Kiss a Lit Mag Good Mornin'!
Submittable tone-policing; Litro's blockchain initiative; lit mags using AI art; advice for writers; Kenyon Review & the CIA; "the New Yorker story;" literary "it girls;" markets + more...
Welcome to our bi-weekly news roundup!
Greetings Lit Magroscopes,
Last night, while reading Michio Kaku’s book Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and our Lives by the Year 2100, I came upon a quote (emphasis my own):
The corollary to the Cave Man Principle is that if you want to predict the social interactions of humans in the future, simply imagine our social interactions 100,000 years ago and multiply that by a billion. This means that there will be a premium placed on gossip, social networking and entertainment. Rumors were essential in a tribe to rapidly communicate information, especially about the leaders and role models. Those who were out of the loop often did not survive to pass on their genes.
Do you see? At last we have scientific proof that reading these news roundups and staying in the loop is not only beneficial to your writing career, but essential to your survival.
But you probably knew that already.
Now, on to the news!
A recent kerfuffle between BULL Magazine and Submittable caught my eye. In March the magazine posted on X:
That’s right. Submittable threatened to pause BULL’s account due to complaints about the journal’s “vulgar declination message.” The message in question was apparently this:
Yes, there is cursing. Yes, the editor references “talking out of my asshole.” But such language is directed to the editor himself, not the writer. It’s meant to be funny and is wholly consistent with the edgy but sweetly earnest vibe of the journal.
More important than the journal’s intention, though, is Submittable’s. Is the technology company now monitoring the speech of lit mag editors? Is “vulgar” language no longer allowed on their platform? Since when has Submittable taken it upon itself to police what editors can and cannot say?
This is a remarkable turn of events, not least of all because Submittable has notoriously done nothing in response to the many complaints about scams that use its platform. In fact, a reader once reported to me that Submittable stated they would not intervene in a scam precisely because their policy is not to “police” organizations on their platform. Has something changed? Or do they only police some groups and not others?
The good news is that there was an outpouring of support for this beloved little mag. BULL has not posted an update on the matter, so I assume it’s been dropped. Whether Submittable will continue to monitor its users’ language remains to be seen.
Litro Magazine has announced a new initiative. In Introducing The Sphere Initiative: Protecting Creative Work Before It’s Shared, Litro Editor Eric Akoto writes,
The Sphere Initiative is a new platform, developed in partnership with Litro, that gives creators a digital signature for their work the moment it’s shared. We use blockchain-backed verification and metadata tracking to help creators prove authorship, manage rights, and unlock new income opportunities — from agent discovery to branded partnerships.
Several of you reached out to me, asking what this is. At this point I really do not know. One concern I had upon hearing about the initiative has to do with the terms and conditions of the magazine itself.
On its site Litro states, “Copyright to the original work will remain with Litro unless otherwise requested from the submitter, upon notification it will then be reverted back to the Author.” They also state “Sublicensing: This permission includes the right to reproduce, promote, and sublicense the work to other websites, magazines, or publishers.”
With these copyright terms in mind, I reached out to Akoto to ask the following questions:
Can you clarify whether the work posted through The Sphere Initiative will be minted NFTs?
Will these works be for sale?
Who retains the copyright to these works?
If they are sold, how are profits shared between writers and yourself?
Will past published works be posted on The Sphere, and if so will contributors be notified?
Akoto replied:
The Sphere isn’t minting NFTs; we use secure metadata for real-time authorship verification.
Creators retain full copyright. No work is shared, tokenized, or sold without their explicit input.
Monetization features (like licensing) are planned — but opt-in and still in early development.
Past Litro contributors won’t have any content uploaded automatically — participation is voluntary.
We’re still in soft launch mode, but happy to share a more detailed media kit once we’re closer to public rollout.
That’s all I know so far! Do with this what you will. Akoto seems open to questions on the project. I will keep you all posted.
If you were not able to attend AWP and wondered how the conference went, or if you did attend and wondered how it went for other people, a few roundups came out last week.
At
, Ervick does a great job blending photographs, drawings and text to explore the appeal of Substack and the pressures of conference-going. Here’s a snippet from “Am I having a creative crisis? And is it Substack's fault?”
At
, Vivian writes in “Trying not to freak out at a writers' conference,”I’m still not entirely sure I belonged there, but I’m really glad I went.
It reminded me that most of us are just trying—nervously, imperfectly—to make our dreams come true. And maybe that’s the whole point. If you’re thinking of doing something that scares you a bit (especially if it involves hard chairs and strangers), consider this your nudge. You might surprise yourself.
If you’re wondering whether you should even go to a writing conference, Sherri L. Smith has posted “7 Reasons to go to Literary Conferences” at
. Says Smith,A few years ago, a friend asked if I would speak to her writing class. Afterwards, she asked me if I was going to some conference or other. I said, “What?” I had stopped going to conferences a few years ago…She gave me a funny look and said, “But that’s where we find teaching jobs.” It was? As it turns out, she was right...
What I thought was a fair for MFA programs is also a job fair. Who knew?
In broader literary news, Lis Maestrelo has raised interesting points about the use of AI images at literary magazines. In “The problem with literary publications using AI-generated images” at
, Maestrelo writes,Check the submission guidelines of these publications which use AI-generated images. They are interested in publishing human-made writing. Some even state, “We do not accept AI-generated work”.
Why would a literary publication that doesn't support AI-generated writing, use AI-generated images instead of human art to illustrate their stories?
…
The underline [sic] message is:
It is okay to hurt an artistic class, as long as it is not MY artistic class.
Because that’s what AI is doing to the visual art community: it is killing the opportunities of artists.
At The Wall Street Journal, Sam Sacks reviews A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker: 1925-2025. In “A Century of Fiction in the New Yorker’: The Long and the Short of It,” Sacks observes,
For almost as long as there have been stories in the New Yorker there has existed the concept of “the New Yorker story.” This is broadly understood to refer to something plotless, nuanced and exquisitely described, a chronicle of East Coast manners that typically features a middle-aged white-collar man bewildered by the complexities of work, family and love…In fact, the names themselves compound the sense of homogeneity, since the style’s most famous practitioners—O’Hara, Cheever and Updike—were all Johns.
The Kenyon Review celebrates 85 years in print. At The Kenyon Collegian, Sacha Franjola documents the magazine’s fascinating history.
In the Alumni Bulletin article, [a] former College Historian…explained that there has been some speculation that [Robie] Macauley may have continued to work for the CIA during his tenure as editor: “We don’t have any actual proof, but there’s a lot of suggestion that he was involved. The CIA was working with lots of different publications to get them into the Eastern Bloc especially in the hope that they had influence.” Potential CIA connections notwithstanding, Macauley’s leadership saw the Review publish works by Joyce Carol Oates, Thomas Pynchon and Sylvia Plath. He left the magazine in 1967 to edit Playboy.
Madison Michelle has written about the “literary it girl” phenomenon on
:literary it girls seem to have it all - the sponsorships by miu miu, the features in magazines, the bylines on cover stories, and the book deals at indie houses. it may not be mainstream success, although i often interpret it as such since i’m tapped into their niche online corners, yet i’m convinced even a slither of that would ease my depression and anxiety. at least the parts rooted in my unstable financial situation from being an offspring of a pregnant middle school dropout and a latino immigrant. people like me don't make it to nyc, let alone write for magazines and publish bestsellers, but perhaps with enough followers, it's possible.
In the realms of writerly advice, Michael More has posted “Writer’s Block Doesn’t Exist.” At
, Mohr writes,Many new writers make the mistake of thinking that writing—this is especially true for fiction—is about thinking, is about the mind, is about the intellect. Mostly it’s not. At least not in the first draft stage. It’s really much more about feeling, vision, intuition.
…Let go of all the writing classes you took, the overpriced MFA you paid $100,000 for, the practical side of anything. Just let yourself go. Let your fingers dance. Think like the Zen Buddhists. There is no inherent self, no intrinsic “you,” no egoistic “I.” There’s just the blank white page, your holy vision, and the keys. See your way, fight your way into the goddamn story.
In Write As You Are, Susannah Rigg has posted “5 Things I've Learnt as a Reader for a Literary Magazine.” Says Rigg,
2. Rejection Doesn’t Mean Your Story Isn’t Good or That We Didn’t Like it
I know everyone says this but it really is TRUE. Every story goes through layers and layers of thoughtful consideration and many amazing stories end up ultimately getting rejected.
So, if you are someone who takes a rejection as a sign to give up or to go in with hard edits on your story, I want to repeat the following:
A rejection doesn’t mean that no one liked your story or that your story isn’t good.
At Brooke Lea Foster's Dear Fiction, Foster has posted “The 8 Habits of Really Good Writers.” Foster says,
A published writer gets there only because they are committed to making time for their words. They push the business of life out of the way to share what they hold most dear. Writing is, in many ways, a call to prayer, and I’ve found that the older I get, the more I realize how I wouldn’t be me without my desire to tell stories. Habit 7: Treat your writing like a sacred space.
And , which announced its closing recently, has just announced a new endeavor, and a call for submissions!
Many people have asked us what we will do next. Zac and Joe are discussing a nonfiction book idea, but the main focus right now is a new Substack that will be called Beyond Craft. As the name suggests the posts will focus on aspects of the writing life and industry that go beyond the basic craft advice we have been offering through our Orca blog for the last six years.
The posts will be written by both the BC staff (and some of the Orca staff will be joining us) and via submissions from other writers.
Fans of Bullshit Lit will be happy to see the magazine has announced its return.
Meanwhile, Thrush Poetry Journal has announced its closure.
Thank you for all the Volunteer TPJ Editors throughout the years for your amazing dedication, hard work, and love of Poetry, thank you to the poets who have shared their outstanding work with us – we have truly been honored to give it a home at THRUSH, thank you to everyone who submitted to us, and, of course, to our readers, who visited our pages by the thousands each day!
For those of you seeking homes for your latest & greatest (note I now only list these in the first newsletter of each month):
has a list of opportunitiesAt
, Erika Dreifus has posted “60+ fee-free, paying/funded opportunities for writers of fiction, poetry, & creative nonfiction.”Erica Verrillo has 67 Calls for Submissions in April 2025 - Paying markets and 62 Writing Contests in April 2025 - No entry fees.
Authors Publish has 32 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for April 2025 and Nine Exciting New Literary Journals To Submit To.
has themed calls, fellowships, jobs, opportunities, recently opened submission calls…and everything else under the sun…As for us, there is so much happening this month and it’s all starting this week! In case you missed the line-up, I’ll be speaking with journal editors, writers with AI expertise, submission strategy mavens, and more.
Learn all about it and register here.
And that you sweet spring-timers reveling in the approaching annual searches—Easter eggs in the grass! Matzoh in the cupboard!—you peppily hopping bunny rabbits, you with your insides so sweetly full of chocolate, you with your wisdom and your questions, you of your (many) (wonderful) cups of wine, you and you, dunked deep in the April showers, eagerly awaiting all those allegedly forthcoming flowers, you with so much pending in so many queues and so much thinking always to do, in so many hues, you going in like a lion and out like a lamb, or is the other way around? in like an outsider? out like a bellybutton? Round and round? Like a lionlamb? A lambion? You with the family coming, you in your brightest pastels, you around the table, you and you, everywhere, upping the down and drowning the ante, always, forever with a plan, a holiday, a season, a feeling of festivity coming or something close enough to it, in whatever way is the way because it is only yours and yours alone, is the news in literary magazines.
Have a most wonderful week, pals.
Fondly,
Becky
I would certainly rather have a rejection like that from Bull than some of the bland, nothing forms I've received...
I absolutely love Bull's rejection template, it is hilarious! More pubs should send out such glee.
I don't know what to make of Submittable's sudden weirdness. Sounds to me like AI was implemented. :P