Electric Literature

Calling all fiction lovers! Electric Literature is looking for new manuscript readers to join our editorial team. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed as need. 

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 a week for six months, with an opportunity to renew. 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.

Please submit your résumé 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 and interview (in-person or video call.)

Applications will be accepted year-round, and we will review and take on new readers as needed.