Becoming a Literary Entrepreneur: A Chat With Jenn Scheck-Kahn, Founder of Journal of the Month

Founder of lit mag subscription service takes us behind the scenes of the lit mag world

Another interview is complete!

Today’s was a special one, friends. All interviews are special of course. But this was especially special. I had the delight of chatting with Jenn Scheck-Kahn, an old pal of mine and founder of Journal of the Month.

Journal of the Month is a subscription service that allows readers to sign up for a new lit mag every month, every other month or once every three months. The magazine changes each time— “a tantalizing surprise.” As a subscriber you get a broad overview of a variety of journals and have access to the magazines you might not encounter at your local library or bookstore. Imagine—a new lit mag in the mail for you on a regular basis!

Funny enough, even though Jenn and I lived in the same city for a long time, and even though we both had experience with literary side projects, and even though we both teach workshops on lit mag submitting, and even though both of us have an evident interest in the world of literary magazines, we’d never actually sat down and conversed about all of it. Until today.

Here we discussed Jenn’s reasons for starting this project—amazingly she did so as the mother of a one-year-old and with a second baby on the way. This led to questions about time-management and balancing parenting, writing and entrepreneurial work. We talked about what lessons from running a business could apply to one’s writing and what advice we have for people thinking about beginning a literary side project of their own.

Before our chat, Jenn reached out to editors from New England Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Missouri Review and elsewhere to get answers to some questions. How has the pandemic changed their editorial processes? What steps are they taking toward better racial representation in their pages? What one thing do they wish more writers knew about their magazines?

Want to know what they said? You’ll have to watch the video to find out!

Jenn shares so much wisdom here, about submitting to lit mags and not taking rejection personally, about finding the right markets for your work, about growing the early stages of your writing career and writing identity, and so much more.

There is also some funny stuff about what writers should not, definitely not, absolutely in no way do if they want to stay in the good graces of journal editors.

We wrapped up after about an hour, but probably could have yukked it up for the rest of the afternoon. Stay tuned for a part 2, and if there are any specific topics you would like us to address, give me a holler.

As always, thanks to everyone who came out today. So many new people! Your faces bring me such joy!

And, of course, thank you to Jenn for taking the time today to share so many fun and useful insights into the world of literary entrepreneurship and literary magazines.

Happy viewing!