Today I had an email telling me that I have just had a poem accepted by another magazine (Northampton Poetry Review), which reminded that I really should write about my progress with magazines and how I approach submitting to them. Since October I have had eleven poems accepted by seven magazines.
The magazines that have already published are:
The Dawntreader issue 45: https://www.indigodreams.co.uk/the-dawntreader/4563791666
Obsessed with Pipework issue 85 : https://obsessedwithpipeworkblog.wordpress.com/
The Curlew Crataegus issue: https://www.the-curlew.com/
Prole issue28: http://prolebooks.co.uk/index.html
The magazines who have accepted but not yet published are:
Fenland Reed: https://www.thefenlandreed.co.uk/
Dream Catcher: http://www.dreamcatchermagazine.co.uk
Northampton Poetry Review: https://www.northamptonpoetryreview.org
Update to this update: Confluence https://www.confluencemagazine.co.uk/ has accepted three poems, making it fourteen poems accepted by eight magazines.
How I approach submitting to magazines
As so far my approach seems to be working, I thought I would share it with you. It goes without saying that the most important thing has to be having poems ready for publication, so nothing goes out unless I am happy with it.
I did a lot of research into poetry magazines before I sent out anything. This included combining a trip to London to see my son with an afternoon in the Poetry Library, which is on one of the upper floors of the South Bank Centre in London. The Library has a large selection of current magazines on display as well as back copies. It also produces a list of magazines, which you can download from its web site; https://www.nationalpoetrylibrary.org.uk/. But I did find that the list included some magazines that no longer are in operation, which goes to show you do have to check with the magazines and their websites. What I was looking for was poetry magazines that I liked and wanted to be in and in which my poems would fit. I made a note of the number of lines on the page (no point sending poems which would be either too long or too short). I always make a note of the current editor's name (not always the same on the Poetry Library list), so I can write a personalise email/letter.
I drew up a shortlist and proceeded to buy copies of the magazines I was interested in. As I am a carer for my mum I don't have a lot of free cash, but I consider it a good investment, plus I really do not think that I can ask magazines to publish my work without being willing to buy at least one copy. I continue to buy magazines when I can afford to do so.
Most poetry magazines have websites or blogs, where I find advice on submitting my poetry to them. I follow the guidance to the letter. Different magazines can have very different requirements and it is very bad manners not to do what they ask you to. I also subscribe to their blog feeds and Facebook pages, as sometimes they will announce submission deadlines, themes for the next edition etc. through these.
I have a spreadsheet to keep track of my submissions. When I first started submitting back in the early 1980s, I didn't have a spreadsheet or a computer for that matter and it was easy to get lost and send to two magazines at the same time, which is a no no. In my spreadsheet I have one worksheet which lists the poems down the left side, against that I put the names of magazine I send them to and date. When the magazine replies I enter the response. If it is a no, I send it to another magazine and enter that info into the worksheet. Another worksheet lists the magazines with useful info e.g whether they take email submissions, number of lines per page, maximum number of poems allowed per submission, and of course the website address. Another worksheet is a monthly calendar showing which magazines are accepting submissions when.
If you are thinking about submitting poems to magazine, I hope this information helps.
