Fiction on the Web (FotW), was founded in 1996, which makes it one of the oldest online literary journals. In fact it is the oldest online journal that focuses solely on publishing short fiction. They have had hundreds of thousands of readers over the years. However they also have rather high acceptance rates.
FotW is published in the United Kingdom but they accept submissions from around the world. They are open to most genres like fantasy and horror, although they also publish literary fiction.
One of the things that makes FotW unusual is that they accept Novelettes – a story between 7500 – 15000 words. If you have a piece that is between that number of words FotW is one of the few literary journals that will accept it for consideration.
FotW has a high acceptance rate. They accept a little over 60% of the work submitted to them. They also give personalized rejections to half of the authors whose work they reject. They also respond within two and half weeks.
FotW publishes work over 150 times a year so you should expect to see your piece up on their site shortly after it is accepted. They publish new work every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday.
FotW favors work that has strong plots and characters. The editor likes authors with a quirky sense of humor. FotW allows people to comment on other writers stories, which is a nice way to review feedback.
The submission process is easy, attach a .doc file to an email, the body of the email should contain the stories title, genre(s) and the author’s name.
Occasionally they are open to different genres and closed to others. This information is always available online on their submission page. Make sure you check this page before submitting to them. The editor is very accessible so if you have any additional questions you can email him, his address is on the submission page.
In conclusion FotW is a good online journal to submit to if you are a fiction writer just starting out. They have a thoughtful editor, a good response time, and an established audience of readers. You can visit their website here: www.fictionontheweb.co.uk
