All About Submissions

All About Submissions

I wrote an essay entitled ‘Demystifying the Editor/Writer Relationship: Submission and Etiquette Guidelines’ for Becky Tuch’s LitMagNews.

Then, I wrote a follow-up companion essay (also for LitMagNews), called ‘Dear Lit Mags: Stop Making Submission Guidelines So Complicated’.

Becky was generous with her time, providing insightful and useful feedback and suggestions for revisions, as we went through seven drafts of the ‘Dear Lit Mags’ essay. I don’t remember how many rounds we went through with the ‘Demystifying’ essay…but it wasn’t seven!

The ‘Dear Lit Mags’ essay was part of the inspiration for Katie Dozier & Timothy Green’s episode on “Submissions” for The Poetry Space_ (Apple / Spotify). In fairness, as they say themselves, in the episode, it’s a shocker that submissions were not directly addressed head on sooner. In the conversation, you can listen to me weigh in on some of the issues.

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I’d like to add a few afterthoughts that I did not have an opportunity to bring up during the conversation on The Poetry Space_.

Before The Space, Bethany Jarmul and Dick Westheimer both asked thoughtful questions on Twitter (X).

Dick Westheimer asked, “What can poets do to make your job easier – not so you'll pick their poems but so you enjoy your work more AND have more attention to pay to all the poems submitted.” A truly thoughtful question.

A few thoughts in response:

Submissions to ONE ART

Most poets do a fine job, actually. I would prefer that work is not sent in an unusual formatting if at all possible. If a poet takes the time to look at ONE ART’s website, they’ll note that almost all the poems are flush left (left-aligned). Very little “negative space” (aka. white space).

Email your poems as an attached Word doc or in the body of an email. Anything else makes it more complicated.

Intentions

My desire, from the get go, has actually been to make it as easy for the writer as possible. Poets can do me a favor and keep it simple. The Submission Guidelines are called “Guidelines” for a reason. Some of the guidelines are strict, however. ONE ART does not take previously published work and, unfortunately, due to recent circumstances, I feel I must emphasize this. Save me the searches to double-check if work has already appeared elsewhere. That’s a hassle I don’t need.

Why didn’t my poems get taken when you’ve published me before?

Editors learn over time what a poet/writer is capable of. It becomes clear when someone is sending you their B or C work. Editors are not going to want to settle for that when they know you can write better.

Please keep in mind that editors read other journals. I see when a poet has published exceptional work in another journal and then feel, well, not wonderful, when I note they have chosen to send me their lesser work. In fairness, poets/writers do this for many reasons. I want to believe that ONE ART is a good home that is worthy of a poet’s best work. I realize ONE ART has to earn this.

This is very important

I do not hold grudges.

I very much wanted an opportunity to say this, in context, on The Poetry Space_.

We all have bad moments.

I’m not going to be upset with a poet who did not send me their best work.

I’m not even going to remain upset with a poet who said something nasty about me or ONE ART.

I care about the work itself. If that poet send me good work that is a good fit for ONE ART it will be published. No hard feelings.

Publication, Promotion, and Social Media

If someone doesn’t use social media or isn’t big on social media, I certainly don’t want to hassle them to spend time on social media. That being said, it’s great when poets help promote their poems that come out in the journal.