Fictionade E-Magazine is an online fiction magazine that has recently premiered online on April 21 for anyone to go onto and read from.  With nearly 420 likes on its official Facebook page, the independent publication already has intrigued many readers since its inception. 

Originally conceived by Mark Helton and Chris Wecks, the Newark residents first had the idea about producing a bi-monthly fiction magazine as a response to similar publications mostly or completely removing the rights of the content away from the writers themselves and to the company instead.

“Fictionade promises never to employ contracts of theses [copyright] contracts of these types,” Wecks said on behalf of both him and Helton.  “We give a third of our subscription fees to the writers and work very hard to promote and help the writers’ work.  Our goal is to see those writers eventually walk away with that big book deal, and their existing access to their own work intact.”

With both Wecks and Helton having extensive background in the arts, such as literature, theatre and music, that was their motivation to pursue this project, feeling that people like these need better treatment over the content in which they create.

With the fact that the publication takes the form of an online magazine rather than the traditional hardcopy version is a way of keeping up with the times as the future of publishing progressively makes its transition to go viral in the years ahead. 

“Another note about being online is that a lot of how we train our fiction writers to go professional and become everything they can be requires the age of data at our disposal,” Wecks explained.  “Knowing who reads their work, and for how long, is a huge benefit in showing writers what their readers are silently saying about their work.”

Aside from having the writers own the rights to their content, Wecks also emphasized on two other factors that make Fictionade stand out as opposed to similar publications.

One of them is how a third of the subscription fees go to the writers.  The benefit the writers get out of that, aside from getting money for their writing, is that this approach will give them a feel for market demand earlier on than usual for a writer; seeing the more readers they have, the more visible the writers become.

Wecks and Helton also want to improve their content as well.

“[Helton] and I are agent[s], editor[s] marketer[s] and publisher[s],” Wecks explained.  “We read every story, and provide feedback.  We are building the writers’ workshop community.  Basically we just care about them writing quality fiction.”

Another unique element about Fictionade is unlike other fiction magazines where they are comprised of submissions from outer resources, this one already has a staff of writers, writing up the content.

“The submission process really doesn’t provide a lot of good feedback for writers,” he said.  “Our staff writers, on the other hand, work on an editorial calendar and are given regular feedback on their work.  I really feel like getting to know a writer can help [Helton] and I bring out their best ‘inner writer’.”

Wecks hopes people who read the content from Fictionade gain a better understanding and don’t always have to turn to The New Yorker or The Atlantic for quality writing.  He hopes people will take the time to give Fictionade a chance and get a good read out of it.