Dzanc
Books' Best of the Web series is a yearly anthology compiling the best
fiction, poetry, and non-fiction published in online literary journals. Now
beginning its third year, the mission of the Best of the Web series is
to promote and expand the reach and prestige of online literature by offering
this annual glimpse into the best writing the internet has to offer.
The 2008
and 2009 editions of Best of the Web were guest-edited by Steve Almond
and Lee K. Abbott, respectively, and collectively published over one hundred
established and emerging fiction writers, poets, and essayists. Continuing in
this tradition, Best of the Web 2010,
guest edited by Kathy Fish with Matt Bell as series editor, will include
interviews with contributors, a list of the year's other Notable Stories, and a
comprehensive index of over 330 online journals considered for inclusion in the
anthology, including information on how to submit to each journal. This
additional content will offer an added value above and beyond the already
worthy writing by providing new opportunities for readers and writers alike.
Writing in Best of the Web 2010 will be selected by Ms. Fish and Mr.
Bell along with in-house Dzanc editors. All
editors of online literary journals are also invited to submit their
nominations for this year's edition. Please see the guidelines below for
further information, as well as the Best of the Web website. You'll also find blurbs from
reviews of the previous volumes at the bottom of this e-mail.
Feel
free to pass this call for nominations along to other editors or to post it
online at your journal's blog, as our e-mail list—while extensive—is certainly
not complete, and there may be journals we have not yet reached who
would be interested in submitting nominations and in being a
part of our index.
Thank
you so much for your time and for all the hard work you do with your own
publication and as part of the online literary community. We're very excited to
once again read for this yearly celebration of your own efforts and those of
your fellow editors and writers.
Sincerely,
Matt Bell
Kathy Fish
Steve Gillis
Dan Wickett
Best of the Web Series
Dzanc Books
NOMINATION
GUIDELINES
Nomination
for Best of the Web 2010 will be accepted from August 5, 2009 until
October 31st, 2009. Each online literary journal is
allowed to nominate up to three works they've published, in any combination of
fiction, poetry, and non-fiction.
To be
eligible, works must have been published exclusively online between
November 1st, 2008 and October 31st, 2009.
To
nominate your three choices, please use the web form found at the Best of the Web website (http://dzancbooks.org/BestOfTheWeb/index.html),
being sure to fill out the required fields completely. Not only will this
ensure that we receive your nomination, it will also help us include your
journal in our index of online literary magazines that will appear in the 2010
book and on the website.
Our
judging process will be complete by early January, after which we will send
e-mail notifications to those editors whose works have been selected for
inclusion in this year's anthology, as well as requests for reprint rights from
the writers selected.
Thank you very
much for your interest in Best of the Web, and for the impressive work
you do at your individual journal. It's our deep belief that the internet
publishing scene produces much of the most innovative and interesting work
being printed anywhere, and it is our great honor to read your nominations in
the hopes of spreading the very best of that work to new audiences.
PRAISE FOR THE
2008 AND 2009 EDITIONS OF BEST OF THE WEB
"The book is heartily significant, featuring work that
is sometimes surprising...and sometimes exhilarating--not unlike the Web itself."
–Los Angeles
Times
"The book both recognizes a wide range of quality
online writing, and gives its readers a comprehensive look at the field from
which its contents come – two characteristics of a good anthology... Such a
development could not have come at a better time for online literary
publishing." –NewPages
" in addition to the work itself, the open structure of
this collection also encourages an interesting conversation about style and
aesthetics. Between these covers poetry bumps up against fiction; longer work
is juxtaposed to shorter; traditional narrative meets the absurd; and canonical
authors like Stephen Dixon share equal page space with writers who’d probably
never identify themselves by that title." –Fiction
Writer's Review
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