An Aggressive New Short Fiction Magazine

I found this article, Electric Storytelling, over at Future Perfect Publishing, a site that explores new trends and possibilities in book publishing. The article mentions a new magazine, Electric Literature, which they say "may represent the future for literary fiction in the age of new media". An excerpt:

The publication is a bi-monthly anthology of short fiction. The magazine’s structure is very basic; each issue has just five short stories, anchored by big-name authors. The goal according to founders Andy Hunter and Scott Lindenbaum is to “facilitate a renaissance of the short story.” As Mr. Hunter remarked in a recent interview with Ron Charles at the Washington Post:

If there’s any kind of hesitation, it’s from people who don’t really believe that a literary publication is viable. We started this publication to prove them wrong. There’s a human need for storytelling that hasn’t gone away just because print is having problems. We want to bring short fiction to an age that’s more mobile and doesn’t have the time to settle into a long text.

Electric Literature has a novel business model. The magazine subscription price is based delivery format – $5 for the online version and $10 for the print version. The magazine is also available now on the iPhone. The publication’s circulation target is 20,000.

But what sets Electric Literature apart is what it pays its authors – $1,000, a fee certain to attract top writing talent. The mostly electronic delivery and POD print model helps hold down production costs.

Click here to read the whole article.