Nothing happens, they say, until somebody sells something.
It’s one of those glib one-liners they use in sales training. However, it’s true. Nothing happens until you do something. Whether it’s the glorious poetry career that is waiting, (if you can manage to send off that first submission), or one of those numismatic articles I keep meaning to write, it’s true. Nothing will happen until you do something.
So I wrote a paragraph about doing things.
Then I looked at details of a number of poetry magazines. It started as a list of possible places for submission, and ended with a half-formed rant in my head.
There is so much detail in some of the submission guidelines. Some 10 point, some 12 point and quite a few don’t mind. Some Times New Roman, one I hadn’t heard of and quite a few don’t mind. Several are still only accepting postal submissions. One explains why it is easier for them to read and digest. What they mean, I think, is that it cuts down on submissions. Or they hate trees.
Generally I avoid these as I still don’t have my printer set up. I really should do that, but I would probably still avoid these magazines. One has published me in the past, but email submissions are so much easier.
I realise that poetry editors are unpaid, and that they are snowed under with submissions, but are they missing something good by making their submission procedures overly complex?
One of the coaches at Newark RUFC, an excellent club that Number One Son played for briefly, once expounded a theory of recruitment to me. It was in relation to one of their age-groups, which was led by an ambitious coach who tried to relive his imagined past glories by bossing kids about. He poached players from surrounding teams and then decided to stop signing new players.
How, the other coach asked, did you know that you weren’t turning away the next Dusty Hare?
That’s a good point, Make it difficult and you might put off a nervous genius. Even if you don’t, is it (rugby or poetry) about finding talent, or about helping people be the best they can be?
Yup, and why in the world any editor of any kind would want postal submissions is beyond me.
Even I prefer everything in email – and I am well known for lagging behind in technology. 🙂
I am the creative nonfiction editor at a small literary journal, and trust me, all submissions must be electronically submitted.
I thought you’d retired from all that. You just can’t stop, can you? 🙂
Nope! Fortunately, the journal only comes out once a year, so the workload isn’t too bad. The submissions for the upcoming issue are so good that it really has been a pleasure to edit the pieces. Nice when that happens.
It’s nice to know there is some benefit from all the hard work. 🙂
Of course, it might be possible for editors who want to read a submission in print, to print it out themselves, then both submitters and the editors could be simultaneously happy.
It would cost them a fortune in printing, so I can see why they wouldn’t ant to do that.
“Make it difficult and you might put off a nervous genius. Even if you don’t, is it (rugby or poetry) about finding talent, or about helping people be the best they can be?” A very good point, especially about helping people be the best they can be! That is a noble cause.
🙂 An area where I sometimes clashed with other coaches.
Only on your blog is is the thought that counts
🙂