Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Shit, can't waste this free publicity!
As you develop poetically, have you ever looked back on an old published poem and thought "Damn, I wish I hadn't published that one when I did," or even "Damn, I wish I hadn't published that one where I did"? 'Cause I sure have, and I'm not even that far along the poetic development curve.
Fortunately, I'm not actively ashamed of the early stuff I published, but some of it ended up going back in the draft folder, a couple ended up on middling-at-best e-zines, and only a few of them are even in the manuscript at this point. The worst one was a print publication where the editor noted in her letter that she had accepted something like 150 of 800 poems she received during the reading period, and the poems were jammed into multiple columns on each page like it was the International Library of Poetry. Bleh, but it's my own fault for not finding out first. It's enough to make me grateful for the e-zine that accepted my work and then never published it.
Fortunately, I learned to be much more selective in where I send, so any editor who has my work now can know that, yes, I actually did some research.
Fortunately, I'm not actively ashamed of the early stuff I published, but some of it ended up going back in the draft folder, a couple ended up on middling-at-best e-zines, and only a few of them are even in the manuscript at this point. The worst one was a print publication where the editor noted in her letter that she had accepted something like 150 of 800 poems she received during the reading period, and the poems were jammed into multiple columns on each page like it was the International Library of Poetry. Bleh, but it's my own fault for not finding out first. It's enough to make me grateful for the e-zine that accepted my work and then never published it.
Fortunately, I learned to be much more selective in where I send, so any editor who has my work now can know that, yes, I actually did some research.
Comments:
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Steve: How has being an editor affected your own submission practice? And how has being in the blogosphere affected your awareness of practices at other magazines?
And you may want to look up BJ Ward's "The Poems I Regret In My First Book" from his book Gravedigger's Birthday while you're in this mood.
And you may want to look up BJ Ward's "The Poems I Regret In My First Book" from his book Gravedigger's Birthday while you're in this mood.
It's changed in a lot of ways. I'm a lot less hesitant to mention some little connection or the fact that I read a recent issue in my cover letter, but I don't linger on it at all. I also think I'm getting better at discerning the style preferences of other editors as I learn about my own.
That poem sounds interesting, and I'll definitely look it up.
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That poem sounds interesting, and I'll definitely look it up.
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