Audio Book News | Moving Media Into a New Age

These days, it seems everyone has less time. We want everything delivered in short, easily digestible bites.

Electric Literature is a brand new quarterly literary magazine that is seeking to bring the limelight back to the short story via paperback, Kindle, eBook, iPhone, and soon in audiobook format.

Founders Andy Hunter and Scott Lindenbaum want to give literature a new twist. With five great stories in each issue, Hunter and Lindenbaum use print-on-demand, as well as eBook, Kindle, iPhone, and audio formats.

The basic premise is to provide a high quality publication that is available worldwide and will remain accessible. They strive to pay writers fairly and provide readers with great fiction.

The real goal here is to make great stories widely available. Hopefully, this will remind people just how great short fiction can be. The magazine is getting rave reviews. It is using all available methods to reach readers. Will it work?

I have never been a huge short story person. I don’t know why… Perhaps it was some horrible unit in grade school in which we were forced to compare and contrast two short stories.

Maybe it was a high school teacher who demanded a critique longer than the piece it was to be based upon. Most likely, once I learned to love reading, I wanted more.

I tend to feel short changed by short stories. I want the whole picture, or as much as I can get, especially if it’s good. I don’t want an hour of the characters’ day. I want the whole year. I finish a short story and I am unsatisfied, sort of like a meal that only consists of an appetizer.

I went to the iTunes store as I was reading about Electric Literature. My arrow hovered over the $4.99 USD price. Part of me was curious, but the other part of me knew I just wouldn’t read it. I’d skim it. I’d put it on my iPod with the intent to read it. I would probably even talk about it with friends. But I wouldn’t actually read it.

I applaud the efforts of Electric Literature. I love their ideas. I wish I was more open to short literature… My hope is that if you are open to it, you’ll give them a try. And if it’s really that good, let me know. Maybe I’ll go ahead and buy it after all.

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Tagged as: Audio Book News, New Age