writermag.com • The Writer | 31the ethics involved in that can be tricky.
“For journals to make any money,
we need to rely on the writers who
submit to us, NOT the readers of the
publication,” says Tara Laskowski, co-
editor of SmokeLong Quarterly. “In an
ideal world, that would be flipped:
Readers would pay for the content, not
expect it for free, and writers would
not only not have to pay for the chance
to possibly get published, but might
also get (wait...this is a shocking idea)
PAID FOR THEIR WORK.”
The future of literary magazines will
require even more innovation to make
money. But there is hope: Conferences
and other money-makers allowed Bar-
relhouse to begin paying writers in
2014, 10 years after its founding. “I
think if we were only relying on print
products, I don’t think we could keep
going,” notes Housley.
2
DIGITAL VS. PRINT: CAN
LITERARY MAGAZINES
THRIVE ONLINE?
The results of the 2016
election sparked soul
searching among many people, Tammy
Lynne Stoner among them. She decided
to resurrect Gertrude, a literary maga-
zine dedicated to queer voices where
she served as publisher before the jour-
nal went on hiatus pre-November 2016.
As she began reaching out to former
staffers, Stoner realized that her old
business model no longer made sense.
“I decided to start back up again as
a way to hold space for queer voices,”
Stoner says. “That meant re-staffing
entirely and changing our model from
print to online in order to save time
and money while extending our reach.”
Gertrude has a lot of company in
this transition. A number of maga-
zines have shifted to digital publish-
ing or reduced the number of print
issues while accepting more online-
only content.
The reason, of course, is money. It
costs less to publish content on the web
than to create a print edition of a liter-
ary magazine, which requires a printer
and distribution capabilities – getting
the magazine to subscribers. With a
website, editors pay the hosting fee and
little else.
Bodega, a 6-year-old literary maga-
zine, began as a digital publication.
The editors envisioned a lit mag for the
digital age.
“We love print, we really do, but we
exist in a world where most of our
reading is happening on the subway
over lunch breaks,” says Bodega edi-
tor-in-chief Cat Richardson. “The
idea of carrying around a literary
magazine and reading 300 pages
didn’t feel realistic.”
There also are aesthetics to print
and web to weigh before a transition.
“I don’t think all print journals need
to go online,” says Patricia Colleen
Murphy, editor of Superstition Review
at Arizona State University. “A person
who has the skills it takes to curate
excellent creative writing doesn’t
always correspond with having the
skills it takes to build a website and
online platform.” She says smart jour-
nals pay someone to take a website that
“looks like a freshman project” to
become more polished.
Of course, shifting online also begs
another question of literary maga-
zines: To charge or not to charge?
They need to answer quickly or risk
alienating their audience. As their
newspaper brethren have discovered,
readers get annoyed when you wall off
content and request payment for
something they could previously
access for free.
“I’m guilty of this online too,”
admits Jim Gearhart, managing editor
of Tahoma Literary Review. “I feel like
things should be available and you
shouldn’t have to pay. That’s a hard
impression to overcome, it’s hard when
you’re trying to price a product and
you have to compete with something
that’s free. That makes our pricing
really a challenge.”
Apogee Journal, which is dedicated
to publishing underrepresented
voices, offers three tiers of digital sub-
scription ranging from $3 to $10 perThe three
types of
literary
magazinesUniversity
Affiliated with and supported
by a university or college,
which often provides a fac-
ulty advisor.
Examples: Ploughshares,
The Missouri Review.Independent
Owned by a single person or
group of people.
Examples: Zoetrope, Granta.Foundation- or
institution-backed
Affiliated with a non-aca-
demic funding source.
Examples: The Believer
(Black Mountain Institute),
The Paris Review (The Paris
Review Foundation).