SUBMISSION CONTROL

Here’s a vital truth that many writers do not realize about the process of submitting work to literary journals: You are in control.

Yes, submitting to a literary magazine can feel like a game of wait-and-wait-and-wait-some-more, and after many months, a rejection may arrive with little or no explanation. But that doesn’t mean you’re powerless. You wield far more influence than you imagine. For instance:

• You decide when the work is ready to submit.

• You decide where to send it.

• You decide how many magazines to submit the work to simultaneously.

• You decide when a magazine has held onto your work for too long and when it is time to politely withdraw your submission and send the poem, story or essay elsewhere.

Let’s take these one by one.

YOU’VE GOT THE POWER

decide when the work is ready, and that is not only a crucial step in the publication process, but also something no one else can do on your behalf. Making this choice requires a temporary suspension of ego and a hard-edged editorial eye, which can be difficult at first, but becomes easier with time and practice. Read your work out loud, pretend you aren’t the one who wrote it and ask yourself honestly: We all make mistakes and send work around too early, so don’t