Editor Interview: Shooter Literary Magazine

Engaging literary fare

Shooter was inspired partly by the kind of entertaining yet well crafted literary fiction, non-fiction and poetry in Tin House, which has no equivalent in the UK. Literary journals in the UK tend to cater to well established writers (Granta), academic/experimental/highbrow writing (Arete, the White Review) or genre fare (Popshot), so Shooter aims to fill a gap in the market for mainstream literary stories and poetry by up-and-coming writers: the UK's answer to Tin House.

We make a point of paying our writers! Shooter was founded partly on the principle that creative work deserves financial reward. Far too many literary journals pay their contributors nothing; without the writers, these publications would not exist. At Shooter, we find that morally reprehensible, and are concerned that writing in our culture is being devalued by the widespread expectation that writers should give their work away for free.
Furthermore, our production values are high. As a print publication, we invest in high-quality paper and tactile finishes. Work is showcased with strong cover art, clean design and higher quality materials than most other literary journals. The emphasis is on creating an appealing reading experience: the content is the point, and everything about the design is intended to draw readers in then allow them to devote their attention to the literary work.

Whatever your work is about, ensure the writing is of a literary standard: elegant, powerful prose with a strong voice, command of style, compelling character(s) and original ideas. Non-fiction should be well researched/reported and if it's a personal story, make sure it relates in some way to other people or a wider experience beyond your own. Poetry that inclines to the observational, rather than experimental, end of the spectrum is preferred.

We sometimes receive sloppily written stories that adhere to genre cliches, which go straight to the reject pile. The quality of the writing is paramount! Make sure work is carefully edited and formatted to our submission guidelines.

Cover letters need be only a few sentences, including a brief mention of previous publishing experience.

We read most pieces in their entirety, but sometimes if work is particularly badly written it's obvious from the outset and goes straight to the reject pile.

The first round of reading whittles down a shortlist, at which point stories are re-read and evaluated not just on their own merits but for how well they will balance with the other submissions likely to end up in the issue.