The Best of the Net is an awards-based anthology designed to grant a platform to a diverse and growing collection of writers and publishers who are building an online literary landscape that seeks to break free of traditional publishing. This space has been created to bring greater respect to the continually expanding world of exceptional digital publishing.
The Best of the Net Anthology began in 2006, a project created by Sundress Publications (with special thanks to founding editor Erin Elizabeth Smith), to gather communities of online literary magazines, journals, and individuals that do the work of creating our digital literary landscape. We believe this effort is integral in decentering the literary canon as well as promoting and amplifying voices that are imperative to good literature, responsible culture, and the understanding of today’s social climate. We cherish these writers and publishers and hold digital publishing in high regards as a medium that creates access to a greater array of voices than the traditional publishing climate has allowed.
We are honored to bring additional recognition to this work and the important work of all digital publishing.
Subsequent issues of the anthology, which highlight the work of the previous year, appear at the end of every January. Our submission period is open from July 1st to September 30th each year.
Note that in 2022 we updated our numbering system to reflect the year of publication of the anthology and to bring us into line with other “Best Of” projects. This results in there being an anthology for 2020 (published at the start of 2021), then one for 2022 which may appear as though we skipped an issue though that’s not the case.
You can reach Managing Editor Tennison Black and Editor-in-Chief Darren C. Demaree at bestofthenet [at] sundresspublications [dot] com.