It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Lit Mags!
Jacobin reviews Granta; submissions woes; New Yorker publication realities; essay submission advice; revision advice; editor interviews; transitioning from academia to lit mags; and more
Welcome to our bi-weekly news roundup!
Greetings Lit Magnificents,
It’s rare to find reviews of lit mags in politically oriented outlets. But in a recent issue of Jacobin, William Harris takes a deep dive into Granta. The esteemed British magazine’s most recent issue focuses on China and is the “fourth issue under Granta’s new editor, Thomas Meaney.” The issue “brings together fiction, poetry, interviews, critical essays, memoirs, and photo essays.”
In China’s Minor Literature, Harris writes,
The new issue comes amid the chilling of US-China relations. “Chimerica,” or the pre-2008 dream of US and Chinese comanagement of the global capitalist system, has been all but forgotten, replaced now by talk of a New Cold War.
…Granta’s new issue features only writers and photographers who live and work in the mainland, and it opens a window onto the cultural world that emerged out of this context. For readers like me, more or less new to recent trends in Chinese literature, it offers…historical background through interviews and critical essays, and geographic range by taking us to edges of the country…from the fly-by-night factories and migrant-worker bunks of the south to the rusting old Communist worlds of the north.
…Its achievement, reprised in its new issue, has been to venture out, in quiet, angular ways, into the world.
Here in the U.S., many Substacks caught my eye this week.
In Pity the Short Story Writer,
talks about his experiences with literary magazines, a process he calls “dispiriting.” He explains, “You wait months and months and months and the most common type of rejection is the non-answer. A form letter rejection, even, can tickle the heart. Anything beats the void. And the void, when you play the short story game, is what you get.”Barkan argues in favor of self-publishing, noting that “the stigma is melting away.”
I would not advise a young writer today to spend years submitting to literary journals in the hope of getting their short fiction published. The journals and magazines might mean well, but few of them have dedicated audiences and it’s unclear the stories published there can build a literary career. That ladder is crumbling away.
Barkan cites a piece by writer and critic
, How I would try to get a story published in the New Yorker (if my dream was to be published in the New Yorker). Here Kanakia has some straight talk for writers sending work to The New Yorker:[T]here is…substantial evidence that it is completely impossible to sell to the New Yorker through the submissions form. The previous fiction editor of the New Yorker, Bill Buford, never bought a single story from the open slush during his eight-year tenure. The current editor, Deborah Treisman, is a bit more cagey, but, in interviews, she has never named a single person whose story she’s selected from the online submission form. She does name unagented and unsolicited authors she’s published, but it feels entirely likely that all of those stories were submitted through connections. And when she’s asked how to get a story into the New Yorker, she basically says, “Through your agent.”
Relevant to this idea of questioning much-vaunted literary institutions, I came across an amusing bit in one of
’s recent newsletters. (Palahniuk offers helpful writing advice generally, by the way, and generously posts critiques of writers as regular craft lessons.) He writes,During an interview in Paris, a French journalist told me that France couldn’t grasp the idea of an MFA. Especially an MFA in fiction writing. I asked about the French equivalent. The reporter shrugged as if the answer were obvious. He said, “If you want to learn from an established author you fuck them!” He said the older teaches the younger, then promotes the younger writer, then bequeaths a legacy of fame on his paramour.
Well, that’s one way to go about it!
In the realm of craft,
has written Like Seinfeld, my favorite essays are about nothing (and everything). Rollins explains how she determines if a personal essay belongs in a literary magazine or a “popular outlet” like Salon.One major difference between popular and literary essays is the degree to which the aboutness is explicit.
When you write an essay for a popular outlet, you nearly always need a direct takeaway. The takeaway is a statement of the essay’s aboutness. The reader doesn’t infer it. The reader is explicitly told.
…Not all essays are meant to have takeaways. This means that not all essays are meant to find homes in popular outlets.
At her Substack, Yale Review Editor
offers craft advice as well. In How to Edit Your Own Work, O’Rourke writes,I noticed as a baby editor at The New Yorker that when I gave editorial notes to emerging or less experienced writers, they tended to do the exact scope or bare minimum of what I was suggesting, when really we were hoping that our notes would serve as a prompt to make good changes that we couldn’t even imagine.
For me, perhaps 65% of the writing is in the editing. Sometimes only a little changes; sometimes a LOT changes. But the changes I make in editing are usually the things that give the manuscript its “voice,” its urgency, its sense of propulsion and authority (if I succeed).
And at Cleaver Magazine, Elizabeth Bird has written How I’m Recalibrating for the Third Age, a delightful essay about switching gears from academic publications to literary journals. I learned of this essay right in here in our most recent Lit Mag Brag! Writes Bird of her submissions process,
From what I could gather, magazines run by students seemed to value angst, sexual revelation, and literary experimentation. My more conventional efforts seemed to resonate with independent venues, where perhaps a few grayer heads prevailed? Other than that—no clue really. A piece I was quite proud of was rejected in record time by a magazine I thought was perfect. They acknowledged the fit of the topic, which is more than I usually get, but it “didn’t come together for us.” A few days later, another similar-tier mag accepted it joyfully: “a lovely, moving, and relatable essay.” I’ll take it, even though I don’t know why.
A handful of editor interviews and profiles this week give us insight into the craft, the writing process, and their work.
At Write or Die, Best-of-the-Net Editor Darren C. Demaree has written A Prolific Poet’s Creative Routine Mirrors Sobriety. The “diary represents a week in his life managing [his local library], writing poetry, and supporting his theater-loving kids. He shares how routines, family life, and bursts of inspiration keep his poetic projects moving forward.” (You can also find my recent interview with Demaree here.)
At Johns Hopkins Magazine, Aleyna Rentz talks to Mary Jo Salter about “what makes a poem good.” Writes Rentz in the introduction, “As guest editor of The Best American Poetry 2024, Mary Jo Salter spent last year scouring literary journals for 75 of the best poems from 75 different poets.” Salter says, “What poetry does, among other things, is force us to slow down and recognize that we haven’t been paying attention…When we’re surprised by feeling, that tends to produce a better poem than if we’re not.”
In Transforming a story collection into a laboratory for experimentation, Ilana Masad reviews Rémy Ngamije’s newest story collection. Ngamije is “not only a writer of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, but also an educator, editor, photographer and founder of Doek, a Namibian arts organization; Namibia’s first literary magazine; and the biennial Doek Literary Festival. His desire for and investment in building community through these endeavors doesn’t necessarily infuse his fiction consciously, but it’s nevertheless echoed in the pages of his second book…”
At
Christine Sneed interviews Syed Afzal Haider, Editor of Chicago Quarterly Review. Haider shares insights about his books, his writing process and his magazine. I especially enjoyed this recounting of his process:…in the beginning, when the world was believed to be flat, I was writing short stories, and was having minor success in getting published. Then, my good friend and agent—(I don’t think she’d mind if I share this)— the poor woman sent my short story, “Brooklyn to Karachi Via Amsterdam,” to a famous editor at The Atlantic, who seemed to like it, and made some valuable comments, but rejected it. So I re-worked the story a bit based on his remarks. Then instead of sending it to my agent, I sent it directly to the same famous editor at The Atlantic… he rejected it again…admonishing me: “Syed, I have rejected this story already.”
I thought, Maybe I shall try [my] hand writing a novel!
And now it’s time for Buellers! This is where we bring to light those lit mags that might be still running, or might not be, who knows! These are journals that appear to be open for submissions but also seem to have gone quietly defunct. These lit mags have us all scratching our heads, wondering…
A reader asked about Haymaker Literary Journal. This one is a doozy. I didn’t find any info on Duotrope, except that submissions are “temp closed.” The site says both that submissions are open and that submissions are closed. I found no social media presence. Until I hear otherwise, my guess is it’s defunct.
Another is Pilgrimage Magazine. I don’t see any info on their site, but Duotrope has flagged this magazine as “Does not Quality” for a listing. Reason: “The submission information on their official website is out of date/inaccurate; also, they have fallen behind their stated biannual publication frequency. (June 2024).” My guess is defunct.
And another was one Hoax Magazine. Reader’s comment: “The grinder is listing Hoax as permanently closed, but their website seems running and I can’t find any note on it.” I see that Duotrope also lists this one as “DNQ.” Reason: “The submission guidelines on their official website are not up to date. (April 2024).” Also their site says “Submissions will open again in January 2024.” That is one year ago. I’m guessing defunct.
Personally, I will never understand how some lit mags simply close without any announcement to readers and past contributors, especially those lit mags that still have submissions pending in their queue! Ah well. As the French expression goes, say la V.
As for us, there is still lots ahead this month. This Tuesday we have our monthly Lit Mag Chat and later this month I’ll be speaking with Megan Sexton, Editor of Five Points. You can learn all about it, register (and claim the code for a free digital copy of Five Points’ current issue!) right here:
Save the Dates! December Interviews & Info Sessions!
Hi, me again! I hope your bellies are full, your spirits are sated, and you are not presently trapped under a giant stampede of people trying to get discount electronics at the mall.
And that you cookie designers and pine tree decorators, you tinsel winders and ornament organizers, you who will carol with the neighbors, you who will cavort with the nightingales, you with candle wax under your fingernails and you counting the blessings and the light, you stuffing stockings and you stocking up on angels, you with the ever hopefulness of every present-giver everywhere, wondering if the thing wrapped within will be good enough, you who must know that yes, surely it will be, because it contains all your you-ness deep beneath the shimmery sheen, you and you, everywhere rushing, you with your chimneys, you with your hearty hilarious ho-ho-ho’s, you of sleighs a-ring-aling-ing and bells a-jing-aling-ingling and little kids all around you asking what did he bring-aling-ing and you, weeping into your wallet over all your spent bling-a-ling-ing, but not to worry, no, because you are the light, the gift, the tree, the candle, and all will be fine, all will be merry, all will be calm and oh so utterly alight upon your expansive wing-a-ling-ings, is the news in literary magazines.
Have a most pleasant week, pals.
Fondly,
Becky
And now a word from our lovely sponsors!
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I recently got my NYer rejection for the poetry I offered them — 26 months post submission. I was amused to see several other writers saying the same on X and Bluesky. 2 years +, for each of us. I have a friend who insists the poetry is not read. “Then why do they bother keeping up the charade that it is?” I said. “It must take some resources to keep up a pretense. Is that investment worth its return in goodwill when writers believe they have some chance, even if minuscule?” The fantasy is that merit will out. But the lines in your newsletter about the fiction editors ignoring unsolicited short stories bolster my friend’s assertion. At least NYer poetry submissions are free. It’s silly it takes more than two years to say no. If the no is predetermined, any turnaround would be arbitrary. Set the bot to say no in a month to maintain the illusion of editorial process … But then if the editors don’t care, why even bother with that?
I don't know why I ever thought differently. I thought somehow I had a chance of publishing in the New Yorker just by sending in a pdf of my best story! I won't bother unless I get an agent. I mean, in 1980 I was assistant to the Editor in Chief of Esquire, and one of my jobs was to turn out rejection letters to pieces that came in, as they called it, over the transom. Not one was ever taken.