This spring, Ball State University English professors Victoria Barrett and Andrew Scott created Freight Stories, an online literary magazine, which released its second issue to the Web Sunday.
Barrett and Scott, former co-managing editors for New Mexico State University's journal, "Puerto del Sol," said year ago they wanted to put their skills to use while bringing attention to emerging fiction writers alongside well-known authors with their own literary magazine but found the cost of creating a print publication without university affiliation to be too restrictive; however, with the emergence of online outlets, such as Narrative, the two fiction buffs decided the Internet might be a practical source for the work they wished to display.
"Online publishing has become both easier and less iconoclastic," Barrett said. "Web journals began to emerge as a viable outlet for the highest quality work, the work of writers who, a few short years before, wouldn't have considered publishing online. And so, Freight Stories was born."
What's in the name exactly? Barrett and Scott, who married in 2005, bought a house adjacent to the original B & O Railroad in Indianapolis' Irvington neighborhood. The whistle blows seven or eight times daily, or sometimes not at all.
"[We] hoped to choose a name that had real imagistic power, but also that implied a sense of weight and of movement, two things we feel bound to as readers of fiction," they said. "We love and publish stories in many forms and styles. But they must have big hearts and move us to feel something. So: Freight."
A photograph of a flashing, railroad crossing light introduces visitors to the Web site, which offers readers "the best new fiction on the web. Or anywhere else, for that matter."
The first issue featured stories from authors earning four O'Henry Awards, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, two Association of Writers and Writing Program book prizes, one Pushcart Prize, one Guggenheim Fellowship, at least two appearances in Best American Short Stories and one in Best New American Voices - most of the top honors an American fiction writer can garner, the editors said.
"We knew, as their work rolled in, that we were accomplishing something special, that these were major-league writers who trusted our editorial sensibilities enough to put their work in the least trustworthy of possible places: the Web," Barrett said.
According to the Web site, the writers who made their way into Issue No. 1 included Mary Swan, one of Barrett's favorites who was previously unpublished online, and Lee Upton, a poet and producer of 10 books.
The second issue features less heavily solicited work, the editors said.
"It's full of exciting stuff, including a new story by best-selling author Larry Watson and one by award-winning short story writer Gina Ochsner," Barrett said.
According to the site's rudimentary tracking system, "Freight Stories" is on track to receive around 800 to 1,000 submissions in its first year and has already seen more than 1,200 readers for its first issue.
"We've shown up on 'favorites' lists and various announcements posted by people we don't know and didn't reach out to directly," Barrett said.
With such a large audience, Barrett and Scott said they hoped the program would continue to grow to the point of the site breaking even, and possibly earning enough to eventually pay authors for each issue before reimbursing themselves for expenses. After three years of operation, Barrett and Scott will be able to apply for federal non-profit status.
Many publications find themselves paying for printing costs, among other expenses, to produce their works without seeing such large audience gains that can be found within the online world.
"The Broken Plate" is an undergraduate literary magazine entirely produced by undergraduate students within the university's English department with the help of a faculty adviser.
Former "Broken Plate" editor Joe Betz, who is also a Ball State graduate, said the journal only increased its copies anywhere between 20 and 50 units annually.
"Being online will definitely open up the marketability for their publication," Betz said. "The Broken Plate just went national, but being online is something different."
And online is where Barrett and Scott plan to keep their publication. Subscribers can apply for a yearly membership for $18 and receive "cargo" via e-mail or postal service. Included with membership to the journal is an interview with or an essay by an author featured in that month's issue of "Freight Stories," news of upcoming books of interest and other information Barrett and Scott hope readers will find useful.
As for turning "Freight Stories" into a course such as "The Broken Plate," Barrett and Scott have decided to keep editing inside their home, but using what they learn from producing and introducing such emotion evoking work into the literary world to make themselves ultimately better teachers.
"We see our editing work as largely independent of our work at Ball State, though of course that's not entirely true," Barrett said. "When you love language and literature, and make them your life's work, you learn quickly that all their applications are intertwined. Concretely speaking, 'Freight Stories' makes us both smarter, more fulfilled people; those happen also to be two qualities of great teachers. And every institution benefits from the scholarly activities of its faculty."
To view articles published in "Freight Stories" visit "Freight Stories"
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