Renee Emerson

I try to send out about 60 submissions a year. Maybe that sounds like a lot or not enough to you, I don’t know–but the way I get this done is submitting to five magazines a month. I don’t spend forever on it–I choose whatever 5 poems strike my fancy, put them in a document, and send them on their way. I’m usually done in under an hour.

Sometimes I find though that I do get stuck in a submission rut. Sending my poems to the same dozen magazines again and again.

So what are some ways to get out of a rut if you are hoping to get your work in new magazines?

1. See where your peers are publishing and try those magazines.
2. Pick an arbitrary connection–all literary magazines in Missouri, or all literary magazines with “Tree” in the name–and send to those magazines.
3. Send to magazines that have published you in the past. Likely they would be open to your work!
4. Make your way through Newpages.com’s literary magazine list alphabetically.
5. Find a theme in your writing (spiritual poems, poems about cats, etc) and send to magazines that are focused on that theme.

I hope this helps as you send your poems out into the wild!