“When you start to submit poems you will want to begin looking at the general requirements first.” – dimitrireyespoet.com
The general requirements on a magazine or journal’s submission page should be read over before you decide to submit. There, you will find all of the information about how to submit and if you send in your work correctly, it’ll assure you a fair chance. Secret tip about general requirements: they only differ everso slightly between publications and magazines. It’s important to pay attention to these general requirements because although they’re very similar, they’ll usually have one or two minor requests (like writing your titles in all caps or titling your submission with your last name and the number of poems) and if you don’t abide by those rules, it becomes very easy for them to pass on your manuscript.
To make sure you aren’t caught for the slip, here are 6 Great Tips for Submitting Your Poetry
1. Universal Font Size
Most importantly, make sure you are submitting in a 12 pt font. This is the universally recognized font size and this ensures that the submitter and the reviewer are being fair; meaning that the one submitting doesn’t submit an amount of poems that isn’t under or over the requirement and that the poetry reader is giving the work a fair chance.
2. Standard Font Types
There are standard typefaces that are widely accepted throughout the submission channels. These are your Times New Roman, Arial, Cambria, EB Garamond, and Georgia fonts. The reason why fonts are usually standardized is because others can be harder to read. If you are unaware if your font is acceptable, it might be the safest bet to submit your work with one of the 5 fonts previously mentioned.
3. Submission Reading Type
Is it a blind submission or general submission? When reading the requirements, it will usually say either or. If it’s a general submission (or general reading period) chances are that they are okay with identifying information in your cover letter. That means your name and contact information can be featured in your cover letter and/ or header of your manuscript. If it is a blind submission, DO NOT have any identifying information on your document ANYWHERE. Blind submissions is another method used to keep submissions fair. If no names are found anywhere on a manuscript, there’s no way to play “favorites” with poets that are more reputable than up-and-coming writers.
4. Page/ Poem Limit
Somewhere in the requirements or call for work, they will include a cut-off for page length, amount of poems, or sometimes both. Common requirements are… 3-5 poems, 5 poems, 5 pages, 8 pages, 10 pages… a combination would read something like, “Submit no more than 5 poems or 8 pages of work.” It’s also not uncommon for an additional request of a poem at a certain length whether it’s one page, two pages, or more.
5. Published & Unpublished Work
Though it is rare, some publications do take poems that have already been published though it is often for a special anthology or collection of work. Most places want the freshest and newest voices, therefore they’re usually looking for work that hasn’t been published elsewhere.
6. Solicited or Unsolicited Submissions
There will be moments you run into a publishing platform that says they aren’t taking unsolicited submissions. This means that they themselves are reaching out to their talent to tailor each issue. These are journals and mags that only take solicited submissions. Other organizations that will be willing to receive work from a larger pool of individuals are spotted out in their submission requirements by mentioning that they are looking for unsolicited submissions.
Please watch the video that accompanies this blog to gain more insight about these tips!
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