How Literary Journals Connect Through Social Media

Literary journals (photo/artsandletters.gcsu.edu)

As a creative writer, it is crucial to submit pieces to literary journals in order to gain a strong writing portfolio. Thankfully, one of my creative writing professors strongly encourages [or rather enforces] her students to submit our work to various journals in order to become better writers.

Thank goodness for her.

The "Glass Mountain" Twitter page. (photo/Kasy Long)

In the most recent years, literary journals connect with each other through the growing world of social media. Through Facebook and Twitter, journals share submission guidelines and deadlines, contest announcements and upcoming social engagements. Literary journals share news with each other, and then the members can connect with each other in person at national conferences, like this week’s Association of Writers & Writing Programs [AWP] national conference in Los Angeles. 

Social media has allowed literary journals to communicate freely with writing contributors. If writers have questions about submission guidelines, they can easily contact the editors at these journals.

Though the strongest benefit of social media for literary journals is the introduction of online journals. With these journals, more work is published and shared with others. For writers, their work is easily seen by other journals, thus increasing their chances of being published again. While online journals lose the effect of holding a book in your hand, the work is still beautiful.

Thanks to social media, the world of literature is spreading and flowing from journals to writers, from colleagues to friends, and from writers to their intimate readers.

Additional note: Thanks to social media, I have been able to have my poetry accepted for publication in three upcoming journals: “The Sucarnochee Review,” “Glass Mountain,” and “The Ravensperch Literary Journal.”

Exciting times! I am always very blessed to share my talent with others.

-KJL-