Literary journal just trying to get off the ground solicits submissions via Facebook friends, with NO criteria offered as to what they might like....
I submit... and promptly receive the following....
"Thanks so much for submitting poems to REDACTED. We've decided these poems aren’t right for us, but thank you for letting us have a chance with your work."Wow. I mean...wow.
Now, I've received so many rejections that the "no" doesn't bother me...but in this situation, I kinda feel like I deserve a little something.....a reason why (even something like, we're looking for more/less narrative work)....and if, dear poetry editor, if you can't manage that level of thoghtfulness....how about...."we liked 'Poem X' the best but alas..."
Throw me a frickin' bone, people. You're just starting out and you respond to a submission you actually asked for in this shoddy manner?!?!? Pardon me, but you ain't got a very bright future ahead of you.
Am I overacting? Honestly, tell me.
Yet another reason why this whole game tires me.
.....ok, that last bit brought out my inner drama queen, but....puh-lease!
By the way, I think we poets should watch out for each other so we're not WASTING our TIME, so if you want to know the name of said literary journal, I will be happy to let you know. Just email me... christopher dot hennessy at gmail dot com.
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7 comments:
Freakin tell me about it. What really happened with the submission? Did anyone read it? Is anyone at Redacted serious about literature, or are they just interested in getting "content"?
That said, a "no" is better than empty silence, which I also get a lot of...
Some of the internet journals,CH, are plain crap. I had one solicit a review from me. They sent loads of requirements. I met them all. (There requirements were next to useless). Then the fun began. They had to have a cabal meeting. I waited. I wrote patient emails. I wrote less patient emails. Then I thought, who exactly is reviewing my submission? Some half-literate editor with no qualifications in the Arts? Why, yes! There is little quality in a lot that happens out there on the net. I guess you see it too. The net offers so much. Unfortunately, it attracts seemingly bright young things that are a more young than bright and have little knowledge about things. Best wishes as always.
I think the trick is (if there is a trick to this) to be sure before submitting that this is a place you'd like your work to appear. Does the site have a statement of what sort of poems they are looking for? Is the site well-designed, is it updated with some degree of regularity? Are there names of the table of contents that I'd like my name to be associated with? Are there talents on the pages yet unknown with at least a couple poems that impress me with their style and power and accomplishment? If it's a brand new journal, a mission statement of what the editors are looking for, and maybe a few examples (We love Frank O'Haras for the 2000s) or something is a must. There are so many maybes in the submission process. Maybe the email never got there. Maybe the person reading it is a writer who has no affinity for you and your work. Neither of you are bad people, it's just a very quick blind date without a beaker of chemistry. Maybe the journal was a project that someone started and just as quickly stopped when a new enthusiasm entered their life. Maybe the editors are mean and snarky and stupid. But probably not. I guess basically I am saying that there's so much out there, so many journals and blogs and zines and scenes, that A: you can afford to be choosy about where to try and submit your work, and B: you need not waste time with regret, or any other form of mental and emotional energy, when one of the ten thousand sites rejects your work, or does not respond at all. Swab off the poem, put it in a bright new email package, and send it out again.
Cheers,
Robert McDonald
I've had a submission be accepted for a book that will probably never be published, as time goes by and nothing happens. At the same time, the publisher decided that my poem was too explicit to be published in the online version of the book (against the editor's suggestions, who had asked me to submit). Other, more explicit poems were published in the online version—but mine happened to carry both mystical and homoerotic content, so maybe that was the issue. I received a non-explanation email about why it wasn't happening; it was a justification email, not a real explanation. The publisher is a doctor in England, a young guy with a family, and I suspect he's just prejudiced.
At this point, I expect nothing more to ever happen. And to be honest, it doesn't matter and I don't care.
Many of these ambitious publishers and editors just don't even know what they're getting into when they start up, and freak out or otherwise implode when the real hard work begins to descend on them. It's a lot of hard work, as you know. Not everyone is up to it, or to the required follow-through.
Thanks all, for your comments! It's good to hear your thoughts and to feel like I'm not an a-hole.
You're not an a-hole. Sounds like some amateur bs to me.
Happy Holidays!
Thanks, Colin. I think either amateurs or most likely (and I'm afraid this is the more common) snobs.
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