subscribing to literary journals

[gettingby]

I am going to subscribe to a few print literary journals and was wondering what you guys think the best ones are from a reader's point of view. I think I am going to pick five of them. So what do you guys subscribe to? What are your top-five favorites? And does five sound like a good number to gage what's going on in the literary scene?

[gettingby]

Thanks, James. I used to get the new yorker and the paris review. I occasionally pick them up still along with atlantic. I will check out the other ones.

I am surprised you were the only response. Are we the only ones who subscribe to literary publications? I am sure that is not the case. I just thought more people would weigh in on this one.

[LillyPu]

Tin House, McSweeney's, Ploughshares, Missouri Review, Sewanee Review, Agni, Prairie Schooner, so, so many.

I think The Atlantic doesn't publish much fiction anymore? I usually get free copies (subscriptions) by entering their contests.

[gettingby]

I was thinking about subscribing to The Missouri review and Agni. And I didn't know you could get a free subscription by entering contests. Is The Atlantic the only one that does that? I guess that would justify any reading fees.

[LillyPu]

Originally Posted by gettingby

I was thinking about subscribing to The Missouri review and Agni. And I didn't know you could get a free subscription by entering contests. Is The Atlantic the only one that does that? I guess that would justify any reading fees.

My sentence about getting a free subscription was meant for the other lit journals I mentioned--not specifically The Atlantic.

Back when the magazine was still called The Atlantic Monthly, they used to run a student contest (college). My short story was an honorable mention one year, and I did get a free years' subscription and a beautiful letter from senior editor C. Michael Curtis. (I'm looking at it now...)

But yes, most of the journals who offer contests give all entrants a 1 year free subscription. Which of course means 1 issue, because most publish 1 per year.

[Bubastes]

Others have already mentioned some of my favorites, so I'll give a shout out to my personal favorite: One Story. You get one story every three weeks in a little booklet. I always have one or two in my purse to read during long lines.

[Amos Gunner]

Yeah, why isn't this thread smoking hot? Nearly everyone's submitted to a little lit at one point or another, but my guess is very few submitters are actually readers.

I personally subscribe to AGNI and Gettysburg Review. The GR, by the way, is having a 25th anniversary sale--12 bucks for a year plus a t-shirt, and other tantalizing offers.

Frankly, mags like The New Yorker and Atlantic (each usually offering one story, sometimes none at all) don't count. Plus they don't need your money, but many other publications do. The folks at AGNI are a bunch of volunteers working in a basement somewhere on the Boston U campus. Your subscription pays to keep the machine going, not make a profit. I don't know if this factors into your decision, but it factored into mine when deciding where to send my bread. Artists should support the arts, I feel. Slicker mags seem like another beast, though they may have art inside them from time to time.

(Just took a peek at the One Story web page. I'm sold. Thanks, Bubaste.)

[Literateparakeet]

I haven't read literary magazines in the past, but I also plan to get a few subscriptions. This will not only help me improve my writing, but I agree with Amos about supporting the arts.

[gettingby]

Amos - You beat me to mentioning the Gettysburg Review. I signed up for 3 years. I haven't read that one so I do hope it is a good one. I also am going to get Agni. Now, I am looking for a few more smaller ones, but I still want them to be good.

[squeaky pram]

Originally Posted by Amos Gunner

Your subscription pays to keep the machine going, not make a profit. I don't know if this factors into your decision, but it factored into mine when deciding where to send my bread. Artists should support the arts, I feel. Slicker mags seem like another beast, though they may have art inside them from time to time.

Yes, this! Though I admit I do have a New Yorker sub, too. Just habit I guess. My parents used to get it so it's always been a part of my life.

Subs I have had and/or have now: New England Review, AGNI, Missouri Review, Ploughshares, Iowa Review, Glimmer Train, Indiana Review, Granta.

There are many other great ones. Crazy Horse, Georgia Review, Paris Review to name a few. I've never read Gettysburg Review (mentioned above), but it has a great rep.

I've never seen One story. Going to have a look now....

ETA: Ok, just checked out One Story. What a great idea! Love it! Subscribing now...

[LillyPu]

One Story is such a fantastic idea. They rejected me with a personal note, so I subscribed, and will give them another go.

Maybe that's how they get writers to subscribe!

[gettingby]

I am surprised like you guys that more people don't read literary journals and magazines. I always pick up a few when I am out at the bookstore, but I thought a few subscriptions would be a good idea. Everyone here is a writer, but where are the readers?

[LillyPu]

Originally Posted by gettingby

Everyone here is a writer, but where are the readers?

Didn't you hear, there are more writers these days than there are readers. And don't count on writers reading. We're narcissists 'waiting' to be read, without having to read anything ourselves.

There was a period of time where the 'sitting around thinking about myself and pontificating' stories were popular, and the stigma of those mostly awful stories still stick to literary journals. The journals associated with universities are often incestuous (professorial) affairs. You publish me in yours, I'll publish you in mine.

[gettingby]

Originally Posted by LillyPu

Didn't you hear, there are more writers these days than there are readers. And don't count on writers reading. We're narcissists 'waiting' to be read, without having to read anything ourselves.

There was a period of time where the 'sitting around thinking about myself and pontificating' stories were popular, and the stigma of those mostly awful stories still stick to literary journals. The journals associated with universities are often incestuous (professorial) affairs. You publish me in yours, I'll publish you in mine.

Sad

[squeaky pram]

Originally Posted by Jamesaritchie

Not really, though that's the rumor. The truth is really that these are the best writers such journals can easily find. But the journals associated with universities are still the best, and still find more new writers than any other source, and by a wide margin.

I agree with this. The reputation and the reality are different things.

[veinglory]

I lean more to alt magazines. My favorite right now is White Fungus.

[LillyPu]

White Fungus--what a great name!

The university literary journal I interned with had pre-solicited all of its stories, except for one slot left open for slush-extraction, and that one went on to be short-listed in Best American Short Stories.

To be sure, the best stories are the ones published. It's hard to compete with the Rick Basses and Lee Abbotts and Richard Fords of the world. They're at the top because they belong there, and if I had a lit mag to run, I'd be courting them, too, for one of their stories.

Sorry to have sounded so jaded, gettingby. Gee, I thought I'd gotten over that...

[gettingby]

LillyPu - You don't sound too jaded. What you are saying makes sense. I would do the same, as well, if I ran a lit. mag. And what I want as a reader is the best of the best.

[gettingby]

Jamesaritchie - Just picked up The Kenyon Review. Thanks for mentioning it.

[adm]

I subscribed to Glimmer Train and Zoetrope for a while and enjoyed them.

[LillyPu]

Originally Posted by gettingby

Jamesaritchie - Just picked up The Kenyon Review. Thanks for mentioning it.

If you're interested, the Kenyon Review is having a short fiction contest, max 1200 words, FREE to enter. Deadline 2/29.

[gettingby]

Thanks, LillyPu. That is pretty short, but I will try to come up with something.

[Wandererer]

The reason I don't subscribe to journals is I write and read mostly nonfiction. I can't get very excited about spending my money on journals where the ratio is 10 or more to 1 fiction to nonfiction.

[Anna Spargo-Ryan]

I subscribe to a few Australian lit journals: Meanjin, Going Down Swinging, Kill Your Darlings and Dumbo Feather.

I also subscribe to the New Yorker, because damned if the fiction they run isn't just to die for.

[gettingby]

Originally Posted by Wandererer

The reason I don't subscribe to journals is I write and read mostly nonfiction. I can't get very excited about spending my money on journals where the ratio is 10 or more to 1 fiction to nonfiction.

I think your ratio is a little off there. I guess it could depend on the journal, but a lot of what I'm seeing is a pretty even split, sometimes even more nonfiction than fiction. Anyway, literary journals are a great market for nonfiction. I think it might be worth taking a second look at them.