Alexa rankings for lit mags

Posted at March 6, 2008 by Jackie Corley

Every couple months I’ll poke around Alexa.org to check out the traffic rankings for Word Riot and other lit mags. Here’s some that I found:

McSweeney’s
60,392

Failbetter.com
537,359

3:AM Magazine
597,692

Identity Theory
597,767

Word Riot
872,701

Eyeshot.net
1,161,889

Pindeldyboz
1,318,959

Opium Magazine
1,523,411

Narrative Magazine
2,055,259

StorySouth
2,205,310

SmokeLong Quarterly
2,469,063

Hobart
2,869,260

Posted in Word Riot | Comments: 6

Rating online lit mags

Posted at January 13, 2008 by Jackie Corley

Scott Boyan at Thinksimian collected raw data from the storySouth Million Writer’s Award and used it to rate online literary magazines. Word Riot came in sixth, which I guess is fitting since we’re coming into our sixth year. Another suspicious six and we’ll be the demonic journal of record.

This is the first time I’ve seen any sort of statistical approach to ranking online lit mags. I often wonder what exactly the place of online journals is in the larger literary community. In thirty years, how will the journals be remembered? Will they be remembered at all?

I didn’t start Word Riot with any larger plan in mind. I noticed this past year that writers submitting work to us were much more reverent in their approach to the magazine. It gave me some sort of ironic pleasure: not in the meglomaniacal now-you-finally-give-me-the-respect-I-deserve way, but in the are-you-kidding-me? -I-run-this-thing-on-my-couch-with-my-laptop kind of way. I think of Word Riot as more a fun hobby that gives back to the literary-minded than as any sort of serious endeavor. And I believe that attitude is what has helped this thing last six years and will help it last into the forseeable future.

Word Riot takes up just enough of my time to be a comfy rock in my life, but not enough to be a burden when life gets intense. Word Riot is just this wonderful constant for me.  I know I’ll be asking how Word Riot will be remembered when it hits the 10-year mark. And I sincerely hope I’ll be asking the same question at a 20-year celebration.

Posted in Word Riot | Comments: 2

Today’s discovery

Posted at December 26, 2007 by Jackie Corley

When someone reviews a Word Riot story on StumbleUpon, that story’s page gets a bazillion hits. I haven’t seen anywhere near the same results with other bookmark-sharing sites.

Posted in Word Riot | Comments: 0

December Word Riot + Reading

Posted at December 23, 2007 by Jackie Corley

Word Riot
http://www.wordriot.org

In this month’s issue:

* Fiction by Anne Archer, C.B. Bernard, Janice Daugharty, Nicholas Hayes, Chelsea Lowe, Rebecca Oliver, Anita Page, Joseph Rutledge, Kieran Shea, Tom Sheehan and Brandi Wells

* Experimental writing by c.vance, Jeff Lancaster and Steven Levery

* Poetry by Martha Clarkson, Gabriel DeCrease, Pat Galvin, Sean Kilpatrick, Amanda Latrenta Crane, Mike Meraz, Rebecca Pearson, Anne Marie Rooney and Micah Stack

* Creative non-fiction by Kristina Marie Darling

* Review of Even the Fallen by David J. Thompson

Social Networking:
http://www.myspace.com/wordriotpress
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5943923626

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Word Riot publisher Jackie Corley reads at Timothy Gager’s Dire Literary Series

THE OUT OF THE BLUE ART GALLERY
106 PROSPECT STREET,
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

5, 15 minute open mic slots at 8 p.m.,
sign-up at 7 p.m. followed by features

Friday, January 4, 2008
Rusty Barnes, Jackie Corley and poet Harris Gardner

Posted in Word Riot | Comments: 0

A Reluctant goodbye

Posted at December 18, 2007 by Jackie Corley

Ed Champion announced today that he will cease blogging at the Return of the Reluctant so he can focus on writing stories and essay.

Sad, sad day. This is like when MobyLives went away. What’s a litster to do?

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In Word Riot news, the December issue is up and I gave the site a wider format. Enjoy.

Posted in Blogging, Word Riot | Comments: 0

November Word Riot

Posted at November 26, 2007 by Jackie Corley

Word Riot
http://www.wordriot.org

In this month’s issue:

* Fiction by Chuck Augello, Randall Brown, Lawrence Buentello, Andrew Coburn, Maria Deira, David Gianatasio, Drew Lackovic, Mathias Nelson, John Nyman, Mitch Omar, Nick Ostdick, Philip Oyok, Sean Ruane and Corey Zeller

* Experimental writing by Christopher Higgs

* Poetry by Adetokunbo Adetuyi, Zoe Alexandra, Harold Bowes, Doug Cornett, Michael Estabrook, Annmarie O’Connor, Misti Rainwater-Lites, Alaina Schneider and James Ray Scott

* Creative non-fiction by Ryan Michael Commins

* An interview with Jen Michalski by Joseph Young

* Reviews of We Swallow(ed) Spiders In Our Sleep by Zachary C. Bush; ABUSE ART. not children by Robert Pomerhn; and CELEBRATION OF SAMATHA by t. kilgore splake

Social Networking:
http://www.myspace.com/wordriotpress
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5943923626

Posted in Word Riot | Comments: 0

I don’t hate Amazon Kindle

Posted at November 21, 2007 by Jackie Corley

Everybody’s lighting a torch to Amazon’s new e-reader before it even gets its bearings. I don’t get the fury against the thing. If I had the money, I’d be snatching up the Kindle in a second.

In the mean time, I’m converting Word Riot Press books into HTML format, putting the files through Amazon’s digital text platform and making them available for sale on the Amazon Kindle store. I’m going to try to get Word Riot’s monthly issues available through the Kindle store (for like a dime an issue or whatever the lowest price is that I can list them for).

A lot of folks seem to read Word Riot when they’re taking a breather at work. Think of other period of downtime when readers might be up for losing themselves in a short story — while commuting, for example. I like the idea that an online magazine could be made available on a hand held machine and read any time, anywhere on a screen that looks like paper. Maybe this can be a means to spread the reach of online lit mags. Or maybe I’m thinking all crazy-like while I’m jonesing for Turkey Day.

Posted in Misc., Word Riot | Comments: 0

Word to the Riot

Posted at September 18, 2007 by Jackie Corley

I added Digg, del.icio.us and reddit links on Word Riot.  I also started a Facebook group for the site. I feel accomplished.

This issue has fiction by Casey Anderson, Vanessa Carlisle, Damian Dressick, Robert Duffer, Christopher Foley, M. Thomas Gammarino, Steven Gillis, J. Conrad Guest, Kilean Kennedy, Jala Pfaff, Christian Rose, Caleb Ross and J. A. Tyler; poetry by Michelle Ashley, Aya Bassiouny, Lisa J. Cihlar, Janie Hofmann, David LaBounty, David Luntz, Shawn Misener, Denis Robillard, Daniel Wilcox and Joshua Young;  and creative non-fiction by Kevin Ó Cuinn, Aimee Caruso and Jessica Wheeler.

There is also a review of Winter of Different Directions by Stephen McDermott as well as an interview with Robert Lopez.

Posted in Word Riot | Comments: 0

Literary Death Match

Posted at July 27, 2007 by Jackie Corley
supertim
Coming soon to Literary Death Match:

Timmy “The Enforcer” Waldron
Word Riot Fiction Editor
Repping Word Riot

Timmy’s stuff is hella funny and he will totally lay the smackdown on any opponent.

Also, Timmy is from Jersey and Jersey triumphs all.

Posted in Jersey, Word Riot | Comments: 0

KGB Bar Reading, July 22

Posted at July 17, 2007 by Jackie Corley

What: U.S. Launch Party for ‘The Flash’
When: Sunday, July 22 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Where: KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street, New York, NY

Peter Wild’s “The Flash” is an anthology of flash fiction by 100 writers. (More info here.)

Word Riot Press is sponsoring the East Coast launch party for “The Flash” at the KGB Bar. Readers at the event include Andrew Lewis Conn, Nic Kelman, Nathan Tyree, Paul Blaney, Jackie Corley and a surprise guest or two.

The book will be on sale at the reading for $12 and all proceeds go to Amnesty International.

This is the first WRP-sponsored event since 2003, so come and we’ll make it a time.

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READER BIOS:

Andrew Lewis Conn is the author of the critically acclaimed novel, P (SoftSkull, 2003). Following a starred review in Kirkus, P was chosen as one of the summer’s best books by The Austin Chronicle, Nerve, The Oregonian, Salon, and Time Out New York, and was named one of the best books of the year by The Village Voice and The Austin Chronicle. P was translated into Greek by Electra Publishing and into Portuguese for publication in Brazil by Editora W11.

Conn’s other writing has appeared in The Village Voice, Film Comment, Time Out New York, and The Believer. He has been a resident at the Ledig House International Writers’ Colony and Yaddo.

A Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude graduate of Cornell University, Conn recently completed his second book, The Last American Novel and is at work on his third, O, Africa!

—–

Nic Kelman is the international bestselling novel, Girls, published by Little, Brown and Co. as well as Video Game Art, an art history of video games published by Assouline. His writing and photography have appeared,among other places, in Elle, Glamour, The Village Voice, and Black Book, as well as various anthologies. He holds a B.S. from MIT and an M.F.A. from Brown University.

—–

Nathan Tyree is a writer from Kansas. His fiction and poetry has appeared in places like Edifice Wrecked; decomP; The Beat; Doorknobsand Body Paint; Flesh and Blood; Problem Child; The Shallow End; Lightning Journal; Journal of Modern Post and too many others to list. In addition to The Flash his work has been anthologized several times. Nathan is the author of Mr. Overby is Falling. He has never mastered the oboe.

—–

Paul Blaney is a fortysomething British writer now based in New Jersey. He’s had short stories published in numerous UK magazines and journals, but so far America remains immune to his charms. He is co-founder and organiser of Tales of the DeCongested (www.decongested.com) a London-based short story reading event, and of Apis Books (www.apisbooks.com).

—–

Jackie Corley was born in 1982. She developed Word Riot in March 2002 with the help of Paula Anderson. Word Riot Press,an independent publishing press, evolved out of the magazine in January 2003. Jackie’s writing has appeared on-line at MobyLives.com, 3AM Magazine and SerialText and in print in BOOM! For Real and Consumed: Women on Excess (So New Media).

Posted in Word Riot, Writing | Comments: 0