Editing a literary journal gives me a unique insight into the publisher’s side of the process. Even so, though, that’s just one journal, and while I’ve read for a few others in the past, I also know that each market has its own unique process for reviewing submissions and deciding what to publish.

Luckily, a lot of publishers are also very open and transparent about what they want to see from submitters. One great place to find this info is using Duotrope’s Editor Interviews. For anyone who’s not familiar with Duotrope, it’s a searchable listing of presses, journals, magazines, contests, and other places publish creative work, and is a handy tool for figuring out where to send stories and poems.

Duotrope also has a host of other neat and helpful features, like the editor interviews. These are answered directly by people who run the press or journal. While not every listing in their database has one, there are more than 600 in their system. If a market has an interview, it’ll be linked at the top of their listing, like so:

 If there’s an editor interview for a market you’re interested in, reading it is a great way to gain more insights into what they’re looking for. Editors also share things in these interviews like the most common mistakes submitters make, their advice for people sending work, and how much they care about the cover letter and bio.

I recently compiled some of this info as part of research for another project I’m doing, and figured I’d share some of the things I learned in case other folks find this kind of data as interesting as I do! For context, I looked at answers from 163 markets, focusing on the ones that:

• Had at least 20 reported responses on Duotrope
• Had an acceptance percentage of 10% or lower

 ….in other words, the most popular markets that you likely have to try the hardest to impress. Here are five insights from that research that writers should keep in mind the next time they’re sending out work: 

1. Submission guidelines are there for a reason. Read them. Full stop.

Out of the interviews I read, more than a third (38%) said their main advice to submitters was something along the lines of read the guidelines, follow the guidelines, etc. And a solid 80% of the most common mistakes they reported seeing from submitters are things you can avoid if you—you guessed it—read the guidelines.

34 Orchard Literary Journal Founding Editor Kristi Petersen Schoonover made a comment about guidelines that I think sums up well why they’re important: 

I think some writers might believe markets have guidelines to torture them. That’s not true. Guidelines are there to make the workflow smooth so the market can respond as quickly as possible. Following them to the letter sends the message that there’s a dedication to the craft and the desire to work with a particular publication.

 Submission guidelines exist to make sure editors can read your work as easily as possible, and even though only a small percentage (4%) of editors said they reject on guideline violations alone, following still gives you the best chance of getting accepted.

2. Cover letters, on the other hand, really don’t matter (usually).

Granted, this is something that varies depending on the publisher. But, generally speaking, the majority of markets don’t care about the cover letter, and if they request one do it for mostly administrative reasons.

If you’re curious about the stats:

• 22% read submissions first, before cover letters
• 40% say the author’s credentials don’t influence their decision in any way
• 11% say the cover letter is optional
• 2% explicitly request no cover letter

 

On the other side of things:

• 33% enjoy reading cover letters for various reasons, though the majority also said it doesn’t influence their decision
• 5% use cover letters to identify people who meet certain demographic or geographic criteria
• 6% read cover letters to assess whether the writer is familiar with the publishing process before deciding whether to work with them
• 4% said the writer’s credentials or past publications would make them take a second look at a piece they’d planned to reject
• Only 3.5% said previous publications do matter when they’re deciding what to accept

Of the places that do want cover letters, the most common recommendations were keep it short, professional, and polite. 

3. Make sure your work is ready before you send it.

One theme I noticed across the editors’ answers was something I’ve seen in submissions to After Happy Hour, too: a lot of writers send their work out before it’s ready.

As Bat City Editor-in-chief Mary Miller put it:

Lately I've been reading a lot of stories that simply aren't finished. It's like the writer was tired and just hoped it would be good enough. Don't settle for good enough. Finish the work you start and don't send it out until it's ready (this usually involves putting it away for a few weeks).

Because, as Trampset’s Editor-in-chief J. Edward Kruft says: “We can usually tell when you've just typed “The End” and then immediately hit the send button.” 

…and yes, from my experience, we can. A good percentage of the personal rejections I send out are for this very reason: there’s a great story there, but it’s still a draft or two short of its final form. Some editors are willing to work with authors on pieces that are very close but most are looking for work that’s ready to print, so make sure yours is before you hit send.

4. A strong opening is make-or-break.

Another theme that came up: editors’ slush piles are vast, even for smaller markets. The editors who referenced their number of submissions in their answers typically said “thousands” or at least “hundreds”, and of those they accept maybe 2% (and often less).

In short: they have a lot of things to read, so you need to make them sit up and take interest early—ideally in the first line, but at least on the first page. A strong beginning was among the most common advice editors gave to submitters, mentioned more frequently than other story building blocks like voice, command of language, character, or plot. 

Variant Associate Managing Editor Barbara Lock maybe said it best: “Treat the attention of the reader as a precious resource.”

Immersing your reader in the story from its very first word is one way you can do that.

5. The most common submission mistakes can be easily avoided.

The most commonly-cited mistakes that submitters make were:

• Sending the wrong genre/style/type of work (41, 25%)
• Getting the name of the journal or its editors wrong (28, 17%)
• Sending too many pieces in a submission/reading period (24, 15%)
• Using the wrong submission format (e.g. print instead of electronic) (18, 11%)
• Sending work that’s too long (13, 8%)

Every single one of those can be easily avoided by just making sure you pay attention to what you’re sending and where. 

In fact, of all of the submitter mistakes mentioned in interviews, I’d call 80-90% of them avoidable. These range from sending work when the journal is closed, to forgetting to remove your name for a journal that reads anonymously, to sending a file type the editors can’t open.

Sending work out to publishers can feel like a tedious process, but it’s still important to do it with care. Read through your story to give it a final proofreading pass (and make sure you’ve taken out workshop comments or track changes). Double-check the journal or press website to make sure you’re formatting your submission the way they like to see it. Once you’ve prepared the submission, take a second to make sure you’ve included the right info in the right places before you send it off. Showing care with what you send to journals will give your work a better chance at getting that same care from the people reading it.

 

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