[Maryann Corbett]

When I look at the submission guidelines for some online poetry journals, I'm sometimes left with the sense that I'll be sending my stuff down a black hole. Particularly troubling are the ones that don't have an "issue" format but are regularly, irregularly, or continuously updated.

The guidelines don't say that authors will be contacted if their work is accepted. They are often silent about what will happen if work isn't accepted. I've even seen one that said "we can only respond to the people whose work we're accepting." Huh? Does that mean unaccepted work will never again be free for submission elsewhere?

I'm sympathetic to editors who are working for almost no earthly reward to provide poets with opportunities, but when _no_ clue is given about response time, how long do other people wait before sending the where-are-my-poems e-mail?

Poet's Market is great for answering these questions as regards print periodicals, but when things aren't periodic, I'm confused.

Apologies if this is the wrong forum for this question--or if it sets off firecrackers.

Maryann

[Svein Olav Nyberg]

Why bother to publish in journals that promise no feed-back?

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Svein Olav (The poet formerly known as Solan )

[G. M. Palmer]

Maryann:
You're entirely correct. I just sent a message to the webmaster at Strong Verse so that he can add "response time may be up to two months" to the submission guidelines.

Your problem, however, is not limited to online journals. The New Yorker no longer has (or had the last time I checked) a response time for rejected work.

As far as being continuously updated, etc., I feel that the continual format takes advantage of the nature of the web and the issue format is holding onto pursestrings that no longer apply.

Michael www.strongverse.org
submit, dangit!

[Maryann Corbett]

Michael, thank you! I hope, though, that your post doesn't end the thread.

The question of what we should expect of journals with unclear statements remains valid. Schemes for coping with long response times are also useful things to hear about.

Svein, when they literally promise no feedback, I don't think I would bother. But some are just silent about response, as if they believed nothing need be said because it would go without saying. I'm curious about how other people understand those silences.

Maryann

[Diane Dees]

As a rule, I don't submit to journals--electronic or otherwise--that do not promise any type of feedback. However, I also sometimes break my rule; a couple of journals with whom I have good relationships do not give any feedback unless work is accepted. I don't like it, but I do make these exceptions.

The problem is that many journals who do promise feedback do not give it, or they give it 10 months later. Or 3 months after you withdraw a piece, you get a rejection.

Some online journals who publish poetry and who do give timely feedback include: Wicked Alice, The Moonwort Review, story South, Slow Trains, Flashquake, Eclectica, Amarillo Bay, The Pedestal, Lily, Softblow, Spillway Review, and Poetry Renewal.

[Mark Granier]

Don't know why there's all this worry about 'black holes' or 'feedback'. In my experience editors' responses are erratic more often than not (2 weeks is about the best, 4 to 5 weeks closer to the average and, in the worst cases, it can take YEARS).

This is simply the way it works; editors are either too busy – or like to think of themselves as too busy – to offer prompt responses to anyone who isn't Heaney/Muldoon/Billy Collins or whoever happens to be the current flavour of the month. Surely the editors of electronic journals are no different (though I haven't bothered much with these outlets myself). As I say, it is the way of things.

You sound a mite scandalised that some journals don't even bother to respond. Don't be. Get used to it. Grow a thick skin. And don't assume that you can't re-submit work when you don't get a response. OF COURSE you should send it elsewhere. If it's good enough it will eventually get its 15 centimeters of fame. How long to wait? I'd give it about 3 months. If you've had no acknowledgment by this time send it to the next one on you list.

Re the New Yorker (the only top-notch poetry publisher I know of that accepts emailed poems), they DO give an estimated response time: 3 months.


[This message has been edited by Mark Granier (edited February 28, 2006).]

[Henry Quince]

I applaud The New Yorker for being willing to take e-mail submissions. But their guidelines at http://www.newyorker.com/site/contact/#submissions say “poetry submissions should include the poet’s name in the subject line.” I wonder what sort of filtering or shortlisting process that implies!

[RCL]

I deplore the New Yorker. I've submitted at least five times over the last five years and have NEVER been refused or accepted. No response at all.

Screw 'em,

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Ralph

[Maryann Corbett]

Mark, I'm working on the skin thickness issue But you seem to be answering my main question, which is, Does not hearing always mean no?

For all I know, online journals could publish stuff and never tell us. They generally don't pay in money, and they don't have contributors' copies to pay in, so they don't have to send us anything. They could very well just expect us to _look_ and see if our work has appeared. Ludicrous? Yeah, but so are a lot of things that are fact, like...oh, never mind.

But you are saying my strange scenario doesn't happen, and that if work is accepted, one hears something. You're also saying that not hearing is no bar to sending to another journal. Those are good things. Do others agree?

Best,
Maryann

[Tim Love]

Does not hearing always mean no? - No. The same applies to printed mags (except for ones that require acceptance of the acceptance). Letters and e-mail can get lost en route, eaten by the dog or filter, swamped by junk mail. I've had 2 pieces published without warning.

Years ago we went on a trip to a town called Saffron Walden. While the rest of the family explored a maze I chanced upon a 2nd hand bookshop. There was a lit section and what's more, they even had lit mags. Browsing I found an old copy of "Tees Valley Writer", a defunct mag I'd never seen before. In a report of their short story comp I discovered that a story of mine had been commended (no money, but better than nothing). I'd forgotten I'd even entered their comp, and never received any notification from them. I enjoy surprizes.