Digital publisher Electric Literature has launched a new digital literary magazine that will publish one story a week. Recommended Reading is a free online publication, available in ePub, Kindle and through email and Tumblr.
The first issue, which is sponsored by digital literary magazine Shelf Unbound, features a new story by Ben Marcus, with a Single Sentence Animation” by Edwin Rostron. Future guest editors will include Aimee Bender, Jim Shepard, and Nathan Englander.
The idea for Recommended Reading was born out of a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $18,000 to help pay writers. Trying to get out of the algorithm-based recommendation engines that dominate online, authors and editors will make personal recommendations for the stories to be featured in the new pub.
The publication will publish directly to Tumblr. Electric Literature’s co-editor Benjamin Samuel explainedin a statement, “Great stories are meant to be shared, not only by publishers but also by the people who read them. We’re all accustomed to sharing the things we like via social media, and Recommended Reading will use Tumblr to make that inclination a natural part of the magazine.”