| Author | Message | ||
| bob rojas
Member Username: bob_rojas Post Number: 68 Registered: 06-2008 |
i've looked through this forum pretty well so as not to bring up an old topic and found nothing really satisfying, but if i missed something, a link would be just fab, if it's not too much to ask. anyway, i've googled endlessly for an e-zine i could get my first rejection letter from and all i've found were really long lists that didn't tell me much. do any of you have personal experience with any e-zines or less-than-glamourus literary mags that i could submit stuff to? maybe something that publishes teenage poets? (i'm sure i'd get better odds against writers in my age group) i don't wanna just start mailing stuff to random people because i really have no clue what i'm doing or where to look. any help would be great. i'll love you for-evs. | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 31466 Registered: 11-1998 |
Check out Duotrope, bob: Duotrope This database allows you to do searches with limiters. As it so happens, they do have a way to search for journals that concentrate on teens. Under the Theme? category, select "For young adults/teens" in the drop-down box. That should narrow your search to some good possibilities. Also, when you use Duotrope (even without this limiter), take a look at a mag's acceptance rate. Although not perfect as an indicator, generally speaking a mag with a high/higher acceptance rate is more open to beginners and easier to crack. Those with low acceptance rates are more difficult. Oh, and do read at least one issue of a mag before you submit. The work they have featured will give you a good idea about whether or not yours would be a good fit for them, i.e., don't send sci-fi poems to a romance mag, or free verse to those only interested in forms like sonnets. Hope this helps. Love, M | ||
| bob rojas
Member Username: bob_rojas Post Number: 69 Registered: 06-2008 |
thanks a lot M. | ||
| bob rojas
Member Username: bob_rojas Post Number: 71 Registered: 06-2008 |
m, what if they have a crazy high acceptence rate? (70%) is that fishy? | ||
| Will Eastland
Intermediate Member Username: dwillo Post Number: 627 Registered: 07-2006 |
Probably. Also check to see if they frequently publish their own editors. I want either less corruption, or more chance to participate in it. ~Ashleigh Brilliant | ||
| Gary Blankenship
Moderator Username: garydawg Post Number: 25614 Registered: 07-2001 |
Bob, while not a zine, I recommend you send something to Allen Itz. He does online pages of new and classical poems. He is a member of Wild, and has a good eye for poetry. Smiles. Gary Celebrate Walt with Gary: http://www.poetrykit.org/pkl/tw10/tw4conte.htm | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 31490 Registered: 11-1998 |
Yeah, crazy high acceptance rates are fishy, as Will confirmed. And if not fishy, then at the very least kinda sad. Who wants to be accepted by an organization that has very low standards and takes nearly everything or everything they receive? Not much of a challenge in that and the publishing credit (as well as the publication itself) is usually worthless. You're getting into poetry.com territory where they publish everyone and anyone in a so-called "anthology" and then charge you $40-50 to buy one. I say, Run very fast in the opposite direction. Love, M | ||
| Fred Longworth
Senior Member Username: sandiegopoet Post Number: 4491 Registered: 05-2006 |
Bob, Really the most important things are these: (1) Does the site publish poems you like? (2) Does the site publish poems that are similar in some important way to the work you produce? (3) Is there anything about the site that is a turnoff? Regarding point #1, which ~M~ made previously, why would you want to be surrounded by poems you didn't like? Regarding point #2, it's extremely important to read a few of the poems that have been published by the journal AND by the editors themselves. If your poems are similar in style and content, then this enormously increases your chances of acceptance. One turnoff that never fails to amaze me is the zine that has what I consider to be silly submission-formatting. One zine insists that every submission be in a disc in MAC format. Another turnoff is zines that have a reading fee, say, $10. A third turnoff is zines that insist you use their online submission system, but the submission system permits no italics, no indentation, no alteration in point size; so that, if your poem is loaded with the above features, you must include dozens of asterisks, brackets, and footnotes -- all of which hugely impede the "flow" of reading your submission, and fairly well guarantee its non-acceptance. A fourth turnoff is journals that discriminate against non-subscribers. Fred | ||
| ~M~
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 31495 Registered: 11-1998 |
Here's a link, bob, to a journal I just stumbled over who targets teens and young adults and seems pretty legit: Black Book Press And here's their blurb: "Black Book Press is an independent monthly poetry zine based out of Wilmette IL, aimed at teenagers and young adults. The trends that be at the moment seem to have us finding a much wider audience than intended, but who is to say that's a negative thing. Currently the average age of our writers tends to be about 40 or 50, but we get lots of college and high school students as well.We publish darker poetry by people from across the US as well as the occasional writer from Canada, France, Italy and Australia, to name a few other countries." Worth a look, I think. Love, M | ||
| bob rojas
Member Username: bob_rojas Post Number: 73 Registered: 06-2008 |
thanks for the help peeps. the site in question (the 70% one) has published some really awful poetry (in my opinion) but they also have published some really good stuff and the authors of the really good stuff have really deep resumes. i also haven't found any of the editor's work on the site, so that's good i guess. anyway, since they're texas based, i sent two poems that i wouldn't submit otherwise, so i have nothin to lose, right? it's not resume worthy, but it couldn't hurt, i guess. i'm gonna find a better place for the work that i care about. ----- gary, i googled allen. thanks, i'll keep snoopin around his site for a while. m, thanks a lot for finding a "kid" journal. i found one other one as well, but i'm starting to second guess whether i should take that route. i mean, the feeling i get from both journals is i don't wear enough eye liner or listen to enough punk rock. oh well. |
