When is the Best Time to Submit?

"If I put my submission in right before the halfway mark, though, I can typically get a pretty quick answer..."

Welcome to our weekly column offering perspectives on lit mag publishing, with contributions from readers, writers and editors around the world.

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It does not take much time in the literary scene to realize even in independent publishing there is a gig economy at play. The scene is a living beast of culture with its own sense of timing and aesthetics. By tuning into what themes and styles are being published, it becomes quite simple to intuit where a submission packet has a high chance of success versus something that will be returned with the plainest of form rejections, reserved for those that did not really read the magazine before submitting or perhaps disregarded some guidelines.