Frequently asked
questions
Print this Page Why don't you offer subscriptions?
What is an SASE, and why should it accompany my poems?
[ Q. What is an SASE, and why should it accompany my poems? A. SASE stands for self-addressed stamped envelope. After your poems are considered for publication, the editor uses this envelope to notify you. If you request that your poems be returned, the envelope is used for this purpose and should bear the correct return postage. If the SASE does not have the correct postage, your submissions will not be returned. If you have submitted poems to a contest, the editor uses the SASE to notify only the winners.
Q. I have heard the expression a
well-constructed poem. Exactly what does that mean? alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia (sounds); personification; simile and metaphor, (comparisons); metonymy and others. Rhyme and rhythm also play an important part. Most editors discourage obvious rhyme unless the poet is writing a form poem. (see Self-Portrait by Eileen Albrizio accessed from Sample Poems on the main menu.) Good poems speak on more than one level, making an imaginative leap to the place or idea the poet desires to lead the reader. Q.
Does a rejection notice mean my poems are not good enough? Q. Should I include a short biography about my work and myself when I submit a poem, or should I wait until my poem is selected? A. Editors prefer that a biography accompany the submission. Remember to keep your biography short (50 words) and reference only some of your latest work. Q. Why do poetry magazines seem to frown on longer poems? A. A publication can hold only so many poems. Restricting length is a way to ensure more poets are published. However, a more pragmatic reason exists. Each poet published is a potential resale customer. Many poetry magazines count heavily upon sales, especially if they are not endowed. Q. Why do some poetry magazines prohibit simultaneous submissions? A. Common Ground Review is now allowing simultaneous submissions. However, simultaneous submissions can cause editors serious problems. For example, the editors have accepted a poem for publication (after lengthy evaluation and some negotiation) and the poet notifies them the poem has been accepted elsewhere and wishes to have it withdrawn. By this time, the editors have spent a great deal of time planning layout , i.e. which poems should face each other on opposing pages or where the best place is for each illustration. Poems that occupy more than one page add another layout dimension. In addition, layout involves four pages not one. Subtract one poem and either add a poem or subtract three other pages. Whichever editors choose to do will cause the whole journal layout to be re-evaluated and then laid out again. The content page and the biographical pages of the journal will also have to be edited. Therefore, simultaneous submissions, although anathema to editors, are a compromise to the sometimes lengthy notification of the acceptance / rejection process. Q. How many poems should I submit at one time? A. Three, although some journals set the limit higher. Editors can literally have hundreds of poems to read even when they set a low limit. Poets should be able to hit the acceptance doll with three tries. Q. If a magazine accepts my poem, what should I do?
A. Write a letter thanking the editor. A. We encourage this. When an editor likes your first submission, you have a good chance that another submission might also be accepted. On the other hand, some poets feel that once they have placed that publication in their credits, they should move to the next challenge. Q. How do editors feel about shape poems or poems that have very long lines? A. The problem with some shape poems is the difficulty of fitting them on a standard page (8.5” h x 5.5 w”), especially if they have lines longer than 4.5". The layout editor can only reduce the size of the print making the poem fit the page; now, the poem does not conform to the visual standards of the magazine. The editor has more leeway with poems with very long lines. The long lines can be broken, carried to the next line, and indented. The difficulty here is that the editor makes the decision where the line will be broken unless the editor has time to consult with the poet. Q. Why don't you offer subscriptions? A.
This is an excellent question and we wish we had a better answer. But let us tell you what we know about
subscriptions. Most people who have tried them will tell you
there're a lot of work. Subscriptions must be tracked.
If everyone subscribed at the same time, it would be relatively
simple. When the subscription period is about to expire, send your
subscribers a renewal notice. But, because subscriptions can arrive
anytime, staff must be constantly monitoring which subscriptions need
to be renewed. This is time consuming. Here is how we operate
now. We usually publish April/May and October/November
and will be announcing the forthcoming issue on our website with
ordering instructions and a list of poets featured. If you send your email address to us with a
request to be notified, we will be happy to do this.
OR You can go to the 'Buy
Copies' tab on our home page*.
|