Friday, August 31, 2018

Tobi Alfier - Submissions Are Even Better Than Bacon


There are many ways to find submission opportunities. When a Facebook friend announces a success, I congratulate them, and immediately look up the journal to see if it might be a good fit for my work.

NewPages.com has a tab for submission opportunities that is continuous. And free.

Poets and Writers Magazine is a treasure chest of information. In the back they list contests and submission opportunities. The contests usually have due dates, may have themes, and may carry a hefty price for entry. If a journal interests you, look it up anyway. Check the non-contest guidelines and see if they’re a fit for you. Check the journals and anthologies in the very back of the magazine as well.

Duotrope is another resource. For $5/week or $50/year, you will get a weekly report of new paying journals added, non-paying journals added, journals that are deemed to be “defunct” and ones whose windows have closed. They also have a long list of current themes open. For poets who write in multiple genres, they are now listing agents.

Besides the weekly report, you can log in to Duotrope.com at any time and get lists of journals by all sorts of criteria, from those that pay to those that respond quickly, and on and on.

Read bios and acknowledgment pages. If there are poets you like, and you think their work is a good match for yours, see where they’ve been published. Read the guidelines for those journals; see if you’d be a good match too.

If a journal is not open, write the date it opens on your calendar. What else is a calendar for besides birthdays and dentist appointments?

There are blogs (like trishhopkinson.com) and many other ways to find places to submit. Find the ways that work for you, then do it, if that’s what you want to do.

Last week I listed a few journals and promised more this week. Remember, there are more than 23,000 literary journals listed in the United States alone. Last week you had a tiny peek. This week a few more.

Not to be “Debbie Downer” here, but rejections are a part of the writing life. Choose your submissions carefully; you will have more yes’s than no’s.  And please let me know about your successes. I will be so happy for you and will look forward to reading them.

Picaroon Poetry  (online, UK)

Closed until September 16, 2018

Poppy Road Review (online)


THAT Literary review  (print)
Department of English and Philosophy and the College of Arts and Sciences at Auburn University at Montgomery

Penumbra Literary Review  (print)
Cal State Stanislaus

Open: Journal of Arts & Letters (online)

Blue Heron Review (online)

Better Than Starbucks Poetry Magazine (print and online)

Black Fox Literary Magazine (print and online)



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Tobi Alfier's most recent collection of poetry is Somewhere, Anywhere, Doesn't Matter Where. She is also co-editor with Jeff Alfier of the San Pedro River Review. Don't miss Tobi's columns on the craft of poetry: insert your email address in the "Follow By Email" box to the right of this article and you'll be notified every time a new article appears.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the kind mention of O:JA&L, Tobi.

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    1. Jeff, it is my pleasure. It's a beautiful journal.

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  2. So glad to have found this, Tobi! Lots of useful information; as alway, thank you. Marjon.

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    1. You are so welcome. I love writing these posts! I'm glad you're enjoying them!!

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