Submitting poetry online/magazines

Hey Marc, do you have a Submittable account? If not, I urge you to set one up. Submittable is the submission manager that 90% of all online and print journals use to accept submissions. The other 10% take submissions via email or snail mail. If you send poems via snail mail, do not send your only copy. You won’t get it back lol

As far as knowing which journals to submit to, it is very heavily reliant on what kind of poetry you write. Of course, all journals have varying levels of competitiveness or selectiveness. But beyond that, each journal has its own team of editors, each of whom have their own tastes and preferred aesthetics. A “no” from one journal may be a “yes” from another. They all have their own preferred vibes.

I have attached a document someone once shared with me. It is a basic list of some journals in “tiers” of difficulty. if I remember correctly, tier 1 is the more accessible tier. Its a good starting point to search the listed journals and research what they’re interested in and determine if your poetry would find it to be a suitable home.

As you submit it is super important to research the journals you’re considering, especially if there’s a submission fee or if they don’t accept simultaneous submissions. A simultaneous submission is when you submit the same work to two different journals. Some are cool with it as long as you let them know if/when the work is accepted elsewhere. if they don’t allow simultaneous submissions, i advise you to consider your likelihood of acceptance there. You don’t want to tie up a piece with one potential journal for 3-4 months unless you know it’s a good chance.

Hope this was helpful. Submit often! :)