Oh, Yes, I'm the Lit Mag Pretender!
Politicizing submissions guidelines; dealing with AI submissions; literary renaissances in Dallas & Pittsburgh; rejection letter poem; dozens of paying markets, contests; & more
Welcome to our bi-weekly news roundup!
Greetings Lit Maglligators,
Over the weekend I noticed a tweet from a lit mag that said essentially, “If you do not support [political cause], then do not submit here.”
I’m not naming this magazine because that’s not what’s important. I’m not naming the cause either because that’s not what I’d like to focus on here.
I’ve thought about this tweet a lot over the past few days. What’s really stuck with me is something I worry this tweet represents, namely a certain shift in editorial practices. Frankly, I’ve never seen anything like this.
Here are not just editors saying, “If you build your platform on supporting xyz, then I will not publish you,” or “If you state open support for abc, then I reserve the right to un-publish you.”
Both of these things we’ve seen plenty of; I’ve written about this before. Whatever your feelings about writers getting de-platformed or rejected outright based on comments they’ve said or posted elsewhere, we all know this has been happening for some time.
What’s new, to me at least, is discouraging submitting writers purely based on what they think about an issue. How, I wondered, would editors even know what a writer supports and doesn’t support? In addition to everything else that goes into a cover letter, are writers also now meant to state their views on pressing political issues? If such views are not openly stated, what means should we expect editors to take in order to suss out potential contributors?
And what about this:
When I tweeted this, I was thinking of my single mom friend who works full-time and raises a child with special needs. I was also thinking of another friend who has an autistic son, and who has devoted every last ounce of her non-working time and attention to his care. They may have an opinion about [political cause]. Honestly, they probably don’t. But one of them writes essays, brilliant ones.
Is it really fine and normal for a whole world of people to be told to not bother submitting to [Literary Magazine] because they don’t have a clear, well-defined position about [political cause]? What does that mean for writers from all backgrounds, who work under all kinds of conditions? What does it mean for how writing is judged, now and going forward? What does it say about the expected readership of lit mags?
Alright. This is the news round-up. And I am meant to bring you the news. Just wanted to say some words about all that.
Moving along, at Poets and Writers, Jonathan Vatner has written an interesting piece on Managing Submissions in the Age of AI.
[There are] questions that editors and literary organizations are increasingly wrangling with as they face a rise of AI-generated and -enhanced submissions: Should they allow authors to use AI, and, if so, what counts as an acceptable use of the technology versus cheating? How can they weed out illegitimate AI submissions, not only for contests, but also during regular reading periods?
One thing I also wondered this weekend is, are any companies creating software that somehow detects AI bots and blocks it? Might publishers install a program that would act as a wall preventing those AI poachers from getting into the code? Maybe this is ridiculous, I don’t know. The AI bots would probably adapt fast and find a workaround. Still, I wondered…
In other news, as presses still struggle with the fallout from the closing of SPD Books, The Poetry Foundation has announced a Bridge Fund for small presses. “Effective immediately, nonprofit presses that publish poetry and have been impacted by the SPD closure, including those that are fiscally sponsored, can request a bridge grant from the Poetry Foundation.”
The Founder of Deep Vellum got a nice write-up in The New York Times, bringing some literary attention to Dallas, TX as well:
Today Dallas is home to one of the most dynamic, international literary scenes in the country, inspired in many ways by the infectious, D.I.Y. energy of Deep Vellum, now one of the country’s largest publishers of translated literature, and Wild Detectives. Their fates have been twined from the start, and this past weekend they threw a joint 10th-ish anniversary celebration at the bookstore that lasted three days and felt more house party than book party.
Meanwhile, it seems Pittsburgh is having a “literary publishing renaissance.” Pittsburgh City Paper has profiled a handful of new or already running magazines over in Steel City:
It’s been a tough few years for literary publishing. Supply chain snarls and inflation drove up printing costs, adding strain to already tight budgets. Considering many small publishers were overworked and underpaid (or unpaid) even before 2020, the recent flood of closures isn’t surprising. Several Pittsburgh-area publishers that existed in 2019 are now defunct, among them poetry journal 5AM and chapbook publisher Hyacinth Girl Press. Others, like BatCat Press out of Midland, Pa., haven’t officially folded but are on indefinite hiatus.
While the loss of these publishers is unfortunate, it has also cleared the way for new independent publications to bring fresh voices and opportunities to the local literary landscape.
For those of you seeking lit mag advice, outgoing Poetry Editor of Mikrokosmos Hannah Bartlett has shared thoughts. When it comes to what magazines are seeking, she says:
Weird shit: Like seriously. No publication wants to publish a piece that feels like the same stuff everyone else has published. Get rid of the cliches. Send the stuff you think is too weird! This magazine requests work that is "blongy" and has a whole webpage dedicated to a mood board of sorts to explain what they want.
I promise, editors and writers are equal amounts of weird.
At Poets and Writers again, poet Saba Keramati shares which lit mags accepted her early work, in which she “searches for language and formal structure to hold her sense of ‘unbelonging’ in the United States.” Magazines featured include AGNI, The Seventh Wave, Quarterly West and others.
Finally, if you’ve been carrying the weight of all those rejection letters on your back lately, you might appreciate this delightful rejection-letter-poem from Sean Thomas Dougherty. Here is an excerpt:
For those of you looking for work:
The Drift seeks an Editorial Assistant.
Radon Journal seeks Fiction Editors.
For those of you seeking homes for your latest & greatest:
Erica Verrillo has posted 85 Calls for Submissions in May 2024 - Paying markets and 72 Writing Contests in May 2024 - No entry fees.
Erika Dreifus has posted “50 fee-free opportunities that pay for winning/published work.”
Authors Publish has 5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in May 2024
As for us, in case you missed it, I sent out this month’s Save the Dates announcement. You can now find all about this month’s upcoming info sessions and interviews with editors right here:
And that you precious pineapples so prickly on the outside but so sweetly welcoming within, you audacious apples appearing everywhere in your all-star role as most ubiquitous and most symbolic, you fuzzy kiwis with your secretly edible peels, you oranges too, same, and for that matter, you jack fruit hitherto nowhere and now seemingly everywhere, you powerful coconuts sneaking your way into everything, you honeydews with a color so nearly neon you seem nearly unnatural but no, lo! You’re so very real, and you bananas so radioactive and versatile with your skins so slap-stick-slippery, you and you, berries picked clean off the branch and limes so satisfyingly sour, you bell peppers and cucumbers who, I’ll bet, you didn’t even know would fit into this category, but it’s true, they do, and not all fruits are sweet, of course, but you and you, everywhere, and always, are so very of this earth, and belonging here, always, is the news in literary magazines.
Have a most satisfying week, pals.
Fondly,
Becky
I’m to the point that I avoid lit mags that make these politicized statements. Reject me preemptively? I’ll reject you first.
Wow, telling folks not to submit because of what they believe is rather shocking. Policies should be about what kind of writing the lit mag publishes. Definitely a red flag not to submit there.