We recently connected with Eric Scot Tryon and have shared our conversation below.

Eric Scot, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?

I launched the literary magazine Flash Frog in January of 2021, but the seed of the idea started at least 8-10 months before. First, it was really important to me to really consider and decide every little detail well beforehand. This included what the magazine would look like visually, what exactly it would and wouldn’t publish, what its submission guidelines would look like, what the submission and editorial processes would look like, and I could go on and on. But in order too gain credibility in the online literary world, I knew it was important to project a confident clear vision from the outset. In a space where magazines are sprouting up and dying faster than you can read a piece of micro fiction, I knew it I didn’t want to take the “learn on the job” approach. Consistency, professionalism, and attention to detail, were key.

Once I stewed over each little detail for months and confident decisions were made, it was time to design the website. Now, I’ve never been mistaken for a coder or programmer, but I can navigate my way around a keyboard and a drop-down menu. Needless to say there was a learning curve when it came to creating the website (as there were no funds to outsource this), but the end result is something I am really happy with.

Eric Scot, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

After receiving an MFA in Creative Writing and MA in Literature, I then spent the next 25 years writing, teaching and editing. In that time, I have published upwards of 50 short stories in various journals and anthologies, and I have also served as a reader and fiction editor for a handful of literary magazines. While being part of these editorial staffs was rewarding in various ways, I always had an itch to start my own journal. I felt that over these last 2+ decades of being immersed in the writing world, I had developed a keen specific eye for a certain type of work and had the experience to curate it and offer something unique to the literary community.

So in 2021, I launched Flash Frog.

Flash Frog is an online literary journal that publishes flash fiction of 1,000 words or fewer. We publish one story each Monday, and each story is accompanied by an original piece of art created specifically for that story. We are proud to say that we are a paying market. We pay $25 per story, and yet, we are still free to submit. In just our short 4+ years of publishing, we are proud to say that we have had 25 stories that were later either finalists or selected to be published in “Best Of…” anthologies.

Once a year (every January), we host a themed flash fiction contest called the Blue Frog, where we award a total of $700 in prizes, along with signed books by the Guest Judge and the original artwork from the Guest Artist. Past judges have included Aimee Bender, Kristen Arnett, and Gina Chung.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media has been an integral part of Flash Frog’s growth. In general, writing, submitting and publishing can all be very isolating activities, so it has always been important for writers to find other like-minded artists and create a supportive community. For myself and Flash Frog, that source was social media, specifically Twitter. By actively engaging on Twitter, I was able to slowly and steadily build a strong community of writers, editors and readers. It is a way to share ideas, deadlines, and news about new or changing markets, while bouncing ideas off one another, celebrating together, and sometimes venting together.

Of course, it’s probably not breaking news that the social media landscape has changed a bit over the last few years, but I feel that as long as the writers are out there, they will find each other. Flash Frog now engages on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, Threads, and Facebook. Of course, it would be nice if it didn’t have to be spread out over a handful of platforms, but it has been really beneficial for Flash Frog to have a presence no matter where the writers choose to engage.

One bit of advice for someone new to the writing social media community is that it’s important to actually engage with others and not just use it for self promotion. Lifting up others’ success and engaging in meaningful dialogue is a far greater way to build a community than to incessantly self-promote your own work. This quickly becomes white noise, and you will find fewer people read or buy your work than if you had spent that time building genuine connections.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Serving as the Editor-in-Chief of Flash Frog has been far more rewarding than I ever could have anticipated. The obvious reward comes from sending a writer an acceptance letter. That telling to someone that their work matters and it resonated with us and we are exciting to publish it and share it with the world will never get old. But there has been so much more as well: seeing some of these stories go on to receive more accolades and therefore reach more readers, in the form of Top 50 lists and “Best Of…” anthologies; seeing our writers and artists connect with one another, oftentimes the artist volunteering to generously send the writer the art that accompanied their story; making new writer-friends and connections that go on to open more doors down the road; and simply engaging in the back and forth dialogue on the craft of writing when a story goes through our editorial process… these are just some of the examples of the rewards that come with being the Editor of Flash Frog. And of course, there is so much rejection in this business, that it makes these highlights that much more meaningful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.flash-frog.com
• Instagram: @flash_frog
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089111409785
• Twitter: @flashfroglitmag
• Other: Blue Sky: flashfrog.bsky.social

  Threads: flash_frog

Image Credits

Eric Scot Tryon