By Jenna Merony
Submitting your very own creative work to a literary magazine may seem simple, attach a document and click send, right? This thought process isn’t completely wrong but isn’t right either. There are many steps that need to take place when thinking about submitting your pieces to any literary magazine.
Step One:
Find literary magazines that are open for submissions. Research “Literary Magazines” or visit websites like Poets and Writers, Newpages, or Duotrope for example.
Step Two:
Select a few magazines to research. Researching the literary magazine helps to show you if your work would fit in the magazine. Start your research by going to the website. Once there, begin navigating the site and learning its functions. Next, you should have found the archives or a category that leads to past volumes of the magazine. Read through those older issues to help determine if this magazine is a good fit for your creative work.
Step Three:
Once it has been decided if your work will fit or not (If it doesn’t, move on to the next magazine and repeat step two), then you must look over the about section and find the editor(s). Finding the staff/editors and seeing who works on the magazine is important because that is who you will be addressing in your cover letter to show the magazine that you have explored and taken your time with their site and magazine. If there is more than one editor, then you should address at least two, the editor-in-chief or top editor and then the editor for your specific creative writing style (poetry, flash fiction, plays, etc.). If there is only one main editor then just address them. There may be some instances where no editor is given, if that is the case then you can use “to the editors of [insert magazine name]” to help show that you know where your submission will be going.
Step Four:
Once all that is decided and found, you should then go to the submission page and read through the guidelines. Not all submission pages are the same, so be sure to read through them carefully so that you follow all of the guidelines. If you don’t follow the guidelines, they will most likely not look at your submission. In the guidelines, they usually will tell you:
If they are open for submissions or when they usually are open
What they are looking for, if there is a specific theme for the coming issue of the journal
How many poems they will accept at a time, word limits on flash pieces or short stories, word limits on play scripts, etc.
If they accept simultaneous submissions (being able to submit the same piece to multiple magazines)
Where to submit; either email or through a site like submittable
Many literary magazines use submittable so I would suggest creating an account (it’s free!)
If your name should be given on the document
How the document should be submitted (PDF, Doc., etc.)
If there should be a bio; bios are usually always in third person
Giving a cover letter; make it short and sweet
Addressing it to the editor(s) and thanking them for looking over the work that you are submitting (you can list the poems submitted if you would like)
Some ask for a title of the submission, it can be something simple like
Name_Number of poems for magazine
John Smith_Three Poems for [insert magazine name]
Some will also tell you the timeline on when you should hear back
Once you have read through all that, it is now time to submit!
Step Five
The final step once you have submitted, that I would suggest to people who submit to multiple magazines at once, is to create an excel sheet or get an account on Duotrope to help organize all the magazines that you have submitted to, what you submitted, and if you get accepted or rejected.
Submitting creative pieces can be scary and nerve-racking. However, if you don’t send your stuff out into the world, it will just sit in a notebook, laptop, or in your notes app on your phone. So send your stuff out and if you get rejected, don’t worry, just try again. There is no limit to how many magazines you submit too or how many times you submit to the same magazine, just believe in yourself and submit!
Great advice! Thanks!