Submit Smarter
Submit Smarter
I’m a self-taught poet, or as my friend Alexis Rhone Fancher would say “a feral poet.” I have no formal or Academic training. I took my first paid poetry workshop only after my first book had been accepted.
Point is: everything I learned, from brainstorm to book deal, I taught myself. No MFA. No famous poetry mentors. No chapbook. I just knew this wild thing called poetry was gonna change my life, so I worked to outsmart systems designed to keep me out.
I knew the first thing I had to do was write. I need my 10,000 hours of practice. Therefore I spent an entire year writing a poem a day, it helped, but then I had over 300 poems but didn’t know what to do next. How did I get them read?
All I have ever wanted was to be a writer, but the publishing world felt like a Russian doll of padlocks. Who would publish me? I didn’t have a grip of awards or accolades, I didn’t even have a bio. As a feral poet, I needed to teach myself how to pick locks.
Determined to get my work out there I developed a new mantra.
SUBMIT SMARTER.
The world of getting your work published is confusing and comes with its own jargon and systems. As a newbie my knowledge was limited, but I did know that like most things in life, it was a numbers game, and I could use strategy to get ahead. I figured if I could outsmart the system maybe one day I would see my name in print.
I’ve found when asking about how to start submitting most people just say you should submit to the journals you like, while this is true. There are so many other things you can to give yourself an advantage.
1. ELIMINATE HALF THE COMPETITION.
Rattle was the first top tier journal I was published in. I received the acceptance less than a year after starting the submission process. I had been warned that some poets tried for years to get published in Rattle, in my mind I didn’t have years, I wanted to get it now. I knew it was a publication credit that was more prestigious than I’ve ever had before. I also figured once I got my foot in their door, other doors would open. I was right.
The first thing I wanted to do was eliminate my competition. Rattle, like many other journals, has tribute calls for submissions on a particular theme. Meaning they are looking for poems specifically on that topic. I looked over the upcoming themes and found one I felt connected to: feminism. While there are many wonderful men who are feminists, I knew that there would probably be a much fewer amount of men submitting. I figured if I submitted for this issue that I would knock out 50% of the competition. It is important to find the calls you identify with and start there.
2. MAKE A NEW NOISE
When someone asked Conan O’Brien the key to his success, he simply stated “I made a new noise.” In other words, he had to sound different from everyone else. Once he did so, people would start to recognize that noise and eventually want that noise. I had heard Rattle’s editor, Tim Green, once say that when looking for poems to publish he wanted to read poems he had never seen before. A fresh take. A new voice. An unseen style.
Knowing this I sat down to write one of the wildest poems I had ever written. It was new to me, and I also hadn’t seen a lot of poems like it. In short, I was determined to make a new noise. A noise that would get me noticed. I’m happy to say my poem, (my new noise) was accepted within two weeks later and went on to win the Neil Postman Award for Metaphor.
3. KNOW THE ODDS.
So much of success in life is knowing the odds and trying to tip them in your favor. Enter Duotrope. Duotrope is one of the most helpful tools in terms of publishing. For $5 a month Duotrope tells you: the acceptance rate, the rejection rate, average response time for each journal. It also tells you where people who submitted to this journal got other work accepted. In other words, it told me what the odds were for what I was reaching for. This helped me to gain some perspective. Whenever I got rejected I realized, I wasn’t a shitty poet, the magazine just only took .03% of the work, and maybe I needed a little more practice. And maybe the poem needed to be revised but knowing the odds made it less personal.
4. CREATE A SUBMISSION BANK.
It was Micheal Jordan who said, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.: And while this will be one of the rare sports metaphors you get from me, it is important to echo you are rejected from every place you don’t submit your work.
To try and outweigh the gloom I felt every time I got a form letter saying, “thanks for sending your work, but it’s not right for us at the time,” I sent out another submission.
I looked at my submissions like a bank account. I always wanted 25 submissions out at all times. So as soon as 1 rejection came in. As soon as that number dropped down to 24 I would send another submission out to get back up to 25. I told myself I needed to take another shot and increase my chances.
Jump to the present day. 4 years later I’m still learning, but I have been published in 8 out of 10 of my dream journals. I published my first book book with my #1 press. I had no MFA, no famous poetry mentors, and very little free time.
IT. CAN. BE DONE. You just need to, of course, write and strategize. Submit Smarter.
I’m asked so often what advice I have for someone who is just starting to get their work out there, I figured I might put my thoughts in one place.
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Email me (kelly@kellygracethomas.com) for information more.
Have submitting tips or topics you want to learn about? Leave a comment below. And as always thanks for reading...shine on.