Writing the Life Poetic

Discover New Poetry Markets and Get Published: December

By Shawn Sorensen

Hello everyone! The news swirling around (and up) is that more and more people are submitting work. Excellent! Also, more people are getting recognized. Stupendous!

A few acquaintances of mine just won in the prestigious Oregon State Poetry Association Fall 2009 contest (open to writers nationally), which I'll highlight in my next column. Plus, yours truly was published in the summer 2009 edition of Wild Goose Poetry Review (www.wildgoosepoetryreview.com), a publication I had recommended in an earlier column. Add a comment to this article and let us know where you're submitting and/or getting published!

It's heartening to hear about so many people submitting, even though the odds are usually against getting published. Journals, magazines and contests often get inundated with submissions, which is why you should take as a compliment any word you hear back from them.

If you get a standard (or 'form-letter') rejection notice, consider it a positive development in that: one, they're read your work; and two, they're an organized outfit. If you receive a personal rejection note, consider this a very good sign because it’s likely to mean that the editors read your work closely, appreciated something about it and may have even come close to publishing it.

In other words, there are many smaller victories on the road to getting published.

Here are some submission possibilities to explore this time around:

Print Journal: Burnside Review
Portland's own! This unusual print publication (approximately 80 pgs. in a 6” X 6” nicely bound journal) allows the Northwest literary scene to shine brightly. Published work is open in theme and imagery. Some would say the Burnside Review is “edgier than most”, but I would say “more unafraid” -- and responsive to all the work they receive. Their web site -- www.burnsidereview.org -- has sample poems. Burnside Review is published every 9 months and can be found at Powell's bookstore.

Online Journal: Stickman Review
I've been reading Stickman Review for years, admiring the poems that create vivid atmospheres, many with nicely-accomplished metaphor work. Check out their web site, www.stickmanreview.com, for all the details. They publish every few months, are open to new poets, don't mind simultaneous submissions and will pay you if you get published. 

Contest: 2010 Writers-Editors Network 27th Annual International Writing Competition
An annual contest awards three cash prizes and several Honorable Mention certificates. Well-run and open to new and more experienced poets alike. Accepts poetry of any form with an entry fee of $3-$5 per submitted piece. See www.writers-editors.com for more details. Deadline is March 15th, 2010.  

Get submitting and let me know about any victories large or small.

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Shawn Sorensen is a published, award-winning poet whose work can be viewed at manequinenvy.com, Winter 2008 edition. His poem called “The Yard” won 1st Place in the Oregon State Poetry Association's spring 2009 contest, New Poets category. Shawn's poetry submission goal is to send something in at least every other week and get published/recognized a few times per year.  He's written dozens of complete book reviews, many of them for poetry titles, on goodreads.com and braves a perilous river crossing to be the Community Relations Manager at Barnes & Noble in the hinterlands of Vancouver, WA. He plans and hosts an every-2nd-Wednesday Poetry Group event that's always at 7 pm, always features the area's best poets and always has a great open mic.

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Discover New Poetry Markets and Get Published: October

By Shawn Sorensen

So far, I’ve recommend six different venues for your poems: two each of print journals, on-line publications and contests. Congratulations to any of you who have sent in work! As always, please let us know if anything happens, whether it’s a nicely-worded (or timely) rejection or a publication by leaving a note here int comments section. There could definitely be a celebration at hand! 

And when you are submitting work, why not start a submission tracker to kept abreast of which publications are getting which of your poems? A submission tracker can help you stay on top of what you’ve sent and make sure your submissions match each publication’s guidelines. For example:

• Often times a publication will allow simultaneous submissions -- poems you’ve sent elsewhere -- as long as you notify them if someone else publishes your work beforehand.
• If you have something already published, then a vast majority of publications will not consider it.
• Contests -- now that’s another story. As we have already seen with the contest suggestion from my last column, there are plenty of contests that will take poems that have already won or have been published. 

What’s in a submission tracker? Mine is an uncomplicated Excel spreadsheet that has the following columns:  “Poem Title”, “Publication/Contest”, “Date Sent”, “When Response Expected”, “Date Returned/Published” and “Comments”.  And just what information can you put in yours? Let’s try the following: 

Print Journal:  The MacGuffin Published three times per year, the MacGuffin journal simply wants “well-crafted poetry”. For reference, the MacGuffin has recently published poems by Dawn McDuffie, Lisa Siedlarz and Vivian Shipley, poetry that is slightly revelatory and/or humorous in tone, something that sheds new light on the greater meanings of making it through the world. Send no more than five poems, along with a cover letter, to Carol Was, Poetry Editor/ Schoolcraft College/18600 Haggerty Rd., Livonia MI/48152-2696.

Considers simultaneous submissions and would like poems to be typed and single-spaced with the poet’s name, address, and e-mail appearing on each page. Include an SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope). Pays two contributor’s copies. For a sample, send $6 to the above address.

Windfall

Windfall’s subtitle is “A Journal of Poetry of Place”. The place in question is the Pacific Northwest, of which poems submitted to Windfall must reference or be about. Having said that, though, the Pacific Northwest for this journal stretches from Alaska to San Francisco, from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. And you don’t have to be from the Pacific Northwest to get published. Submit up to five poems to Bill Siverly and Michael McDowell, Co-Editors/Windfall Press/P.O. Box 19007, Portland, OR/97230-0007. A cover letter is preferred and Windfall considers simultaneous submissions.  Deadline for spring 2010:  February 1. $5 sent to the above address will get you a sample copy.                                                      

Online Journal: Adirondack Review The Adirondack Review is open to new poets who demonstrate talent as well as established writers who have demonstrations aplenty. View their colorful, unique website for sample poems and submission guidelines. Responds in one week to four months and accepts simultaneous submissions (with notification if poems are published first elsewhere).

Contest:  Twenty-Third Annual Portland Pen Poetry Contest My idea of a good contest? One with a lot of prizes (cash or otherwise), a low entry fee and the possibility of being published if you win. This poetry contest put on by the Portland Branch of the National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW) does all three. There’s a deadline of November 7^th with an entry fee of $5 per poem. More details can be found at their website. 

Now get those poems out and show yourself off a little bit!  I wish you an appetizer of luck followed by a large entrée of enjoyment.  

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Shawn Sorensen is a published, award-winning poet whose work can be viewed at manequinenvy.com, Winter 2008 edition. His poem called “The Yard” won 1st Place in the Oregon State Poetry Association's spring 2009 contest, New Poets category. Shawn's poetry submission goal is to send something in at least every other week and get published/recognized a few times per year.  He's written dozens of complete book reviews, many of them for poetry titles, on goodreads.com and braves a perilous river crossing to be the Community Relations Manager at Barnes & Noble in the hinterlands of Vancouver, WA. He plans and hosts an every-2nd-Wednesday Poetry Group event that's always at 7 pm, always features the area's best poets and always has a great open mic.

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Discover New Poetry Markets and Get Published: Summer

By Shawn Sorensen

I hope you enjoyed the submission ideas and three outlets for publication from my last column. Please report back regarding any correspondence you receive from a publication or contest, and I’ll do the same! We’ll celebrate our successes and also rejections.

I can hear you asking “Why should I celebrate a rejection? Aren’t I supposed to feel lousy? Aren’t I supposed to wither like a rose bush in winter?”

Absolutely not! I suggest you wear rejections like badges of honor. Why? Because you’re in the game! You’re taking the risk to put your work out in the world. And if you don’t get accepted, then at least you have work you could revise, or simply send somewhere else.

And if you do get published, that can expand your horizons even further.

The best part about submitting work, in my experience, is that almost everybody gets back to you. There’s no rush involved, though, so I wouldn’t recommend camping out by your mailbox. Some publications may take a month or two. Most take two to 12 months.

So keep writing and submitting in the meantime! The best thing to do to pass the time is write and revise more poems until they’re ready to send out.

Here are three great markets to check out this summer:

Print Journal:  The MacGuffin

Published three times per year, The MacGuffin journal simply wants “well-crafted poetry”. For reference, The MacGuffin has recently published poems by Dawn McDuffie, Lisa Siedlarz and Vivian Shipley, poetry that is slightly revelatory and/or humorous in tone, something that sheds new light on the greater meanings of making it through the world.

Send no more than five poems, along with a cover letter, to Carol Was, Poetry Editor/ Schoolcraft College/18600 Haggerty Rd., Livonia MI/48152-2696. Considers simultaneous submissions and would like poems to be typed and single-spaced with the poet’s name, address, and e-mail appearing on each page. Include an SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope). Pays two contributor’s copies. For a sample, send $6 to the above address.

Online Journal: Wild Goose Poetry Review

This is a lovely website that publishes poetry every three months. You can send simultaneous submissions, but don’t include previously published work. Email submissions only, with poems pasted right in the body of an email. A cover letter here is a very good idea. Over 10% of all poems submitted get published! To get all the submission details and read poems from other editions, go to www.wildgoosepoetryreview.com. Responds in four to six weeks, often with comments. 

Contest: New River Poets Triannual Poetry Awards

Lots of prizes, a contest every four months, and low entry fee make the New River Poets contest an attractive option. 1st-8th place poems receive cash prizes and submissions may be previously published, even winning in other contests. This is for your best work, but choose from anything you’ve ever written. Submit up to four poems of no more than 42 lines each.

Submit what you’d like, but if you use a structured form, simply identify it. Send two copies of each poem on 8 1/2 X 11 white paper and list the deadline in upper right-hand corner of both copies. On the second copy only, in the upper right-hand corner under deadline, list your name and full address. Include #10 SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope). Entry fee is $5 for up to four poems – only a little over a buck per poem if you submit four. Checks are payable to New River Poets. Mail submissions to Verna Thornton/New River Poets/36929 Grace Ave./Zephyrhills FL 33542. Postmark Deadlines: Oct. 15th and Feb. 15th. 

Now get those poems out! Wishing you good fortune and fun.

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Shawn Sorensen is a published, award-winning poet whose work can be viewed at manequinenvy.com, Winter 2008 edition. His poem called “The Yard” won 1st Place in the Oregon State Poetry Association's spring 2009 contest, New Poets category. Shawn's poetry submission goal is to send something in at least every other week and get published/recognized a few times per year.  He's written dozens of complete book reviews, many of them for poetry titles, on goodreads.com and braves a perilous river crossing to be the Community Relations Manager at Barnes & Noble in the hinterlands of Vancouver, WA. He plans and hosts an every-2nd-Wednesday Poetry Group event that's always at 7 pm, always features the area's best poets and always has a great open mic.

Discover New Poetry Markets and Get Published: May

By Shawn Sorensen

Getting published is not the be all and end all reason to write poetry.  However, submitting work to journals and contests can sure motivate you to write more and improve your craft.  This column can help you have fun submitting work and have more fun celebrating the occasional publication or award.

Each month I’ll recommend three publishing opportunities for writers of all levels: a print journal (lots of prestige), on-line journal (accessible to all) and contest (where you tend to get a quicker response—and maybe even earn some cash and/or status). Following are some guidelines that can help maximize your chances of submission (and publication) success:

• Try to read at least a handful of poems from the publication you’d like to submit to.  Nothing impresses an editor like seeing that you’ve done your homework by submitting poems that are a stylistic or aesthetic fit.
• Submit at least three polished, final poems to demonstrate that you’re legit.  Read: not two good ones and something you wrote five minutes ago. My personal rule is to send poems that at least three people have looked at –- and have therefore been revised at least three times.
• Remember that the more you submit, the more likely you are to get published! Every rejection takes you one step closer to publication.

Print Journal: Memoir (and) 
Memoir (and) is a colorful and beautifully rendered journal that has it all:  accessible work, a built-in contest for the best submissions, and a growing audience. As the title indicates, they basically want your poems to illuminate snippets and impressionable experiences from your life.  They aren’t worried about brilliant poems, in other words -- just descriptive, honest and affecting ones about your human experience. Their current submission period is May 1st through Aug. 15th. www.memoirjournal.com has all the details about submitting, as well as all the poems from their current edition (“Spr + Sum 2009”) so you can see if your poems would be a good fit.     

Online Journal: STRIDE MAGAZINE 
A trip to www.stridemagazine.co.uk says it all.  This interesting on-line magazine appreciates poetry from writers of all skill levels who believe in their own unique literary voice. Like, say, yours.

Contest: Tom Howard/John H. Read Poetry Contest 
This is one of the most fun, most accessible, highly funded (over $5,000 in awards to at least 15 winners) contests of the year. Plus it’s featured on a great website: www.winningwriters.com, which has lots of other free opportunities.
 
Get submitting! You’ll thank yourself for it. Wishing you the best of luck, with a healthy dose of fun.

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Shawn Sorensen is a published, award-winning poet whose work can be viewed at manequinenvy.com, Winter 2008 edition. His poem called “The Yard” won 1st Place in the Oregon State Poetry Association's spring 2009 contest, New Poets category. Shawn's poetry submission goal is to send something in at least every other week and get published/recognized a few times per year. He's written dozens of complete book reviews, many of them for poetry titles, on goodreads.com and braves a perilous river crossing to be the Community Relations Manager at Barnes & Noble in the hinterlands of Vancouver, WA. He plans and hosts an every-2nd-Wednesday Poetry Group event that's always at 7 pm, always features the area's best poets and always has a great open mic.