• About
  • News
  • Fathom Lines
  • Songs for the Short Story, I Made You This Playlist
  author page for writer Erin Bedford

An Open Letter to Literary Magazines

4/3/2014

4 Comments

 
Picture
Dear Literary Mags (may I call you Mags from here on out?) ,

In an effort to keep a promise I made to myself at the beginning of this year, I have been googling your websites and reading many of your Submission pages. In the process, I've discovered a few things about you. First, the good stuff:

  • You are willing to read, and sometimes publish, some pretty out-there fiction. 
  • Most of you publish poetry, a rare and necessary thing these days.
  • Most of you pay, if not with money, then with social media publicity.
  • Every week/month/season there's some wonderful reading to look forward to via mail/inbox/webpage.

But I've also noticed a few things you could improve:

  • Some of you still refuse to accept electronic submissions. The only reason for this logic in the 21st century, with wonderful things like email and Submittable here to help us all out and save us from rising postal costs, is as a filter. The problem with this logic is that, eventually, you will only receive submissions from ninety year olds. Nothing against ninety year olds, just saying.
  • Some of you are snarky and dismissive before you've even read anything. Look, I understand that there are a million and one people out there who want to write, who look to you to get some cred, and that means that you have to read a lot of not-so-brilliant things. But it's part of the package, no? If people were dumping brilliant work in your lap every week, you wouldn't need to ask for submissions at all.  
  • Some of you tell us that you can not pay us for our hard work, but would we kindly go out and buy a twelve dollar copy of you? I know that beyond selling yourself, you are trying to give writers an idea of what you want to read and publish. But so do a few excerpts on your website. And if you can't pay us, then why should we pay you? 
  • Some of you have the audacity to tell us that we won't even receive a rejection letter. Wait a few months. If you don't hear from us, we probably don't want your work. Really? Not even an auto-response? You don't have time to press a button?
  • Some of you want us to feel sorry for you. Can we all just agree that this whole literary thing is hard work and mostly for the joy of it, and not for the money or fame? I know that the majority of you are unpaid and overworked and that this is something you do in your precious spare time--kind of like the majority of people who submit their work to you. If you aren't having fun, you don't have to do it. 

I guess what I'm trying to say, Mags, is that when you are a champion of the literary underdog, when you act as a place for engaging literary discussion, when you point out something from an author we love that we might otherwise miss, and especially when you are generous and polite to you submitters, I love you, and I look forward to working with you. I will be your champion, if you will be mine. And if you are not? Well, most of your readers are submitters (or would-be submitters), and publishing is a tough racket these days. I say, good luck to you.

Very sincerely, 
     
                    Erin Bedford
     



4 Comments
fran bailey
4/4/2014 06:48:23 am

You are spot on with these observations. I hope some of these 'mags' will read them and take heed and stop being so rude. Surely they realise that traditional publishing is going the way of the dodo.

Reply
Erin
4/5/2014 04:34:58 am

Thanks Fran. You're right, everything is changing and we all have to stay current. Most of the lit. mags I've been looking at lately are trying their very best to accommodate a less traditional publishing approach --more online content, electronic submissions, etc. My letter is for those that still think it is 1987, and for those that condescend to the very people enthusiastic enough about their magazine that they want to submit to it! I'm glad you liked it.

Reply
Joe Hessert, Editor of ARDOR Literary Magazine link
4/5/2014 02:09:49 am

Dear Erin,

Thanks for the letter! As the founding editor of ARDOR I appreciate your feedback. The concerns you outline here are some of the same reasons I was inspired to launch our literary magazine in 2012. I look forward to continuing to work to be a writer-friendly market - writing personal rejections whenever I have time and paying every writer whose work we accept.

Reply
Erin
4/5/2014 04:37:55 am

Thanks so much for your comment Joe! There are a lot of fabulous, writer-friendly literary magazines (and dedicated, kind people running them) out there and I am glad to hear from one of them. Best of luck with it!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Who

    Erin Bedford, writer.

    What

    All
    Beautiful Words
    Fathom Lines
    Inspiration
    Photo On Friday
    Reading
    Recommended Reading
    Review
    Writing
    You Might Have Missed

    When

    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Follow @ErinLBedford
    follow us in feedly
© Erin Bedford
  • About
  • News
  • Fathom Lines
  • Songs for the Short Story, I Made You This Playlist