Find the Journal That’s Right For YOU!

By Talia Mailman

In undergrad, I had a fiction professor who told us, in all likelihood, we wouldn’t become writers. Normal people, he reasoned, just can’t take THAT MUCH sustained, unrelenting rejection. Thanks to a strain of stubbornness worthy of a flower attempting to grow in concrete, I took this wisdom as encouragement. Rejection is part of the game. Let’s start playing.

The submission process is mad enigmatic. All those journals. Some people are good at weeding. I never was. Thanks to kind friends and years of experience, I’ve gotten better. Here are some tips to make this asinine process a little less painful:

1. Look at where your friends are published. Submit there.

2. Figure out what your ideal journal is. Maybe it’s Tin House. Maybe FENCE. Submit there (what have you got to lose?). But also, look up some of the emerging writers in these journals. See where else they’re been published. Try submitting to those places.

3. Pick up an anthology of award winning poetry or fiction[1]. Find a work you like. Flip to the back and see where that got published. Submit there.

4. Be a detective. Inspect the journal. Read the About page. Read some selections. Make sure you like it. In terms of liking it, your reasoning need not be completely sound or coherent. I have a friend who only submits to places where he likes the layout and design. It’s not a bad idea to give yourself some rules. There’s so much out there. Pick your weeds.

5. It’s a print journal. You’re too poor to buy a copy. Go to a decent library and sit in the stacks for an afternoon.

Whether it’s a print or online journal, here are a few secondary resources:

a) Duotrope used to be a free resource. It’s $5/month now. They have a free trial period, which you could use to compile a list of journals that might be up your alley. Last time I looked, it’s well-organized, easy to use: a quick description of the journal, their submission dates, their pay rate, percentage of acceptances[2], whether or not they take emerging writers, whether or not they take simultaneous submissions[3], how long it usually takes them to respond, how many readers they have.

b) You can buy one of the print versions of Duotrope. They get published every year, so they’re up-to-date. The Writer’s Market is a good bet.

c) Look at this wonderful, resourceful site. The Review Review is free! And easy to use! It has much of the same info as Duotrope. Besides, there are detailed, in-depth reviews of journals if you want to learn more.

Like choosing the right word, there are a million tricks. Make your own. Come up with some rules. At least you can fool yourself into thinking you have a semblance of control over an otherwise relentless practice.

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