The Writer - 11.2019

34 | The Writer • November 2019

For the short term, Submittable
will remain indispensable. For the
long term – well, it’s just another one
of the unknowns in the literary maga-
zine world.

4

SEEKING THE VOICES
OF THE FUTURE:
DIVERSITY IN PAGES
AND ON MASTHEADS
White men (usually
straight and cis) dominated the pages
of literary journals for decades.
That finally has begun to change.
Every editor surveyed for this article
said they seek submissions from a
more inclusive group.

“We actively court diverse voices

through solicitation. I’m reaching out

to writers I admire and making sure

each issue that comes out is diverse so

it becomes known that’s what we’re

looking for,” says Beth Staples, editor

of Shenandoah at Washington and

Lee University.

She says this open door is critical

to increasing submissions from

underrepresented voices. Another

journal she worked at, she says, was

known for “white guy in a rowboat”

stories, but through consistent broad-

ening of its author list, that image

changed: “It’s hard to break, but even-

tually other people felt more comfort-

able submitting.”

Barrelhouse began, admittedly with

a masthead of “four middle-aged,

white, straight guys,” says Dave Hous-

ley, conference organizer for the maga-

zine. “It took a while to push past the

perception that we’re just a bunch of

dudes.” That only happened after the

magazine began consciously reaching

out to non-white, non-male, non-

straight writers.

It’s not just publishing these

authors, though. Adding people of

color and LGBTQ editors as well as

editors with disabilities is the only way

to ensure a lasting diversification of

voices, Housley believes. “It matters

what your masthead looks like,” he

says. “The best thing we’ve done is to

FIVE THINGS LITERARY MAGAZINE EDITORS

WANT YOU TO KNOW

1

Many of them are

volunteers. “I

don’t think folks

realize that a lot of

the time literary

magazine staff –

unless they have

some serious

backing from a

wealthy funder or

from a corporation

(like Medium) or a

university – may

be working for

FREE (or very low

costs) because we

believe in the mis-

sion and others’

work and giving

visibility,” says Jen-

nifer Baker, a con-

tributing editor at

Electric Literature.

2

You can submit

speculative

fiction even at

journals that

haven’t

traditionally

published the

genre. “We have

received and

published more

literary science

fiction, fantasy,

fabulism, and so

on over the past

few years, and we

anticipate this

trend continuing,”

says Shashi Bhat,

editor of EVENT.

3

They don’t want

to make edits...

though they will.

“We have some

pieces that are

almost ready to

publish when they

come in, and we

limit the amount

of pieces we do

intense work to a

few per issue,”

says Alexandra

Watson, executive

editor of Apogee

Journal. “We do

work closely with

writers, we use

‘suggested edits’

in Google Docs,

and we’ve had

good experiences

working closely.”

4

Some pay

through Venmo

or PayPal – but

they’ll give you a

paper check if

you want one.

“Sometimes we

hear from writers,

‘Oh, this is the

first story I’ve

been paid for. Can

I have a paper

check? I kind of

want to keep it.’ I

love it when that

happens,” says

Bodega editor-in-

chief Cat

Richardson.

5

A rejection

doesn’t mean

you’re a bad

writer. “If I’m not

interested in this,

don’t take it per-

sonally,” says Beth

Staples, editor of

Shenandoah. “I

liken it to dating.

If I don’t fall in

love with you, it’s

not because

there’s something

wrong with you.

We’re just not a

right match.”