One & Done: Lit Mag Submission Strategies

From The Editor's Desk

I’ve received at least two similar notes in the past week.

The following is a response to a form rejection from ONE ART.

These notes are sent in the emotional aftermath of receiving a rejection.

In this case, perhaps, this is a sort of “If you reject me, then I reject you.”

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Usually, writers who respond negatively to rejection actually do submit again.

Early on, I convinced myself to try not to take anything people say in response to a rejection personally. After all, the premise of rejecting work is that it is not personal. So, neither side should consider this a personal attack. Occasionally, someone does take the opportunity for a personal attack. But, of course, we must remind ourselves that this person has been wounded and so they are lashing out.

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Let’s set aside the psychological read for the sake of looking at the strategy itself.

On a practical level, it doesn’t make sense to only submit to a journal once. That is, unless you don’t care about publishing in particular lit mags at all. After all, there are about 7,000 of them.

When I was younger (as William Carlos Williams begins two poems entitled ‘Pastoral’), I used to go back and forth with submission strategies that danced around this concept. My thinking was that it made sense to get into as many lit mags as possible to find new audiences. (I also had a sort of romantic notion of publishing work in international journals and this belief that my work might be read by people I would never meet. I was in my 20s mind you.) I wasn’t thinking from the editor’s perspective, and I wasn’t thinking about the long-term. I’ve written elsewhere about the value in developing Writer-Editor relationships over time. (See my essays on Lit Mag News.)

For emerging poets/writers, there is more logic in spreading your work around and, testing the waters, so to speak. Emerging writers will typically have greater success placing work in fledgling lit mags that have not yet established a cohesive identity, formed a base of contributors, been discovered (or deemed worthy) of interest from those who are more established writers.

So, emerging writers are more likely to get published in fledgling lit mags but it’s still a bit of a crapshoot. The odds are stacked against most fledgling lit mags sticking around for more than three years. However, if they do stick around, and become a “big deal”, then your early investment in the lit mag means you may have lucked out and slipped in early on before competition ramped up.

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Going back to submitting only once to lit mags.

My primary thought is that this isn’t a good choice because both the writer’s work develops and changes over time and editors’ tastes shift over time. Given these factors on both sides of the equation, while it likely makes sense to wait 3-6 months, sometimes a year or two, before trying a lit mag again, if you’re genuinely interested and feel a connection with the lit mag and appreciate the way the magazine is run, then it certainly makes sense to keep trying your luck at placing work with the journal.

There are countless stories of name checkable writers who have submitted to places like POETRY Magazine for decades before having a piece selected for publication. An important lesson in not giving up. POETRY is a good example and not, at once. POETRY has a longstanding mission to publish work that is avant garde so if you are not the sort of writer who tends to publish work that leans experimental, then you may never produce work that aligns with their mission statement. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, it simply means you are well aware of the outcome to expect.

Doubling down, I want to emphasize that I’ve personally found it useful to adopt a glass half-empty mentality for submissions expectation management. The key is to do so without also having a self-fulfilling prophesy mentality. These are not irreconcilable or mutually exclusive. In short, expect rejection but hope for the best.

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With regards to conduct for with editors and lit mags…

When writing a Cover Letter, don’t misdirect the weight of your frustrations and insecurities on the editors.

As a general rule, do not respond to rejection notes. There are exceptions, of course. Usually, just play it cool and take it in stride (at least with regards to engagement with editors and the journal)— obviously, feel free to vent to friends. I would advise against venting on social media… editors see this and wince a bit… it’s not the best look.

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Can we agree that submissions should be targeted?

Ideally, writers are a little familiar with what the lit mag publishes before they send a submission.

We can agree, no one can know what’s going on with thousands of lit mags.

Luckily, there are platforms and services geared towards helping you narrow down selections and better target lit mags for submissions. This saves everyone time.

The big reminder here is, of course, is please don’t give up easily. Secondarily, a reminder that it often takes many submissions to arrive at an acceptance.

It’s not always strictly a numbers game though. If you target lit mags well, you are less likely to have to submit work to upwards of 25 lit mags before landing an acceptance. Legwork on the front end can save a lot of time and energy.

What are your thoughts?