The mysteries of lit mags

What are they? And why don't more people read them?

Literary magazines aren’t exactly a secret—though you’d think they were, judging by how few people actually read them. The fact is, they’re the best place for finding great new writing—most of it from writers you’ve never heard of, giving you the chance to be one of their very first readers instead of (or in addition to) becoming the millionth person to read Demon Copperhead (like, ahem, me). Literary magazines, also called literary journals, do pose a couple of unique challenges, so I thought it would be interesting to talk about them with the person who may know the lit mag world better than anyone else: Becky Tuch.

This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Becky, who’s been writing about lit mags for 15 years, first on her website The Review Review and now on her Substack newsletter, Lit Mag News. She’s also a writer of fiction and non-fiction published in literary magazines. Much of her work is writer-facing, but we sat down to talk about what lit mags can offer readers—and how you can become one of them.

In our interview, Becky explains what lit mags are, why they’re worth reading, and why so few people do—she has at least one theory about that. She also talks about what she’s learned about her own reading tastes from reading so many lit mags over the years. And she’ll tell you where to find them. If you click through to watch our interview, you’ll also find a collection of useful links in the description box of the video.

Watch our conversation here:

Are you a reader of lit mags? If so, which ones do you like best? Let us know in the comments section below!