Reader Applications: Recommended Reading

Calling all readers! Electric Literature is now accepting applications to join our editorial team as a volunteer reading for Recommended Reading, EL’s weekly fiction magazine. Recommended Reading publishes one story a week: a mix of original work, forgotten classics, and forthcoming excerpts, each with a personal foreword by today’s best writers. The magazine receives a large volume of submissions, and a committed corps of volunteer readers is essential to helping the editors of Recommended Reading find new, unknown, and/or overlooked talent.

Responsibilities include:

• Reading fifteen pieces every 2 weeks, ranging from 2,000 to 10,000 words for Recommended Reading.
• Providing concise but thorough responses (one to two paragraphs) for each submission, with a clear YES or NO recommendation for each.
• Meeting assigned reading deadlines, and clearly communicating with editorial staff when scheduling conflicts arise.

The ideal applicant is:

• An avid and attentive reader
• A proactive and responsive communicator
• Self-motivated and able to meet deadlines
• Able to express themself clearly in writing
• A regular reader of the category who is familiar with its back catalogue
• An educational background in literature and/or professional experience in literary criticism, editing, and creative writing is a plus, but not required
• An active participant in their local literary scene, and an avid reader of contemporary writing

This is a volunteer position that requires a commitment of approximately six hours a week for six months, with an opportunity to renew.

Current readers are not allowed to submit their own work for consideration in the category they are reading in. Discussion of submissions outside Electric Literature is strictly prohibited, and will result in immediate termination. 

For a sense of the kind of submissions you’ll be reading, visit the Recommended Reading archives.

If you are interested in reading for Recommended Reading, please submit your resume and a two-paragraph response/critique of a story published in Recommended Reading. If your resume is selected, the application process will also include a reading test.

Applications will be accepted through 11:59 PM Pacific Time on Sunday, April 5 and reviewed on a rolling basis.