I recently wrote an article about webzines for Writer’s Digest, but some of the material had to be cut from the final version because of length reasons. Susan Marie Groppi, editor-in-chief of Strange Horizons, was kind enough to give me permission to post the info here instead. Strange Horizons is a weekly magazine of speculative fiction. URL: http://www.strangehorizons.com/.
What do you do when you’re not working on your webzine?
I’m a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. I received a Ph.D. in history last spring, and this year I’m teaching some history of science courses in the history department here. Between the magazine and the teaching work, I don’t have time to do much else. 
Is editing for an online publication different from editing a print publication?
I’ve never edited a print magazine, but I did work for a small press publisher for a while, and I get the impression that most of the editing process is very similar, but the production process is entirely different.
Your submissions guidelines for articles, fiction, poetry and reviews are online, but could you possibly offer any “insider tips” to freelance writers?
One thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that each of our departments operates independently, so if you have a history of dealing with the articles department, that doesn’t mean that the fiction or reviews editors know anything about you. I’m not sure that counts as an insider tip, but it’s definitely something that I’ve seen confusion about.
What are your current editorial needs?
I know that we’re always on the lookout for good nonfiction articles (science, history, culture, literary criticism, that kind of thing), and that we’d love to have more reviewers covering comic books, video games, and movies.
What is the best way for a freelance writer to break in at your publication?
For the nonfiction departments (articles and reviews), the best way to break in to this market is to be open to working with editorial suggestion. It’s not uncommon for people to submit pieces that don’t quite work for us, but that our editors would like to have the author revise. Writers who are flexible about that process are more likely to eventually be successful with us.
What webzines do you enjoy reading?
As far as webzines go, I like Ideomancer (www.ideomancer.com). ChiZine also has a stellar reputation, but I’m not so much of a horror reader, so I don’t personally read them.
