We are two graduating seniors who have spent the last two years working on the Beloit Fiction Journal (BFJ). As editors and then as managing editors, we have experienced the process of creating a national fiction journal.

 As editors, for each volume we’ve worked on, we read through hundreds of short stories and selected, by committee, thirteen to fifteen stories per volume. As managerial editors, we led our fellow editors in the story selection process through Submittable and acted in a leadership capacity. In the spring of 2025, we and three other production editors line-edited and formatted volume 38 of the BFJ.

 In March 2025, we attended the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference in Los Angeles. Along with our editor-in-chief, Chris Fink, and production editors, we promoted the BFJ and sold copies to raise money for the English Department. We also interacted with professionals already in the publishing industry to search for future job opportunities. These experiences made us able communicators and gave us a taste of what a career in the publishing industry might look like.

 In this symposium, we will discuss our experiences working for the BFJ to inform other students interested in taking the course. We will discuss the challenges and obstacles we faced while working for the BFJ, as well as the benefits and future opportunities available with that experience.

Link to the online program