In an article posted at “One Poet’s Notes” nearly a year ago (“Online Literary Journals: A Coming of Age”: April 18, 2009), I commented about how the shift of publication for literary journals from print to online apparently had moved to a point of no return. In addition, I noted how the quality of works included in electronic journals now rivaled what readers would find in print literary journals: “Much has changed since the publication of Valparaiso Poetry Review’s first issue ten years ago. At the time, the concept of an online literary journal was still fairly new and relatively untested. Reputations of existing electronic literary magazines among authors and readers were spotty at best.”
Indeed, I suggested that as the editor of Valparaiso Poetry Review, “I felt a responsibility to produce an online literary journal that would attain a certain amount of respect and contribute to the slowly growing overall reputation of electronic journals due to the efforts by a number of other editors at similar journals, who also were attempting to build a community of publications that would complement the numerous excellent examples in the world of print journals. I believe most readers of fine literature have been amazed in the past decade by the growth and sophistication of online literary journals. As further evidence of an increased respect for online magazines, I have been pleased to see the contents of online literary journals now display a wide range of well-known poets and fiction writers whose presence was limited to print journals only a few years ago.”
I chronicled the advantages of online journals, and I reflected: “When Valparaiso Poetry Review was begun in 1999, I imagined universal acceptance of online literary journals would take a number of years, and I considered the possibility that a decade might pass before electronic literary magazines would come of age. With the general recognition today, by almost all poets and most short-fiction writers, of such journals as satisfactory locations for publication, as well as the nearly universal presence of print journals in some online form, perhaps the maturation of online journals has happened just as I had hoped would occur.”
Today, another piece of evidence exists that the transition of literary journals from print to online has further advanced. In a news notice to its readers, Shenandoah has announced that it will discontinue publication as a print periodical at the end of this year, after its 60th anniversary issue, and the journal will continue as an online only publication beginning with the fall 2011 issue. The explanation offered with comments by R.T. Smith, the editor of Shenandoah, follows:
The report concludes that Smith “wants long-time readers of Shenandoah to know that ‘the veteran authors are coming with us, and this medium will allow us greater access to discover the new authors.’ Shenandoah will continue to offer honoraria to its contributors and to bestow most of its current awards, including the Graybeal-Gowen prize for Virginia poets. ‘We will bring all of the very best features of a physical magazine except three-dimensionality,’ said Smith. ‘We believe that we're going to be gaining in terms of interactivity, accessibility, audio, the kinds of things that have made the whole concept of the Internet interesting to start with.’”
Valparaiso Poetry Review welcomes Shenandoah to the community of online literary journals!
Indeed, I suggested that as the editor of Valparaiso Poetry Review, “I felt a responsibility to produce an online literary journal that would attain a certain amount of respect and contribute to the slowly growing overall reputation of electronic journals due to the efforts by a number of other editors at similar journals, who also were attempting to build a community of publications that would complement the numerous excellent examples in the world of print journals. I believe most readers of fine literature have been amazed in the past decade by the growth and sophistication of online literary journals. As further evidence of an increased respect for online magazines, I have been pleased to see the contents of online literary journals now display a wide range of well-known poets and fiction writers whose presence was limited to print journals only a few years ago.”
I chronicled the advantages of online journals, and I reflected: “When Valparaiso Poetry Review was begun in 1999, I imagined universal acceptance of online literary journals would take a number of years, and I considered the possibility that a decade might pass before electronic literary magazines would come of age. With the general recognition today, by almost all poets and most short-fiction writers, of such journals as satisfactory locations for publication, as well as the nearly universal presence of print journals in some online form, perhaps the maturation of online journals has happened just as I had hoped would occur.”
Today, another piece of evidence exists that the transition of literary journals from print to online has further advanced. In a news notice to its readers, Shenandoah has announced that it will discontinue publication as a print periodical at the end of this year, after its 60th anniversary issue, and the journal will continue as an online only publication beginning with the fall 2011 issue. The explanation offered with comments by R.T. Smith, the editor of Shenandoah, follows:
Shenandoah will publish in its usual format in fall 2010. In spring 2011, there will be a limited-edition anthology of poems published in Shenandoah over the last 15 years. And then will come the biggest change of all. “For the foreseeable future," said Smith, “that will be the last print issue of Shenandoah.”
Starting with the fall 2011 issue, it will be entirely online. A paid subscription will be a thing of the past. “It is perhaps inevitable when we look at what has happened to other literary journals,” said Smith. “Literary magazines per se are going to have to change their way of conceiving themselves and of reaching their audiences. And this is all tied up in the deep inquiry going on in our culture about the future of print. There is time to make that transition and be an innovator.”
The report concludes that Smith “wants long-time readers of Shenandoah to know that ‘the veteran authors are coming with us, and this medium will allow us greater access to discover the new authors.’ Shenandoah will continue to offer honoraria to its contributors and to bestow most of its current awards, including the Graybeal-Gowen prize for Virginia poets. ‘We will bring all of the very best features of a physical magazine except three-dimensionality,’ said Smith. ‘We believe that we're going to be gaining in terms of interactivity, accessibility, audio, the kinds of things that have made the whole concept of the Internet interesting to start with.’”
Valparaiso Poetry Review welcomes Shenandoah to the community of online literary journals!
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