What is Our Stories?

Our Stories is a peer review literary journal. As far as we know we are one of a kind.

What do you publish?

We publish short stories (7K and under) and interviews with established authors.

When were you founded? 

Summer of 2006. 

Peer review journal, what's that about?

Our Stories is the only journal that promises to read your story and give you some feedback.  If you are used to submitting short stories you are familiar with the empty, cold rejections. You never know whether you got close or your story needs a lot of work.  We know that 100% of time when a rejection is sent that there is a reason.  We just tell you what that reason is and try to offer some decent feedback. 

Do you charge anything?

6 months out of the year, no.

Gotcha!  I knew there was a catch, what about the other 6 months out of the year?

Those are our contest periods.  In the Summer we host the Best Emerging Writer Contest and in the Winter we host the Richard Bausch Short Story prize.

And what's so special about your contests? 

During our contests we give page-by-page feedback, which goes through your story and highlights things that are working and what aren't working so well. 

Bet those contest entries cost a lot, huh?

Nah, $18 for a single entry and $45 for three stories. 

That’s it?  That’s what most contests cost just for reading your story! I paid $20 to another journal, waited 6 months for a response and all they did was say "no". 

Yeah--no comment. 

How do I know that “feedback” about my story will be worth it? 

The Our Stories staff has 8 MFA degrees between them, dozens of publications, two novels and thousands of hours teaching.  I guess you’ll have to trust us. 

Are you in print?

Yes! We publish our volumes annually. You can purchase the Best of Our Stories at our Publishing link. 

But what about the front page of the website?

That started off as a joke when there was a lot of discussion on the validity of an only “online” literary journal—the sort of joke that Alexis Enrico Santí would only tell to himself, funny right? 

Uhh, no.  Who is Alexis? 

He’s the editor and founder of the journal. Did his MFA at George Mason in Fiction. 

You do workshops too, right?

Our workshops are the same as what our writers receive from the contest—except we do it three times over and it is structured as a one-on-one creative writing workshop. We have three kinds: Workshop Lite, a writer gets to work through three drafts of one story.  In Standard Workshops they get three drafts of three stories.  Deluxe workshops are the same as the Standard Workshops but include over three hours of video conferencing and lectures from your instructor. 

Pricey, right?

Nope, in fact it is the cheapest price online. 

What about the writing?  Who have you published?

We’ve published some of the finest short stories online, including storySouth notables winners, Dzanc Best of Best of the Web anthologies.  Starting this year we will nominate stories for the Best of Short Stories and Pushcart prize.

Cool.  What do I do now? 

Submit your story. 

Don’t just submit.  Learn to receive. 

What if I have more questions?

Email us. 

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