How to decide which literary magazine to submit to?

#1 And the Tips Nobody Gives You

You wrote a new short story, poem or essay and you don’t know what to do with it. As you have your morning coffee, it clicks - one of your friends submits their work to literary magazines, why shouldn’t you? It’s settled. You’re going to submit to a lit mag and try to get your work published, your name ‘out there,’ but you’ve never done this before and you cannot ask your ‘friend’ point-blank because you’re really not even friends - your ‘friend’ is just a friend of your friend’s friend, just an acquaintance. So, you do a Google search instead and thousands of magazines come up. You’re confused! You bury your head in your hands and before the day has even begun, you think, Damn! What have I gotten myself into? How the heck am I going to decide which one to submit to?!

Don’t worry, I’m your friend’s, friend’s friend who you have (in a parallel universe) managed to convert into a friend - a close friend. And now it’s time for you to have a chat with me over coffee.

So here is what to consider before submitting your work for consideration to a literary magazine:

1. Reputation and audience reach - When you submit to a magazine, it shouldn’t be simply ‘to get published’ although, that is a primary goal. But you also have to ask yourself why? Why do I want to get published in a literary magazine? Writers want to build successful writing careers, and lit mags are great starting points for that. Two things play a crucial role, and you want both to be favorable - the reputation of the lit mag, and obviously, its audience reach and engagement. Getting published in a reputed lit mag adds great credibility to you and your work. And you cannot compromise on credibility. Believe me, it’s much worse to get your work published in mags that have poor or no reputation, than to not get published at all!

2. Payment and award nominations - If you’re looking to build a career out of writing, you obviously want to monetize it. You should aim for lit mags that pay. Though, I must warn you, most lit mags don’t have enough funds to keep themselves running (they’re either funded or the editor spends money out of their pocket), forget about paying their writers. And magazines that pay often have very low acceptance rates and very long response periods, up to 9 or even 12 months (after which, they would probably only reject your submission. Ouch!) But that doesn’t mean you shouldn't give them a go! You must! Another thing to keep in mind is to submit to magazines that nominate for awards such as the Best of the Net or Pushcart Prize. These are added incentives, and such nominations add to your credibility.

3. Your rights, copyright and other terms - Before submitting to a lit mag, you should read their terms and conditions of publication. Make sure the copyright remains with you at all times (or reverts back immediately on publication). It is okay to grant an exclusivity period to a magazine that requests it, but make sure you are comfortable with that period.
   Certain magazines do not outrightly say they hold your copyright but insist that the writer seeks permission from the magazine, should they want to publish the piece elsewhere. You must carefully consider such terms and I’d recommend agreeing to those only if you see other benefits that the magazine is able to provide, such as having a large readership, paying, or having good reputation. I do think however, that it is better to forgo publication in such magazines.

4. The long-livety of the magazine - These days lit mags are propping up and dying down in alarming numbers! A new lit mag is born every week and most die down within a year or at the most, three years of their birth. This is because it’s extremely hard to run a literary magazine without funding, and funding is hard to come by, especially in the Indian literary scene. I learnt this after editing for a magazine that died down within a year and what’s worse is that the editor-in-chief never even got back to me on the magazine’s status (I was the Managing Editor. LOL.) I’m just glad, I did not submit my work for consideration there, and instead chose to edit for the mag. Though, I did learn much on the editorial front. (It was my first time editing for a lit mag).

5. Professionalism and malpractices - This brings me to the next point - submit to magazines whose editors take their work seriously. Very seriously. Do not submit to magazines whose issues are constantly delayed, or they go on hiatus without even announcing. Even several top literary magazines sometimes, do not respond to the submissions at all, without mentioning they wouldn’t. Personally, I find this a huge turn off, and do not submit to such magazines again.
   Some magazines do not compensate the writer for the work but proceed to sell their issues and make money off them. Like what?? Others restrict the writer from sharing their own piece in the magazine on social media while putting a price tag on the magazine. Not my personal favorite either. Editors have certain responsibilities to writers who submit to their lit mags. Period.

6. Make magazine-friends - Certain magazines are simply friendly and are rooting for you. They’re your loyal and hard-to-come-by friends, that do everything they can do to promote your work, you and their magazine. Sometimes, they may not be able to pay or have a huge audience reach, but you can see the effort - its tremendous. You should submit to such magazines. These are the ones you can also go back to for reviews of your book when you publish a book later. 9/10 times they’ll agree. These are magazines that’ll celebrate you and your success, any day!

7. Submit to the magazines you want to submit to! - I’ll be honest, every writer has dream publications. Your dream publication might not necessarily be The Puritan or The New Yorker (or it might even be), but there are other magazines with small reader-bases that publish good quality work. Your work may fall into a niche genre or may be genre-bending, and not every magazine will understand it. Some magazines are YOUR MAGAZINES though. They get you! You should submit to these magazines, they’re your tribe, your home!

I hope you’ll find these tips helpful! This is the stuff nobody told me, and I had to figure out myself with trial and error. If you have a friend who might find these helpful, share this newsletter with them! Or drop me a comment here! Alternatively, you could also express your gratitude and Buy Me a Coffee here.

I will see you with next time with another letter on lit mags. You can also drop your suggestions or questions in the comments :)
Until next time!
XOXO!