Submission caps for poetry magazines

Not judgemental, but curious, observational and slightly concerned, this post will tackle the growing question of submission caps.

By submission caps, I'm referring to a limit of submissions that poetry journals will often place on their Submittable call-out for a specific issue. This decision is down to two main factors: Submittable's charging system and the editors' capacity for processing poems.

The consequence of these submission caps, however, is that supposedly lengthy submissions windows for mags that use them pretty much go straight out of the window. This is because, for instance, if a journal opens to submissions for a month but reaches its limit on Submittable after a few days, those windows are hugely shortened. And then it requires an operation of scramble and dash (or military-level planning!) on the part of the poet to ensure their poems reach the editors before that limit is hit.

And a further potential consequence is the watering down of the quality of submissions. The best poets aren't necessarily the ones that are hustling and chasing submission opportunities, poised at their keyboards to press send as soon as a window opens. The standard of the journal might well suffers.

Right, so that's an incipient problem recognised. But what about a potential solution? And that's where things get extremely tricky. Without submission caps, editors' entire waking hours would entail wading through thousands of poems in search of gems, their reading skills getting ever more jaded. And any step away from open calls would dismantle any journal's claims to be seeking out new talent and fresh poetry.

Deep down, it seems that more and more people hold serious aspirations to getting their poetry published in quality journals. Which is possibly a good thing. If only all of them were buying books at the same rate as they submit their own work. Though that's another massive can of worms, so we won't go there again today.

What do you think of submission caps? How might poetry journals best cope with the huge number of subimssions that want to knock on their doors?

An extra reading in Oxford

On top of my forthcoming readings in London, St Albans and Bedford (see previous post), I'm now delighted to announce an additional event.

I'll be the featured poet for the Oxford Poetry Circle on 26th February. The venue is the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities and the timings are 7-9 p.m.. Here's a poster with all the details...

Three forthcoming readings

Right, so I’ve got three in-person readings coming up. The details are as follows:

Saturday 28^th Feb. Guest Poet at Ver Poets in St Albans (with Mat Riches). Venue is St Albans General Library, kicking off at 11 a.m.. This is a free event.

Monday 2^nd March. Rogue Strands Poetry Reading at The Devereux in London (with Mat Riches, George Szirtes, Christopher Reid, Jemma Borg and Katharine Towers). This event begins at 6.45 p.m. and it’s free.

Tuesday 3^rd March. Guest Poet at Ouse Muse in Bedford. The venue is the Eagle Bookshop, starting at 8 p.m..

It would be great to see you there!

Rogue Strands event on 2nd March...

✅George Szirtes ✅Christopher Reid ✅Jemma Borg ✅Katharine Towers  

I can't quite believe we've brought this stunning line-up together for our forthcoming Rogue Strands event. It would grace any of the top literary festivals in the country. And on top of that, it's free! Here's the poster with all the details (2nd March at 18.45 at The Devereux Tavern in London)...

An open goal?

Endings to poems that tap it into an open goal seem to me far less interesting than ones that bend it into the top corner when the keeper wasn't even expecting a shot.

The book knows...

The book knows that, just like humans, it's destined to be born and die alone. But it also knows (again, just like humans) that it would far prefer to be accompanied in the meantime.

The book trembles with anticipation when the poet finally places it in an envelope and heads for the post office, launching it on a journey to its reader, though that's nothing in comparison to the feeling of being held at last, its pages caressed and maybe even folded back if one or two of the poems really hit home... 

Faction

Faction (n). A blend of fact and fiction that transforms anecdote into craft and then art.