writermag.com • The Writer | 35start diversifying our masthead. We
have people inside making decisions
who hopefully lean toward more
inclusion and diversity, which is really
good for us. But we’re continuing to
work on it.”
Barrelhouse has produced special
issues, too, dedicated to giving under-
represented writers more opportunities,
such as a Latin-themed holiday issue
and an edition featuring Desi fiction.
The other part of the diversity issue
is determining what stories should be
told by which groups. Should maga-
zines publish a story about the Stone-
wall Riots told from the perspective of
a gay Hispanic man that’s written by a
straight white woman?
“As humans, we have to respect the
boundaries of one another’s history,
and that’s tricky territory as an editor,”
says Carrie Muehle, outgoing manag-
ing editor of TriQuarterly at North-
western University. “It’s important for
a writer to start thinking about,
‘Should I really be telling this story? If
it is someone else’s story, would it
come across more authentic to let
them tell it?’”
Conversations involving race, gen-
der, and identity are delicate. Alexandra
Watson, executive editor of Apogee Jour-
nal, says editors may have good inten-
tions, but “I’ve seen those conversations
where editors are trying to figure out
how to get more work from writers of
color when, if those editors aren’t tuned
into some of those communities per-
sonally, the effort can come across as
contrived and tokenizing.”
There’s only one way to change that,
she says. “We have to try to recruit
more diversity in editorial leadership.
That has to be it.”
5
THE GREAT SUBMISSION
FEE DEBATE
The debate erupts every
few weeks on Twitter, at
literary conferences, dur-
ing drinks with writerly friends.
Should literary magazines charge sub-
mission fees?
There’s no easy answer. Editors will
argue against the concept in the same
breath they justify their own need to
charge them.
Jennifer Baker can see both sides of
the debate. A contributing editor to
Electric Literature and active submitter
to other literary magazines, she has
worked in publishing for 16 years.
“I don’t necessarily agree with sub-
mission fees for literary magazines
and, at the same time, I understandwhy they exist,” she says. “I pay sub-
mission fees regularly when I submit
applications for residencies, and I can
afford to when I budget for what I feel
is suitable for my work. But a literary
magazine is different in that many may
think donations and subscriptions pay
for everything, or they should. But
that’s not the reality.”
Submission fees often cover pay-
ments for staff and guest editors,
administrative tasks and overhead,Six ideas for the future of
literary magazines- Curation: Netflix for liter-
ary magazines, anyone?
It’s something David
Olimpio, editor-in-chief and
owner of Atticus Review,
thinks could work. For a
monthly fee, readers could
access a slew of journal
content. “It would involve
more collaborating or shar-
ing among writers them-
selves and users of literary
magazines, and thinking of
the lit mag as more of a
platform than a magazine,”
he says. - Conferences: Barrelhouse
runs two yearly writing
conferences, which serve
a dual purpose. They’re
revenue streams, but they
also provide a welcome
service to the literary com-
munity, uniting writers and
editors for a $75 fee. - Affiliate links: Hey, it
works for bloggers! Retail-
ers pay websites that post
links to their products
when someone who clicks
on that link makes a pur-
chase. For instance, a
magazine could link to a
book on Amazon, and
Amazon would pay the
magazine if someone
clicks on that link and then
buys the book.- Mixed media: Think vid-
eos of poetry read by the
author or stories that incor-
porate sound. - Patreon: Artists of all
stripes have used the
crowdfunding platform to
create subscription ser-
vices since 2013. For a
monthly fee, sometimes at
whatever level “patrons”
can afford, magazines
share their content with
their supporters. McSwee-
ney’s Internet Tendency
launched a Patreon page a
couple years ago. - Podcasts: EVENT and Ken-
yon Review, among oth-
ers, have introduced
podcasts that explore craft
and interview authors,
reaching listeners they
hope will become readers
or submitters.