The New York Times interviews the founders of Electric Literature, a new multi-format fiction magazine that publishes editions for the iPhone, Kindle, and various eBook readers — in addition to print.

Their biggest challenge is to get enough subscribers so the venture is self-sustaining. The cost of a subscription is $24 for the electronic version and $48 for paper. So far, they have 800 subscribers and 1,600 in single-copy sales, as well as 1,300 friends on Facebook and an estimated readership of 4,000 and growing.

“We have an optimistic message at a time of pessimism,” Mr. Hunter said. “As writers, we got tired of the doom and gloom. The future is not something you acquiesce to, it’s something you create.”

A wonderful and welcome experiment. And interesting for the one format that it avoids — the Web.

Also: An interview with Electric Literature’s Anna Pru at the Fictionaut blog.