How do you write a great short story? (According to AI)
Short stories are a unique and powerful form of writing that can pack a punch in just a few pages. But what makes for compelling short story writing? Here are a few key elements to consider:
Raising our FAST PASS submission price to $5.
Six months ago we started a FAST PASS submission process. Basically, a “skip-the-line” submission process for those willing to pay a few bucks. A win/win. You get a response ASAP and we get to keep the lights on.
The issue is, we didn’t know how much to charge, we only knew how many of these FAST PASS submissions we wanted to get…ideally, 3-4 per week. We tried charge $3USD for the FAST PASS and got way too many submissions. So, we raised it to $4USD. Things have picked up and we are now getting 2-3 FAST PASS submissions per day! Way more than we can read and respond to right away.
So, in an effort to slow down the number of FAST PASS submissions we are getting and not get overwhelmed with work (we still want to get to our regular submissions sometimes too!) we are once again raising the price. Effective immediately, the FAST PASS price moving forward is $5.
New Distribution Partnership/Exact Editions
Thanks to the generous donation of a Patreon subscriber, we were able to convert and make available our entire back catalog on Exact Editions. Exact Editions allows you to read anytime, anywhere, with fully-searchable access on web, iOS and Android devices.
Exact Editions also offers institutional subscriptions for schools and libraries as well! We are very excited about our new partnership and expanded distribution! As your local university or library to subscribe and keep us available to their patrons!
Why Do Philosophy And Ethics Questions Show Up So Much In Science Fiction? (According to AI)
Science fiction has always been a genre that pushes the boundaries of what we know and consider possible. As such, it's no surprise that ethical and philosophical questions often play a prominent role in science fiction writing.
"Best Of" 2022 Philosophy/Ethics Short Story Voting!
Over the last several years we have done print anthologies. They were very successful, but their frequency meant they were a lot of work! They also were quite thick, sometimes over 400 pages!
As such, for 2022, we switched to a “Best Of” format. Each year we will do a “Best of” print book from the short stories for the year and publish it in February of the following year. This will be our first year and we have opted for voting!
Kolby (Editor-in-Chief)
Black Friday Sale! - Print Magazine For Just $1USD
You have probably seen emails from us offering our digital magazine for $1USD, but this Black Friday we are offering a deal we have never offered before, the chance to get a copy of our print magazine sent to your house for just $1USD.
Now, you might be wondering? How are they able to offer a print magazine at such a low cost? What about printing costs, shipping, and the costs to put the magazine together and pay authors? The answer is, we can’t! We are going to lose money on every sale, but we are so sure most will love the magazine and want to continue subscribing, we are willing to send you the first issue at a loss!
Act quickly! This is not a “oh, they will do this again…” sale price. It will last just three days, and then it will be gone!
New Discussions Area
Subscribers,
I hope all is well. We are always busy working to find ways to provide greater value for our paid subscribers. To that end, we have added an online discussion area. (Password "xxxxxxx") Like everything we do, this is a work in progress that we will look to improve and refine over time. Of course, we will notify you of changes as they happen. We have also changed the password for our "back issues" page.
Print+Digital Subscriptions
It’s official, after many years as a digital only literary magazine, we shipped our first print magazine subscriptions to people’s homes! Who is subscribing? Professors, writers, parents, and thoughtful people who support civilized discourse.
Print Back Issues Available Now!
As you may have heard we are starting a print+digitial version of our magazine subscription for $12.95 a month. As a value added, we decided to back-convert all the 2022 digital magazines to print versions and make them available for sale.
A "Fermi estimate" thought experiment about how many unsubsidized literary magazines the subscriber market can actually support. Hint, it's less than you think...
I should start by saying this thought experiment is more a Fermi estimate than a rigorous review. That said, the main thing that struck me is how many wonderful, and important, literary magazines had circulations much smaller than I expected.