Come on Baby Light My Lit Mag!
The New Yorker union's strike, a statement from former workers at SPD books, editor interviews, places to submit in June, advice for writers and more
Greetings Lit Maguleles,
Awhile back I shared news of the complaints among former workers at SPD Books (which houses small presses and numerous literary magazines). Most recently, several of these workers have put out A Call to End the Anti-Worker Campaign Led By SPD's Board, Directors, Managers, & Apologists. They write:
We believe that the public has the right to refuse to do business with an organization that has had every opportunity to take accountability, but has instead chosen to sacrifice the livelihoods of marginalized workers during a pandemic. Therefore, we support the actions undertaken by members of the public and organizations to hold SPD accountable for the years of abuse against vulnerable workers, including boycotts from Poets Union, Bluestockings, numerous SPD authors, & the many individuals who have refused to purchase from SPD since December.
Meanwhile, the New Yorker union is preparing to strike. As LitHub reports,
After over two years of bargaining with Condé Nast, and a march on Anna Wintour’s house, the New Yorker Union is preparing to strike, in service of fair pay; reasonable health care costs; the ability to freelance without oversight from The New Yorker; enhanced severance; and a notice period for layoffs.
If The New Yorker Union strikes, New Yorker writers, contributors, and freelance editorial workers will stop working and submitting edits, and ask for their work not to be published. They’ll also call for a digital boycott: readers and subscribers will be asked not to use the New Yorker app or click/share any newyorker.com articles for the duration of the strike
In other news, Boulevard and the MFA program at University of Missouri-St. Louis have entered a new partnership. According to the UMSL Daily, students in the MFA program will now read submissions for the magazine and Boulevard will also host the program’s other magazine, Natural Bridge, on its site, after its print publication ceased last year. The partnership is “a natural fit, as well as an excellent opportunity for students.”
Students at Ohio University are also hard at work on their lit mag education. At The Post, Benjamin Ervin writes about the lit mags and small presses at this university. “New Ohio Review and Quarter After Eight are the faculty-run literary journals on campus. Taking submissions from across the nation, these journals publish short fiction, poems and nonfiction on an annual to semi-annual basis.”
If you’d like to get more deeply inside the mind of a lit mag editor, a new interview with former Paris Review Editor and founder of A Public Space, Brigid Hughes, might be of interest. Hughes speaks with Rumaan Alam about “how she went from studying poetry to running a magazine, why it’s important to have niche publications, and the unique role small literary journals play in helping aspiring authors get published.”
For more interviews, perhaps no one is more devoted to profiling no-fee lit mags than Trish Hopkinson. Check out her site for recent interviews with the editors of Fat Coyote, Sledgehammer Lit, Never a Contest, and Literary Mama.
If you’re looking for places to send your work this month, Erica Verrillo has a long list of lit mags open for submissions. The Lumiere Review also has a list of lit mags open now. Authors Publish has a new list of 32 Themed Submissions Calls for June 2021. And Erica Verillo also has a list of 49 Writing Contests in June 2021 - No entry fees.
If you’re seeking advice about selling a story collection to agents, you might be interested in the replies to this tweet. (Just click on the tweet to see the conversation.)
And, as you all know by now, I love hearing from my readers. Last week, a reader wrote in to share his thoughts on lit mag submissions. In the post now up on his site, 5 Myths about Submitting to Literary Journals, George Franklin writes, “You’ve probably also run across these myths before, and maybe you’ve read them and wondered if you’ve been doing it all wrong by not following those myths. If that’s the case, take heart. Just keep writing, and send out as much work as you can send out. Ignore the rejections.”
Lastly, I’ve had a great time chatting with so many editors and getting to know their projects. For those who’ve watched, I hope you’re enjoying the videos! Thank you to all who have participated, and thanks to everyone who came out for the Submissions Q&A. I’ll be doing another one early next month.
In the meantime, save the date! This Friday at 3pm est, I will be speaking with Luiza Flynn-Goodlett, Editor of Foglifter. (More info on this to come in a bit.)
If you edit a lit mag and would like to do a Q & A, please get in touch! I’m hoping to have a chat with every single one of you. Or, at least, most of you.
And that you day traders and daydreamers, you out there liquidating your assets and you marveling at the memory-moonbeams of liquid-flavored acid melting your mind, you who have been assiduously stocking up on bonds and you who feel very bonded to your own personal equities, you who question the validity of a k-shaped recovery and you chugging along in the search for a great discovery, you who long to bid during a bear market and you so careful not to short-sell your soul to the most bullish solutions, you and you, everywhere, wondering how the dow and wow, while always, beautiful creatures that you are, investing in yourselves, yielding the most wondrous worlds of improbably high interest and great, absolutely great returns, is the news in literary magazines.
Have a most profitable week, pals.
Fondly,
Becky
I am an author who has reached out to agents for months. I also work in Social Work and am a caregiver. Time and reality are tight. I have decided to do it on my own and published a book on Amazon. I am up keeping groups to advertise. I have short stories, whose goal is to become a single cohesive work. Any advise?