Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nichole L. Reber on November 1, 2011 at 12:29pm

That Forbes article is incessantly annoying...especially because it's so true. When I started publishing seriously a few weeks ago, the payment requirements for submissions appalled me. How dare they ask me to PAY to be read? Then I realized exactly what the article's author said: that literary magazines must be stagnating. I also found annoying that he called me (and lots of other writers) out. I too am guilty of submitting to several publications at once. However, when first starting out, I need to figure out where to get my foot in the door, yes. Additionally, if each magazine takes six (or even two) months to respond, it could take me years just in the submission process alone. Editors are fickle. Even at magazines where my piece seems suitable, a host of random factors influence our ability to get into it.

As the article editor suggested, some publications are in fact encouraging writers to subscribe. However, there was one subscription rate that actually cost most than buying each issue separately. Where is the sense in that?

 

Gracious thanks for posting this!

Permalink Reply by Becky T. on November 1, 2011 at 12:43pm

Nichole, excellent points here. It is true that most lit mags are stagnating financially. So few writers subscribe to and read the journals. But also, you're right, when first submitting it can be overwhelming just trying to find the right place to submit. Sometimes you do need to bombard the market with your work just to increase your odds. Anyway, good luck. Hopefully your submitting won't hurt your wallet too much!

Permalink Reply by Nichole L. Reber on November 1, 2011 at 1:10pm

So far I've shelled out $11 in total to four publications who require the submission fee. Overall I've submitted the essay to eight publications.

Permalink Reply by Becky T. on November 1, 2011 at 5:52pm

Nichole, if you'd like to review literary magazines for The Review Review (http:www.TheReviewReview.net) we'd be happy to consider taking you on as a reviewer! This is a great way to get free journals in the mail, and acquaint yourself with the wide variety of lit mags out there. Plus reviewing forces you to be a better reader and writer.

 

If this interests you, email me at 99review@gmail.com, and I'll put you in touch with our Reviews Editor.

Permalink Reply by Nichole L. Reber on November 1, 2011 at 5:56pm

Thanks, Becky. Just sent you an email at 99review.

Permalink Reply by Anna Leahy on November 1, 2011 at 12:40pm

This month's issue of Poets & Writers also has an article on this topic. "Price of Submission" (90-95) notes the journals that now charge fees for electronic submissions include Ploughshares, American Short Fiction, Missouri Review, and New England Review. It sounds as if most journals call this sort of fee a "submission fee" not a "reading fee" to avoid linking the editorial process with the financial transaction. PANK instituted what they're calling a "tip jar," which is a voluntary three-dollar donation.

A related issue is subscriptions. A writer tends to submit to many more journals than she reads or subscribes to. That's a tricky issue, though.

Permalink Reply by Becky T. on November 1, 2011 at 12:45pm

Anna, thanks for alerting me to the P&W article. I'll have to check it out! And I had no idea those journals had actually started charging for submissions. I thought this was all sort of hypothetical. Eek.

Permalink Reply by Nichole L. Reber on November 1, 2011 at 12:53pm

I'm not sure about some literary magazines' thinking. They don't have a physical presence in Hong Kong, Peru, or China, where I've lived. They also aren't found in the bookstore in the town where I stay when back in the US.

Furthermore few of them offer substantial examples of what they publish online. Therefore it's more difficult for writers to submit properly. And no, we can't subscribe to 25 literary magazines just to check if our material is suitable.

What I would suggest is that literary pubs put more of their stuff online-- not the whole thing, just a few examples of each genre-- so we can sample the thing. That might get more subscriptions and better submissions.The Kenyon Review did that and I love having regular access to it. If only more pubs would be like Virginia Quarterly Review, which puts lots of its stuff online. God, to be published there!

I'm thankful for those lit pubs who offer single issues for purchase to be read online. I can't possibly carry around the Harold Washington Public LIbrary from country to country.

I'm just excited too that people here are even submitting to pubs of this quality.

 

Permalink Reply by Anna Leahy on November 1, 2011 at 6:21pm

Submission fees are definitely not theoretical. Part of that is that the journal may have a monthly fee to maintain submissions management software, so the journal is picking up the lesser submission cost that the author would otherwise pay in printing or postage. With the number of submissions many journals get, an electronic submissions system (not email) is the only way to keep good track. But a journal can make money on the deal, too.

I agree that every journal with a website should put at least a recent sampling online. That seems good advertising for the journal, as well as good for writers looking to submit. But I'm also concerned about what the expectation of free content means in the larger sense for writers.

I've heard editors from The Kenyon Review talk about their decisions regarding the print and online variants, each of which the editors would like to have distinct aesthetics. That's a well-funded, well-staffed journal that's done its research and thought hard about long-term goals. When they decided to keep one submission pool, as I understand it, but accept for either print or online, but not both, the editors expected authors accepted for online to request being switched to print because it might seem more prestigious, but they didn't get those requests. They're tracking their numbers pretty carefully, and KR/KRO may be a model to watch. The Kenyon Review is now electronic submissions only, I think.

Permalink Reply by Nichole L. Reber on November 1, 2011 at 6:32pm

Most of the lit journals I can think of buy the rights to publish your accepted piece online. It's good marketing also for the writer then, eh? That way it can stay (accessible) for longer than the physical edition will be on the college book store shelves. 

Kenyon is one pub I submitted my most recently completed essay to. Submissions are done through its web site.

Permalink Reply by Nichole L. Reber on November 1, 2011 at 12:59pm

Evidently Creative Nonfiction-- one of my favorite lit pubs ever-- will commence its relationship with SubMishMash this fall. I literally just received an email from an editor there who explained that the start date has not yet been set.

Meanwhile I was also told I can't submit my essay online, despite the fact I live in Peru, mail here costs about five times as much as it does in the US, and takes several weeks to arrive in the US.

Anyone submitted to published in Creative Nonfiction?

Permalink Reply by Anna Leahy on November 1, 2011 at 6:09pm

Nichole, it seems as if lit journals should make exceptions for foreign submissions. The time it takes seems even more crucial than the money, since the response time already is not often prompt. I like Creative Nonfiction a lot, but I think they should let authors in Peru submit electronically.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page