For anyone out there who's been published

[bflagsst]

as with any genre, there will be good editors and bad, and plenty who're workaday editors with little interest in your writing other than to make sure it's spelled correctly. I'm not saying find yourself a specific editor, but a good friend with a good eye, a feel for your work and for poetry in general can sometimes help by making suggestions that we're too close to our own work to see - such as dropping a particular line we are too fond of but without which the poem might work tons better. Guess it depends on where you are as a writer, and how willing you are to listen to outside suggestions. Personally, I find I can take on board other's ideas while I'm writing something (though workshopping's not a thing i often do), but once happy with what i've got down then i find it hard to change things about too close to completion. That's when time helps lend a better perspective for me. I'd be surprised if any did regularly rely on an editor to influence their work - what i really meant there was that a sympathetic editor might help make that odd suggestion that will improve your gem, whereas a poor editor won't look beyond the mechanics of anything presented them. I suppose time is a great restriction too. But a good editor is gold dust.

I've had poetry editors in the broad sense, telling me to re-write, drop poems, once in while a line or word. I think I'd blow up, explode and die if an editor was always in my ear trying to tell me about word choice and phrasing. A good poetry editor would have to be another poet, a good poet. So if another poet is revising your work, they're re-writing your work in their poetic mind. Editors in prose just need to know technique, theory; not about how to express the inexpressible.

 

[Epmd607]

I've had poetry editors in the broad sense, telling me to re-write, drop poems, once in while a line or word. I think I'd blow up, explode and die if an editor was always in my ear trying to tell me about word choice and phrasing. A good poetry editor would have to be another poet, a good poet. So if another poet is revising your work, they're re-writing your work in their poetic mind. Editors in prose just need to know technique, theory; not about how to express the inexpressible.

I'm a top of the line poetry editor. If a poem isn't good, I don't want it written over, toss it and find something better. When I ran a magazine (for only 4 issues) I rejected the crap and didn't hesitate to reject the mediocre. The editors looking for changes usually don't have much to work with and that's why they try and get a poet to change their work, because they need to put that new issue out and they have maybe half of an issue that's worthy of publishing.

I know this from the experience of having an issue that's only half of what I deem publishable. That's why I quit the Internet zine world. There simply aren't enough good poets writing good poems regularly. Everyone writes in bursts, is dry for a few years and gets back on it. I asked all the good poets I knew to give me work and they did, but you run out of people you know and the cold calls aren't as fruitful.

P.S. tongue in cheek, for the most part.

 

[butters]

I'm a top of the line poetry editor. If a poem isn't good, I don't want it written over, toss it and find something better. When I ran a magazine (for only 4 issues) I rejected the crap and didn't hesitate to reject the mediocre. The editors looking for changes usually don't have much to work with and that's why they try and get a poet to change their work, because they need to put that new issue out and they have maybe half of an issue that's worthy of publishing.

I know this from the experience of having an issue that's only half of what I deem publishable. That's why I quit the Internet zine world. There simply aren't enough good poets writing good poems regularly. Everyone writes in bursts, is dry for a few years and gets back on it. I asked all the good poets I knew to give me work and they did, but you run out of people you know and the cold calls aren't as fruitful.

P.S. tongue in cheek, for the most part.

which part wasn't?


did you take over the position from another in an established zine or were you starting from scratch? reputations take time to build but i applaud your desire to uphold high standards.

 

[Epmd607]

which part wasn't?


did you take over the position from another in an established zine or were you starting from scratch? reputations take time to build but i applaud your desire to uphold high standards.

I started from scratch, was getting what I thought were solid unique views the week each issue came out. It's just I ran out of material, was getting submissions every day that I had no interest in. I've edited other lit zines, it's easier only having to deal with the submissions. If I was really going to do an issue I wanted to, I could probably put out one a year with like ten poets. That's just not worth the 120 dollars a year for the site and all the time you spend searching and reading.

My wife's preggo, I'd rather tickle her instead of promoting other people's poetry. Editors start zines because they want a place to put some of their poems, some do it because they like promoting good poetry. Most of the poets who submit haven't read your magazine and just want to have their poems published. Doggone poets don't understand that only other poets are reading those magazines. So if they aren't reading, just submitting, no one's going to read their poems if they get accepted. So what's the point of submitting, beyond vanity?

 

[butters]

Epmd607;32938989

I started from scratch, was getting what I thought were solid unique views the week each issue came out. It's just I ran out of material, was getting submissions every day that I had no interest in. I've edited other lit zines, it's easier only having to deal with the submissions. If I was really going to do an issue I wanted to, I could probably put out one a year with like ten poets. That's just not worth the 120 dollars a year for the site and all the time you spend searching and reading.

Oh those submissions roll on in, and in, and in - finding those gems, though ... man, what a treasure. and yep, you sound like you were doing the sort of thing I did except I never put out a zine; my site contained a sort of reference library of talented poets I'd discovered hunting through the web. It IS very time consuming.

My wife's preggo, I'd rather tickle her instead of promoting other people's poetry. Most editors start zines because they want a place to put some of their poems, some do it because they like promoting good poetry. Most of the poets who submit haven't read your magazine and just want to have their poems published. Most poets don't really understand that only other poets are reading those magazines. So if they aren't reading, just submitting, no one's going to read their poems if they get accepted. So what's the point of submitting beyond vanity?

vanity's up there as a major consideration for many writers. as website owner/management my priorities were about getting beautiful words out there to be read. The views chocked up but how successful it was for a small site I couldn't say, not really understanding all that sort of stuff too well

 

[bflagsst]

I'm a top of the line poetry editor. If a poem isn't good, I don't want it written over, toss it and find something better. When I ran a magazine (for only 4 issues) I rejected the crap and didn't hesitate to reject the mediocre. The editors looking for changes usually don't have much to work with and that's why they try and get a poet to change their work, because they need to put that new issue out and they have maybe half of an issue that's worthy of publishing.

I know this from the experience of having an issue that's only half of what I deem publishable. That's why I quit the Internet zine world. There simply aren't enough good poets writing good poems regularly. Everyone writes in bursts, is dry for a few years and gets back on it. I asked all the good poets I knew to give me work and they did, but you run out of people you know and the cold calls aren't as fruitful.

P.S. tongue in cheek, for the most part.

Martyr of the poetry world.

 

[Epmd607]

Martyr of the poetry world.

Tartar of the poetry world

 

[Palba_Noruda]

What were you reactions on hearing you had been, and did they change once you read what your piece had been published alongside? for better or worse? (for richer for poorer probably doesn't apply )

Did you find being choosier about what you submitted to helped? Did you find on-line zines (or magazines with an on-line presence too) helped you formulate a better idea of the kind of work being published by whom, rather than taking pot luck or spending a fortune on ordering copies of specific hard copy publications from your newsagent?

I published a piece in a local newspaper. Otherwise I self publish. I showed my friend tonight some stuff I had done. I was thinking of reading something on Thursday. And I will later in the month. I read a bunch around different places. I think a person could do that for awhile and accumulate a bunch of people upon whom you've published.

I've worked in publishing. It's something of a confidence game, now isn't it?