On Poem Submission
Jan. 29th, 2015 11:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scribblemynameOn looking into my email inbox...
Oh, hello, poem! I forgot I'd submitted you.
I submitted a 346 line SFF poem to Strange Horizons (apparently I can be very long-winded; who's surprised?), and they thought about it, bumped it back, and suggested I submit it to a different market because reasons they outlined.
Now, the last time I got a rejection, I commented here that I'd come to expect them and it wasn't really a big deal. But today, I realized something else: I'm getting personalized rejections where my work affected the editor even if they decided ultimately not to publish it.
:cue surprise:
I always thought I was a bit of a take it or leave it kind of girl when it came to writing and I have almost no luck finding an actual good fit for any poetry, so it's been my own thing, mostly for myself with the occasional piece or book finding its way to family or friend.
And part of my secret to writing so frequently and so easily when it comes to works under 5000 words is that I just do it all the time. Words aren't sacred, they're words, and I accept that the only way to produce a lot of great fiction and poetry is to produce a lot of bad fiction and poetry. The stuff that wavers between good and bad is 50/50 whether I'll throw it out there. So there's a lot of bad poetry and mediocre poetry I have under my belt, and it never really occurred to me that there was a lot of good poetry that wasn't just amateur anymore.
I had decided to quit submitting poetry because finding the right market for the stuff I write hasn't always been easy. My narrative stuff is... challenging, epic, or just plain odd. My greeting card verse and personal stuff sometimes feels trite. I don't read the literary, personal, reflective stuff in periodicals, so I don't actually know where to send the loads of that I write. I like form poetry and that's even harder to place.
Now I don't really know. Is it worth the bother? Poetry takes months to come back. By then, I'm often staring at the inbox going, "Oh, I forgot about you!" And it's almost always rejected. (I've had one poem published and it got a bad review there for flowery language and old-fashioned style, which I didn't even know it had.)
Maybe poetry will stay this personal thing. Maybe I'll start treating it a little more seriously. Just some thoughts.
Oh, hello, poem! I forgot I'd submitted you.
I submitted a 346 line SFF poem to Strange Horizons (apparently I can be very long-winded; who's surprised?), and they thought about it, bumped it back, and suggested I submit it to a different market because reasons they outlined.
Now, the last time I got a rejection, I commented here that I'd come to expect them and it wasn't really a big deal. But today, I realized something else: I'm getting personalized rejections where my work affected the editor even if they decided ultimately not to publish it.
:cue surprise:
I always thought I was a bit of a take it or leave it kind of girl when it came to writing and I have almost no luck finding an actual good fit for any poetry, so it's been my own thing, mostly for myself with the occasional piece or book finding its way to family or friend.
And part of my secret to writing so frequently and so easily when it comes to works under 5000 words is that I just do it all the time. Words aren't sacred, they're words, and I accept that the only way to produce a lot of great fiction and poetry is to produce a lot of bad fiction and poetry. The stuff that wavers between good and bad is 50/50 whether I'll throw it out there. So there's a lot of bad poetry and mediocre poetry I have under my belt, and it never really occurred to me that there was a lot of good poetry that wasn't just amateur anymore.
I had decided to quit submitting poetry because finding the right market for the stuff I write hasn't always been easy. My narrative stuff is... challenging, epic, or just plain odd. My greeting card verse and personal stuff sometimes feels trite. I don't read the literary, personal, reflective stuff in periodicals, so I don't actually know where to send the loads of that I write. I like form poetry and that's even harder to place.
Now I don't really know. Is it worth the bother? Poetry takes months to come back. By then, I'm often staring at the inbox going, "Oh, I forgot about you!" And it's almost always rejected. (I've had one poem published and it got a bad review there for flowery language and old-fashioned style, which I didn't even know it had.)
Maybe poetry will stay this personal thing. Maybe I'll start treating it a little more seriously. Just some thoughts.
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no subject
Date: 2015-01-29 07:49 pm (UTC)I can see that poetry could be harder to publish than short stories. Maybe see about compiling into a collection instead of individual poems? Some places might have an easier time publishing something like that maybe?
(Oh and about the months before a response - that just seems to be typical no matter what. The super quick responses are definitely the exception to the rule lol)
no subject
Date: 2015-01-29 07:58 pm (UTC)My second was another flash fic to Every Day Stories where they really gave detailed feedback on how they wanted to see the story expanded. They make a point of offering feedback though. They're great to submit to if you write short, short stuff and want some.
Then I hit poetry. This is my second piece I've gotten feedback, though neither were concrit. The first was add these changes, resubmit, and behold, it's published, bad review and all.
This one, I'm eyeing the market they think it's a good fit for, but "epic" poetry is specifically listed as more than 120 lines, a hard sell, and only pays $20.
Poetry is hard. Fiction is much easier to submit and fit well.
I have stuck to periodicals over books because book contracts are so onerous now, they aren't worth it most of the time, and periodicals still understand the concept of printing a work, not owning a writer's career. Then there's lead time. I self-publish books.
:looks thoughty:
Thanks for the comments and thoughts.