day, I may read submissions, talk with
other editors about their publications, edit contributions, and review
galleys. I'm talking with writers during the entirety of this process --
they're involved, they're taking part. It's a tremendously different,
and I hope more encouraging and instructive process than print
publishing."
The Future
KA: "Online publishing is an organic phenomenon. It will go where
its contributors and readers -- not its publishers and editors -- take
it. The Internet invests power in consumers, and that is particularly
true of free publications, our analogue to open
source software. Contributors and readers, and the criticism and
time they invest in the publications they read, represent the future of
online publishing."
Word
Riot
Editor / Publisher: Jackie Corely
HQ:Middletown, NJ
Online Since: 2002
Updated: Monthly
"People actually do read this stuff. Not in droves, but in large
enough numbers to keep my spirits up."
Who's reading?
JC: "It’s trite, but it reveals a lot about the current state of
literature in our culture that most readers of literary fiction are
writers, that few people will take to reading fiction for fun. The past
20 years have been sort of crisis mode for literature and the mainstream
publishing world. The MFA programs have produced a wealth of dull,
trivial, affected bullshit (and that of course doesn’t apply to all
MFA grads – any system that produces the likes of Flannery
O’Connor has
succeeded at some level) – this is what is sold to us rather
snobbishly by NYC publishers as “true” literature. If you’re bored
by it, if you’re longing at some visceral level for something more,
you’re a peasant."
Blood & Guts
JK: "What’s lost is the substance – stories that gut you or
leave you shaking. Fiction is a form of entertainment, no doubt. It
doesn’t cheapen fiction or books to say that. What mainstream
publishing has missed for the past twenty years is that you actually can
and should put out works of substance AND style. The medium
doesn’t require that you make a sacrifice.
But of course, big publishers are running naked across highways in
desperate-mode trying to make ends meet and make literature
“legitimate” again. When you’re trying to work under those
auspices, it’s impossible to look around you and try to figure out
where to start cleaning up the carnage."
Rant, Jackie
JC: "I think the online sites have enormous potential to help
revive the lit world because we’re not really beholden to it. We
don’t have to look for work that’ll “sell” well. We publish
stories because they really blow our minds. We publish stories because
we want to – we don’t have to worry about putting food on the
table with our online product. We don’t have to worry about appealing
to a particular financier or grant provider.
"And I think that keeping that kind of attitude will be our saving
grace. Online publishers have more than enough time and energy to think
up unique ways to use the Internet or the print media to reach out to a
broader audience. For example, just think about how books are
advertised: the primary motivation for publishers is to get noticed by
booksellers, not to readers. And catering to getting “sold”
definitely changes the whole dynamic of what books/fiction you’re
looking to put out there. Books are advertised in Publisher’s
Weekly and not nifty niche magazines.
"Mainstream publishing is stuck in neutral with no means of getting
out.
"(Boy, that was some rant.)"
Getting noticed
JC: "Two of our writers have been contacted by an
agent based on what that agent saw of their work on the site. That’s
amazing to me. It shows that the online zines are making some sort of
mark on mainstream publishing, though I can’t really be sure what that
is yet.
"Online journals are starting to get respect in larger circles. A
number of Pindeldyboz stories received nods in the Best American
Non-Required Reading. We have a ways to go, but I think that
eventually, the jump to Best American Short Stories will happen.
Additionally, a lot of Pushcart nominees publish their work in online
venues. It broadens their audience, particularly if they are publishing
books of literary fiction, which are a tough sell n the public domain,
and it helps legitimize the zines, so it’s an excellent give and
take."
*
Corin
Cummings is from Vermont and lives in Toronto. An excerpt from his
novella "Night
Support" appeared in the March 2004 issue of TDR.
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