Photo by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing writer and newsletter editor Becky Tuch. We discussed her longtime project to demystify literary magazine publishing, Lit Mag News, plus thoughts on how to build a sustainable submissions practice.
Before we get into the interview, a quick note about the relationship between submitting individual poems and the process of developing poetry books or chapbooks. Publishing individual works does matter. Book editors like to see a poet’s publishing track record (see my post The Power of Threes for more).
Becky Tuch is a fiction and nonfiction writer, instructor, editor and mom, based in Philadelphia, PA. In 2008 she launched The Review Review, a website dedicated to reviews of lit mags, interviews with journal editors, publishing advice for writers and a database of over 1k literary magazines. The Review Review was listed for seven consecutive years in Writer’s Digest’s list of 101 Best Websites for Writers. In 2019, she sold the site to Gonzaga University, which carries on the site’s mission as a teaching tool for students.
Demystifying Literary Magazines with Becky Tuch
Radha Marcum: For folks who might be unfamiliar with Lit Mag News, I'd love for you to give a quick overview. Why did you start the newsletter and what all does it offer?
Becky Tuch: So the newsletter’s intention is to demystify the world of literary magazines. I think a lot of writers look at the vast landscape of literary magazines and just feel completely overwhelmed. We all know about The Paris Review and the The New Yorker and the The Atlantic and Granta, but beyond that there are thousands of amazing magazines that writers may or may not know about.
The impetus behind The Review Review, when I started back in 2008, was to guide writers toward lit mags that were appropriate for their work. I started a newsletter in 2010. At that time, I just started it to promote The Review Review—what I was publishing on the site. Then I started doing a news roundup in the newsletter, to look beyond my particular site and talk about what was going on in the lit mag landscape at large. And then I just kept the newsletter going. I really really enjoyed it, and the the readership grew. By the time I sold the review review, I had like 5,000 subscribers to the newsletter.
In 2020, when we were all locked down, I had the idea to start the newsletter again. Now it's a biweekly newsletter, a roundup of what's going on in the lit mag scene—about editors, new editors, interviews, sometimes gossip or controversies. I warn readers about scams or things happening with lit mags that they should be aware of. Mostly, though, I try to keep it positive. There’s also round up of job opportunities, fellowship opportunities, internships. I always include markets where can people go, places that are open now to enter contests and publish their work. I also started doing live editor interviews over Zoom.
The whole purpose of it is to demystify literary magazines. I wanted to be able to talk to editors and create a place where people can tune in. You don't have to pay for a conference, you don't have to fly across the country, you can be in the comfort of your living room. And you can Zoom in, ask questions. You can meet the editor of Crazy Horse, the editor of Colorado Review, ask them whatever questions you have.
Radha: As a writer I've really enjoyed and benefited from this demystification of the lit mag landscape, the many different outlets for work. I think it's a tremendous service you’re doing to bring some transparency to a space that has traditionally been a bit opaque. Thank you for doing that on behalf of all of us.
So, having talked to so many editors, what are some of the emerging trends that you're seeing in literary journal publishing? And has it changed over the last two years?
Becky: One trend that I think almost everyone is aware of now is diversity. Hopefully, it's more than just a passing trend. I think editors are much more aware of who they're publishing. Editors are much more interested in who they're publishing and trying to capture a broader range of voices in their pages. That's a really positive trend.
Editors are also paying more attention to visual accessibility. As editors publish work online, they’re thinking about ways that readers engage with it, for example, if readers are visually impaired in some way. That was not on their radar five years ago. They are also trying to incorporate different elements like music and sound. They’re really using the online platform to the fullest extent of what it can offer. That's something a print magazine obviously could not do.
On the negative trends side is funding. Especially university journals are having a hard time. So a lot of lit mags closed, big names, in the past year or so. On the other hand, a lot of new journals have started up.
Radha: This shifting landscape from the university-based publishing paradigm we've been in for quite some time—transitioning towards an online, more inclusive approach, broadening the work and also broadening the audience—seems like a good thing. Are there any differences you’ve noticed between the genres?
Becky: Yes. As part of the newsletter platform, if you're a paid subscriber, I do monthly info sessions. One is a study hall where people just show up and they spend their time working and submitting to lit mags, and the other is a submissions Q&A session where people just show up and ask any questions. I've actually learned a lot from people because it's a mix of genres.
I was actually surprised to learn that some of the logistics of submitting poetry are very different than submitting fiction [Note from RM: See The Power of Threes and A Tool to Track Multiple Submissions]. When you submit poetry, you're submitting in batches, usually three to five poems. When I submit a story, it's just one story. If I need to withdraw it. To withdraw poetry, it's a little more complicated.
Sometimes people have questions like: What if I get one poem accepted? Should I withdraw the whole batch? Or should I just withdraw that one home? The very simple answer is just to follow the guidelines, usually somewhere on the site, they will tell you what to do in that instance. But
Radha: Yes, I've definitely run into that conundrum on occasion. Submittable, where submissions are going through the platform, makes it very easy to do that. I think for for most editors, they expect that poets are simultaneously submitting.
What's some of the best advice you've been surprised to hear from an editor?
Becky: One thing I have been very surprised to hear—and surprised to experience personally—is that you should not take form rejection letters to mean anything. I've interviewed so many editors that say to “keep trying us”—unless the magazine is publishing work totally different than what you're working on. If it has totally different aesthetic, that's something, but if you think the magazine is appropriate for your work, if you like the magazine, you like what they publish, you really want to appear there, do not stop submitting to that magazine.
I think a lot of writers think, Oh, no, they’re going to think I'm hounding them. Or they're going to put me on some kind of list. They’re going to be so sick of me and I’ll look really bad. And that's not true. People always say: I don't know what to make of this rejection letter. I don't know what it means. Don't try to make anything of the rejection letter. Just keep submitting to that magazine if you like it, if you feel like your work is a good fit. They might say something on their website like please wait six months before submitting again, so of course follow their guidelines, do what they say. But do not be discouraged by form rejection letters.
You get embarrassed you don't want to keep submitting to them, but I personally recently had an acceptance after submitting to this magazine for over a decade and getting nothing but rejections. It was a dream journal for me and I just kept sending it off into the void. And then one day, they came back and accepted my work. So don't don't be discouraged by form rejections.
Also don’t tell yourself stories like you have to know the right people, you have to know the editor, they're all publishing their friends. I don't think that's happening as much as people think it's happening. I think it's just hard. It's just really competitive. And it's a tough market. But you don't necessarily need some kind of special “insider” access. If you if you feel like your work is good, and you're continuously working on your craft, and you're continuously making your poems better, just keep trying. Keep trying.
Radha: I think that's great. The form letters are hard to take, right? Especially starting out, we have all sorts of ideas that are probably pretty unrealistic. Like I’m going send this out and it’s going to get picked up right away. One of my goals in talking to my students about their publishing journey is to set realistic expectations from the get go, to make the process a bit more transparent. When considering our personal acceptance rate, for example, you can sometimes benefit from looking at it from a pure numbers perspective. That really lets us off the hook in terms of those unhelpful internal dialogues that can start up.
So, in your experience, what do you think is a decent acceptance rate [for submissions]? What's something realistic to shoot for?
Becky: I have been talking to so many people about different approaches to submitting and I'm learning that some people are big data people. I am not a data person. So what I tell people isn't so much based on like the percentage of acceptances you get, but if you've had a piece read by two readers, and they give you a thumbs up, don't stop sending that piece out.
It may take over a year. I’ve had a story accepted that was with a magazine for 13 months, which is a really long time. So it can take over a year to place something. But if you if it's been read by at least two people, at least two trusted readers, and they've given you a thumbs up and you feel good about the piece, keep sending, keep sending, keep sending. It can take a very long time. I think about it more in those terms, rather than, like acceptance rate.
If you're starting to get personal notes from editors, that can be a sign that you're on the right track with your work. Also, if you're just starting out, don't set yourself up for failure. It goes to what you were saying before about getting discouraged. You can so easily submit to really competitive magazines, and then they reject your work, and you stop submitting. You need to know where to begin. It can take a long time. Don’t take no for an answer. Continuously send your work out if you've feel good about it.
Radha: Yes, that's great. There are some resources that will show you the publication’s acceptance rate. A lot of journals only accept one or two percent of work sent to them.
Becky: I talked to Anthony Varallo at Crazy Horse, which is beautiful magazine. He told me they get 13,000 submissions per year. For fiction, they accept maybe six.
So if they're rejecting your work, I mean, how could it possibly be personal? It's not personal. It helps to go to Duotrope to see if they're accepting 1% or less. The competition is really steep. So don't psych yourself out. Just keep submitting and find magazines that are not not only appropriate and aesthetic, but appropriate and realistic for where you are in your writing.
Radha: It's a lot of work, right—this business of submitting? I'd love to ask you this question that I get a lot from my students and peers. You're a writer who, like me, balances a lot professionally and creatively. Any advice for those of us who find ourselves in a position where we're stretched between commitments?
Becky: One thing I started doing is the submission study halls, because I found that there are people, including myself, who say they want to submit but they won't submit unless they're surrounded by supportive people. It helps them make time to sit down and do it. So come out to one of those study hall sessions, or find your own group to hold you accountable. For example, every Sunday we're going to have tea or martinis, whatever it is, and we're going to get together over Zoom or in person, and we're all going to send out our work.
In terms of balancing, that is a very good question. I am not always great with balance. You know, my house is very messy. There's always something. It’s a matter of deciding your priorities. Am I going to empty the dishwasher? Or am I going to finish this chapter of my book?
Don't be too hard on yourself. Find pockets. If you're very passionate about what you're doing, you won't have to struggle to find the time—you will just find it. I don't know if that sounds overly simplistic, but ideas might pop up when you're on the train or stuck in traffic. If you're really passionate about what you're doing, the time will appear for you. Other things will end up falling by the wayside. You find a way to prioritize what needs to be done.
Everybody's life looks different. Early on when I was just starting to get into writing, one really good piece of advice that stuck with me is learn how to say no. I think sometimes writers take on way too much—I’m guilty of this—side projects and then other side projects, and then you're on Twitter talking to other writers and you think that talking to writers is actually writing. So learn how to say no. Learn how to set your boundaries and really decide what's important. What are the things you want to focus on? What do you want to achieve? And then just kind of stay in that zone.
Radha: That sounds very wise. Becky, it's been great to chat. How can people find you the newsletter?
Becky: Litmagnews.substack.com. There's a free version and then the if you sign up as a paid subscriber, you get extra benefits. Free or paid, I don't care. I would just love for people to join the community. You can I also have a website Beckytuch.com. You can contact me ask questions, anything. I'm here.
Radha: Well, thank you so much, Becky. It has really been a pleasure.
Becky: Thank you for having me. It's been a lot of fun. Good luck, everyone!
Coming Soon! The Poet to Poet Community
I’m delighted to announce that in Fall 2022 I’ll be launching the Poet to Poet Community and opportunity to gather with like-minded writers. Just like this newsletter, it is for poets working on books (or who are book-curious).
Free classes on charting your path to publication.
Live virtual discussions on poetry book development and publishing.
Live virtual Q&As with book authors and publishers.
Plus other resources and opportunities for support along the book journey.
Curious? Sign up for community updates! Be first in line for free classes, book giveaways, and other perks, no strings attached.
I really welcome Becky's advice about form-letter rejections. I've heard so many views on this and she blows the fog off the process for us.