From the Poetry Editor’s Desk:
Process & Guidelines
A note for everyone to please follow the guidelines, which will greatly reduce my workload. More than half of the short-listed through accepted poets did not! My editorial process is this: I try to read several hundred submissions at once over a 2-3 day period [to eliminate mood bias], I cull the submissions by reading the poems in the body of the email, making long-hand notes; I download the short-listed work [and some long-listed as well], I create an Excel spreadsheet with all the candidates, which include the poems’ characteristics, style, comments, etc, as well as a subjective [pre-edit] rating from 5 [good] to 10 [outstanding]; I observe organically developing themes/arcs; sequence them for the two issues [I look for a variety of forms, including traditional ones]; I copy and paste the tentative works in Word and perform minor edits if necessary; write acceptance letters; while I wait for your response, I search for and/or create complementing artwork; I send the pertinent and properly formatted info to the publisher. As time permits, I send rejections.
In the future, I insist on all of the following:
In ONE document, include a cover letter, 3rd person lit bio [not 1st], contact information, poem titles [not in full caps!], each poem beginning on a separate page [insert a page break instead of using multiple “carriage” returns], and be sensitive to the possibility of embedded HTML in your poem [I don’t want work that has unnecessary white space; format it as you might like to see it published*]; don’t indent the entire poem or slide it over, use the natural margins [at least one inch. Thank you so much for making my life easier!
*For complex/challenging formats, please be prepared to submit the HTML in case it is accepted.
