The Legitimacy of Online Journals
What Online Publishing Has to Offer
In the world of print, the value of online publishing is often questioned. Further, the experience of viewing ones text on the computer screen is not quite the same as having the freshly printed page in hand. However, it is clear the world of cyber space is here to stay. What, then, can online journals offer the blooming writer seeking to expand his/her publishing credits?
A Wider Readership
With the costs of print ever on the rise, smaller presses with limited budgets are finding it more and more difficult to keep up with print costs. An obvious advantage to online publishing is that the writer reaches a vast audience minus the costs of print.
Online Publishing Gaining Respect
As the 2007 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market notes, "Online journals are gaining respect for the writers who appear on their sites." In this issue of Writer's Market, Jill Adams, publisher and editor of The Barcelona Review, goes on to say that there is a healthy trend of big houses that are scouting for new talent online. When a writer gets published with a respectable online journal, this can be added on to their publishing credits.
Forms Unique to Online Journals
At the 2008 AWP Conference & Bookfair held in New York City this year, a panel of online editors spoke to this issue of online publishing. Among them, Anmarie Trimble of the online magazine Born, which has existed for over ten years as a multi-media site, says that her magazine can't exist in print because of the very format the published pieces take - audio/visual and collaborative. She points out that just as writing transformed the oral tradition, so the new media opens new tools for the voice of the poet and writer. The panel noted that online publishing is in the midst of becoming mainstreamed. Other editors, such as Carol Novack of Mad Hatter's Review claim that their magazine or journal cannot be replicated in print.
In summary, here are the advantages to publishing with online journals:
• Instant access to a wide, vast online audience without the cost of print
• A growing trend in bigger houses scouting for new writers online
• New multi-media tools available for poets/writers seeking alternative forms for their voice
Remember that just as with getting published in print, you must do your homework and look closely at the journals publishing online, whether their platforms are a fit for your own writing and vice-versa.
Born Magazine: http://www.bornmagazine.org
Mad Hatter's Review: http://madhattersreview.com
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