We need self-motivated lovers of fiction to help us find the best new voices
Calling all fiction lovers! Electric Literature is looking for new manuscript readers to join our editorial team. Recommended Reading is the weekly fiction magazine of Electric Literature, an organization dedicated to making literature more relevant, exciting, and inclusive. Recommended Reading publishes one story per week: a mix of original work, forgotten classics, and forthcoming excerpts, each with a personal foreword by today’s best writers.
Because Recommended Reading receives a large volume of submissions, a committed corps of volunteer readers is essential to helping the editors find new, unknown, and/or overlooked talent.
Responsibilities include:
- Reading ten manuscripts per week, ranging from 2,000 to 8,000 words each.
- Providing concise but thorough responses (one to two paragraphs) to these manuscripts, with a clear YES or NO recommendation for each.
- Meeting weekly reading deadlines, and clearly communicating with editorial staff when scheduling conflicts arise.
The ideal applicant is:
- An avid and attentive reader.
- Self-motivated and able to meet deadlines.
- Able to express herself clearly in writing.
- A regular reader of Recommended Reading who is familiar with its back catalogue.
- An educational background in literature and/or professional experience in literary criticism, editing, and fiction writing is a plus, but not required.
- An active participant in their local literary scene, and an avid reader of contemporary literature.
This is a volunteer position that requires a commitment of approximately six hours per week. Readers will work remotely and on their own schedules (as long as they meet the weekly deadline).
Current readers are not allowed to submit their own fiction for consideration in Recommended Reading. Discussion of submissions outside of Recommended Reading is strictly prohibited, and will result in immediate termination.
For a sense of the kind of stories you’ll be reading, visit the Recommended Reading homepage here.
To apply please email a cover letter and a two paragraph critique of a short story published in Recommended Reading to [email protected] by Monday, February 4th. If your resume is selected, the application process will also include a reading test and interview (in-person or video call.)
Recommended Reading Seeks Volunteer Readers was originally published in Electric Literature on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
