Another One Bites the Lit Mag!
The secret to success as a debut author; finding success as an "older writer;" X account calling out ageism in the arts; profiles of lit mags; lit mags closing/on hiatus; Buellers!; markets + more
Welcome to our bi-weekly news roundup!
Greetings Lit Magstronauts,
This week at Esquire Kate Dwyer asks, Why Are Debut Novels Failing to Launch? Dwyer’s article begins with the story of Jack Kerouac whose first novel “by all measures…flopped.” But soon after, Kerouac began working with agent Sterling Lord. Lord saw lit mags as the key to Kerouac’s future success. Dwyer explains,
What, exactly, did Sterling Lord do to prime Kerouac’s audience? From 1953 to 1957, he leveraged his own professional connections to place excerpts of On the Road in magazines like The Paris Review and New World Writing, building hype for the young novelist’s next book. This is common practice today, but in the fifties, it was a novel solution to the name-recognition problem faced by unknown writers.
The rest of the article may feel fairly depressing (magazines don’t have the reach that they once did, readers’ attentions are fractured, writers have to pitch their books on Snapchat, etc.). But there are a few not-so-terrible takeaways. Dwyer notes,
[O]ne positive development amid this sense of precarity is the rise of the literary friendship…Now networks of writers are more important than ever.
Community is the single most powerful tool for a debut writer. A writer’s community is where word-of-mouth buzz starts building, and where advocates emerge from surprising places.
Indeed! Friendship and community for the win!
At Newsweek, Suzanne Mattaboni has written 4 Reasons Why Anthologies Are the New Literary Magazines: And Why That's Good for the Reading Community. She writes,
Literary journals seem to be fragile entities these days, lacking in both financial support and staffing as educational budgets devoted to the arts dwindle…[T]he magazine market for short fiction writers is dramatically shrinking.
…But as literary and genre-based magazines continue to vanish into the digital abyss, another format has been rising to fill the void and provide homes for short-form, printed fiction: The themed anthology.
…Anthologies seem to have a more viable business model than fiction-based magazines, since each can be done as a one-off project, as opposed to the continued overhead associated with a long-term magazine.
At Winning Writers, Annie Mydla shares a list of lit mags and opportunities for “Writers 40+.” Mydla also tackles a subject that comes up often here, namely Older Writers and Finding Success:
One thing I have noticed as a critiquer is that many older authors who ask, "Am I wasting my time?" do so in the context of their first or second manuscript. At that stage of the career, a manuscript can feel monumental, a milestone, a monolith. So much has gone into creating it—a lifetime of emotional processing, for starters. Traditional publishing might seem like the only way to do this monolith justice.
…Meanwhile, there are so many smaller, less-investment-heavy, and just-as-professional publishing opportunities besides full-length book publication.
Mydla recommends the X account noentry, which is “challenging age-barred opportunities in the arts & sometimes GETTING THEM CHANGED!”
I second that recommendation! I knew about this account years ago and (in my post-40 haze) forgot all about it. But they appear to do good work. Here they are questioning a prize with age restrictions:
And here’s one they retweeted, the arrow emphasis my own:
What even is “the tedious slumber of aging”? Can slumber be tedious?
A few lit mags got press recently.
In this piece, Derek Pederson interviews Diane Williams, Editor of NOON, a lit mag that’s been going strong for 25 years. Pederson writes, “Known for great writing, NOON is also gorgeous.” To the question of a work that typifies what the magazine aims to create, Williams replies,
I could name hundreds of exemplars. There may be thousands. I have never counted all the writers we present who recklessly tell the truth, whose transcendent speech carries the reader away into alternate, believable worlds. These NOON contributors are important literary artists.
Sam Dingman has profiled Issued, a new journal that “focuses on active-duty military and veterans.” Says Editor Virgil Connor,
We think that it's important to acknowledge some…of the awful things that have happened to people while also attempting to show a way out because the military industrial complex never stops. And one of the deepest things that I do love about the journal ultimately is it's the question that isn't necessarily asked out loud, but it's, what does it mean to be human in this system? Because that is what we're looking for, is the human experience.
Several lit mags have announced that they plan to close or “take a hiatus.”
A reader shared with me this message from Crosswinds Poetry Journal:
Parperbark “has been placed on an indefinite hiatus.”
A reader shared with me an email from The Smart Set, also going on hiatus.
And now it’s time for our Buellers! As a reminder, this is our new section dedicated to lit mags that appear to be operational but aren’t quite operating, leaving writers to wonder what exactly is going on. Signs a journal might have slipped into Buellerdom include unusually long response times (over one year), inactive social media accounts, delayed contest winner announcements, lack of response regarding accepted work, and/or websites that have not been updated since the Reagan era.
The following lit mags have been identified as possible Buellers. Quotes are from commenters in the most recent news roundup.
White Cresset Arts Journal “accepted a poem and then said they'd prefer to put it in issue two because of the theme. They published one issue in 2023 and have not responded to any of my emails…I'm not sure what's happening with them, but a year is long enough to keep an accepted work in limbo with no responses to queries.”
The Memoirist Quarterly —“I submitted to them last year and I don’t think they’ve updated their website since.”
Does anyone have updates on these journals? Anyone?…Anyone?
If you’re wondering if a lit mag is a Bueller, please drop it in the comments or reach out to me privately, anytime.
For those of you seeking opportunities in the fast-paced land of lit mag publishing:
Chestnut Review seeks readers.
For those seeking homes for your latest & greatest:
Authors Publish has 32 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for June 2024 and 35 Print Literary Journals that Publish Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry.
Authors Publish is also giving away a free e-book on how to publish your stuff in lit mags!
Erika Dreifus has listed 50+ fee-free opportunities that pay for winning/published work.
Erika Verrillo has 72 Calls for Submissions in June 2024 - Paying markets and 64 Writing Contests in June 2024 - No entry fees.
As for us, there is a lot happening this month, including a new venture/activity/thingy I’m excited to share with you all. I’ll be sending out all the details and info tomorrow, so you can Save the Dates. Keep your eyes peeled for that!
For those of you in the Lit Mag Reading Club, our June selection is Shenandoah! Their current issue is the fall 2023 issue, so we will all read that. It’s online and free! So go ahead and get started. We’ll be speaking with Editor Beth Staples at the end of this month.
And that you calendar coordinators and summer schedulers, you fillers out of endless forms and you frequent flyers to all the faraway familiars, you with fantasies of long days spent frolicking on white-sand beaches, you with realities of schlepping and bickering and wondering oh my god which one of you spilled kombucha all over the backseat now this car stinks!!, you with adventures awaiting just round the bend, you whose own mind is an adventure bending itself straight, you with no plans in particular, you with a very particular sort of self-placement in mind, you whose place of peace is the cool open lake and you whose summer days will surely be filled wondering what to make, because you will, make something that is, because making is what you do, you and you, each and always, everywhere, making and awaking into the magnificence of all that you dream, on warm days, and even cold ones, is the news in literary magazines.
Have a most wonderful week, pals.
Fondly,
Becky
And now a word from one of our lovely sponsors:
The Midwest Writers Workshop’s summer conference, MWW24, is in its 51st year--now hybrid! Join us July 11-13, 2024 at the Ball State Alumni Center, Muncie, IN, or virtually wherever you’re located. MWW24 welcomes writers of all levels and all backgrounds, offering community and quality instruction to help you move forward in your writing career. Faculty: Fiction: Paula Ashe, Lucrecia Guerrero, Piper Huguley, Sean Lovelace; Children’s: Keenan Jones, YA: Helen Frost, Saundra Mitchell; Nonfiction: Melissa Fraterrigo; Poetry: Lylanne Musselman. Keynote speakers: Jane Friedman & Tamara Winfrey-Harris.
In-Person: $289. Virtual: $219.
Contact: Leah Lederman, Director. 317-672-6764;
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I published my first novel after turning 60 and that opportunity was the direct result of networking (echoing "friendship and community for the win!"). I knew a writer who knew a publisher and a good word got the submission opened after languishing "received" for months. So much for slumber. It took me 30 years to find my voice. To paraphrase a lyric from the 1980's (when I published my first stuff ever) - " and if I had the choice I'll take the voice I got 'cuz it was hard to find. You know I've come too far to wind up right back where I started."
Over 40 is old? I'd like to see a focus on over-60s. As it is, when people start giving grants and awards to over-40s, they rarely go to anyone over 45, much less 49.