VOLUNTEER SLUSH READERS WANTED—GREAT EXPERIENCE!

Every Day Fiction is a web magazine that specializes in bringing you fine fiction in bite-sized doses. Every day, we publish a new short story of 1000 words or fewer that can be read during your lunch hour, on transit, or even over breakfast. We are currently looking for slush readers.

The job?

Log into our database daily and read stories from the slush folder, determine whether or not each story is potentially publishable and write a brief comment for the author. The time commitment per day is fairly brief—depending on the number of slush readers and how quickly you read, maybe twenty minutes to half an hour—but it will pile up if you don’t get in there most days. It’s unpaid, but it’s great experience and we’re a fun team to work with. Put Every Day Fiction on your résumé, and count on us for a reference when you need one.

The perfect candidate?

We’re looking for readers with an interest in short fiction and an eye for good prose. Eclectic tastes are an advantage because we publish stories of all genres; it helps if you can enjoy a pulpy science fiction piece one minute and a serious literary story the next. Knowing something about flash fiction is also a plus, but we’re happy to educate on that score if you’re a good fit for us.

The fine print?

We ask for a commitment of three months, which is of course extendable if we like you and you want to stay on. You’ll need internet access, competent computer skills, and the ability/willingness to read and comment on at least ten stories a week (though we can be somewhat flexible around exams and vacations). If you are a writer, you should be aware that we cannot ethically consider submissions for publication from anyone currently reading for us, so you’ll have to save your own stories until you’re no longer on our team.

How to apply?

Email Camille at camille@everydayfiction.com. In the body of the email (no attachments, please), send a short paragraph covering the usual suspects (background, education, experience, and why you’d like to read slush for EDF), and a second paragraph about what you like to read (genres, styles, favourite authors, etc.). Also, please choose one of EDF’s recently published stories and include a brief editorial comment intended for the author of that story.

www.everydayfiction.com

 

From Gay Degani, former staff reader:

Reading slush is a fabulous way to grow your own writing, to see what everyone else is writing so you can write something DIFFERENT, to see what really works out there in the real world and what doesn’t, to enjoy that moment when a great first sentence pops off the page and bowls you over, to see a story you found deep in the slush appear on line at EDF with all the positive comments from appreciative readers!!  So think about applying.  The commitment need only be three months, but it will give you a year’s worth of writing education.