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?
- See where your peers are publishing and try those magazines.
- Pick an arbitrary connection–all literary magazines in Missouri, or all literary magazines with “Tree” in the name–and send to those magazines.
- Send to magazines that have published you in the past. Likely they would be open to your work!
- Make your way through Newpages.com’s literary magazine list alphabetically.
- 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!
thoughts?