Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Lit Mags!
Changes at Gettysburg Review; Oxford American celebrates 30 years; April writing conferences; ways to support lit mags; online classes; internship opportunities; 100+ markets for your work, and more
Greetings Lit Magionnaires,
The annual Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) conference has wrapped up its time in Philadelphia. Publishers Weekly reports that “this year's conference had 6,000 in-person attendees and 1,000 virtual ones. The figure pales in comparison to the 2019 conference in Portland, which counted 15,000 attendees, but is an encouraging rebound from the 2020 San Antonio conference…” In the bookfair, where many lit mags had tables, “thousands of attendees visited the booths of more than 500 exhibitors.”
Needless to say, literary magazines are alive and well…Or, are they? This past week, another university lit mag announced budget cuts leading to editorial changes. Says Mark Drew, Editor of Gettysburg Review, “Due to budgetary and staffing reductions triggered by circumstances well beyond our control, Lauren [Hohle, Managing Editor] and I have made the difficult decision to change the Gettysburg Review’s publication frequency from quarterly to triannually…Lauren and I are ever thankful for your understanding and for your commitment to the Gettysburg Review.”
Bitter Oleander is also making changes. According to Poets and Writers, “After twenty-seven years of publication of the press’s celebrated biannual journal, the Bitter Oleander, editor and publisher Paul B. Roth sent the journal’s final issue to the printer in the fall…” Roth will be focusing his energy on Bitter Oleander press, which “will publish almost exclusively poetry in translation…”
Meanwhile, Oxford American is celebrating its 30th anniversary. While this magazine has had a complicated history, “This month, with its Spring issue, the plucky, Conway-based nonprofit begins a yearlong commemoration of three decades of sending into the world voices and stories from the South in all their strange, radiant, complicated glory.”
New magazine Lampblack also got some press in the newest issue of Poets and Writers Magazine. “[Co-editor Paige Aniyah] Morris describes the editorial ethos of the magazine as ‘a different approach to reading Black literature—not so much in the siloed fashion we’ve often seen where there’s the one representative Black writer in an issue of a literary journal or the same few Black writers who we’ve been celebrating…. We want to make it less of a tokenization of Black writing and more of a celebration.’”
If you’re wondering how best to support lit mags, Cincinatti Review Managing Editor (whom I interviewed here), has advice. She writes, “Those behind the scenes at magazines know that very few break even. For print mags, subscriptions help cover some costs, but not all. Even online-only magazines have expenditures related to website maintenance, submission management systems, design, and other labor, and they rarely have a subscription model.”
Another way to support lit mags is to attend their conferences. If this interests you, Barrelhouse’s Conversations & Connections conference will take place April 23, 2022. This “is a one-day writer's conference that brings together writers, editors, and publishers in a friendly, supportive environment…All proceeds go to participating small presses and literary magazines, and to Barrelhouse.”
If you’re looking for other conferences to attend, Erica Verrillo has posted 23 Awesome Writing Conferences in April 2022. “Some conferences and workshops will be held online, but some will be held in person as pandemic restrictions ease. Virtual events still offer everything a writer might want: intensive workshops, pitch sessions with agents, to how to market yourself and your books, discussions - there is something for everyone.”
Among these is Grub Street’s annual Muse and the Marketplace conference, set to take place the last weekend of April. A ton of great sessions are on the schedule this year, and I will also be presenting. Guess what the topic of my session will be! Bet you’ll never guess! (Here’s the answer.)
Yet another way to support literary magazines is to attend their workshops and classes. One Story, American Short Fiction, Barrelhouse and Creative Nonfiction are just a few magazines that offer classes. Creative Nonfiction’s spring classes will begin in mid-April. (I’ll be teaching one of those as well!)
Of course, submitting your very best work is yet another great way to support lit mags. For those of you working on novels, how might you create a strong excerpt to submit for publication? In case you missed it, Masters Review reader B.B. Garin recently shared this advice.
If you would like to get involved behind the scenes of a lit mag, GASHER Journal is now accepting applications for its 2022 Reader internship. “Gasher Journal is now offering year-long positions as a reader for our online publication!…Please note, this is an unpaid position. The internship is open for both students and non-students, established and emerging writers.”
Great Lakes Review is seeking a Copy Editor and a Social Media Co-Coordinator. “Great Lakes Review publishes fiction and poetry from and about the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, both in print annually and on a rolling basis digitally.”
The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW) is seeking a Digital Communications Coordinator. “The coordinator will assist in promoting the Workshop’s robust live programs and digital magazine, The Margins, as well as assisting in the upkeep of AAWW’s brand, style, and public image.”
HerStry has several internship openings. HerStry is a magazine focused on women’s stories, one that “wants to get every woman writing, talking, and sharing her story.”
If you’re looking for new markets for your work, this Literary MagNet profile of writer Sara Lippmann might offer ideas. “‘All the journals I’ve been lucky enough to publish with celebrate nervy writing.’ She adds, ‘The older I get the less patience I have for safe, competent, well-crafted fiction. I’m interested in the messy.’” Her work has appeared in Heavy Feather Review, Gone Lawn, Midnight Breakfast, among others.
Authors Publish has created a list of Seven Exciting New Literary Journals. “Editors of new journals tend to be more generous with their time, energy, and enthusiasm. Plus, they are genuinely grateful that you trusted their new and untested journal with your work.”
And here are 40 Print Literary Magazines that Publish Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. “Many are paying markets. Most, not all, of these are open for submissions now.”
From Erica Verrillo, here are 95 Calls for Submissions in April 2022 - Paying markets. Here are 50 Writing Contests in April 2022 - No entry fees. Here are 11 Dark Fiction and Horror Publications Open for Submissions NOW - Paying markets.
As for us, lots of stuff going on! Tomorrow, I’ll be wrapping up my March interviews with Karina Kupp, the Founder of ChillSubs.com. You can learn more about this amazing new site, and register to join the discussion here.
And, the April line-up of interviews is now live. Next month I’ll be speaking with the good gentlemen behind Atticus Review, Crazyhorse, and Military Experience and the Arts. Come on out!
And that you hunters and gatherers, you foragers and leap-froggers, you who stomp through swampy terrains in search of the cure to your many unscratchable itches and you who relentlessly seek the certain something to satisfy your endlessly insatiable appetites, you with a lantern in your hand that lights you through the wilderness and you with a flashlight, adrift in the basement of your own cobwebby subconscious, you who are opening windows to let the light in, you who are staring at the stars to let the dreams in, you who are burning, all through your skull and deep within the center of your heart’s unstoppable sweetness, you who are hungry, you who are eager, you, everywhere you, yearning for it, yes, it, you know it exactly, for it is it and only it can surely ever be, is the news in literary magazines.
Have a most fabulous week, pals.
Fondly,
Becky
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I attended the 1980 AWP Conference in San Antonio, Texas. It was a small crowd and everyone was accessible. The early days simply felt literary. Now, the conference feels like a spectacle with no focus. I'm not sure writers need this kind of exposure unless it sells books. I did witness Richard Ford dancing and Richard Hugo told me he was being mistreated at Montana. The good old days.
Thanks for this, Becky. I just found your newsletter and I'm already hooked. Great job!