Monday, May 21, 2012

Submission Bombers Seek New Target! Calling All Lit Mags & Editors!

UPDATE 6/22/12: I've added a page with more info on the Submission Bombers, how you can join as a writer, and how the group works in general. Check it out. 

A few weeks ago I started a little experiment on Facebook called Submission Bombers. The concept is simple: get a bunch of writers who all feel marginalized in some way and get them all to submit to the same market at once. Much like yarn bombing or seed bombing, the idea is to give editors what they claim to not get: submissions from us, the marginalized.

It took a few days to shape the specifics. Once I started inviting people to the private group, I told members to invite anyone that might be interested. I also made a public post about the group, telling people to comment if they wanted to participate. I didn't want to be the gatekeeper of who and who isn't marginalized.

Questions arose: Won't this just overwhelm the already thin-stretched staff of most publications? Will we piss of the editors? What does "marginalized" mean? Is this just a way to get revenge after a rejection? What publications will we bomb? All good questions, and I tried my best to answer them. I also developed a statement of purpose, parts of which are here:

What is the purpose of Submission Bombers?

To take positive action on a large scale.

LARGE SCALE = Big Facebook group of writers!

ACTION = writing awesome stuff! sending awesome stuff to editors hungry for your words!

Since other "bombings" like those above are centered around being stealthy, many people had concerns about stressing out editors. That shifted our definition of bombing to being about large scale action.

Based on those initial concerns, we decided to seek out an editor who was willing to collaborate on our first bombing, rather than stealth bombing an editor with tons of submissions. After two weeks of submission bombing our first target, I know at least four writers from the group got acceptances.

However acceptance isn't the goal of Submission Bombers. Submitting is the goal. Additional perks emerged including group discussions about marginalization, publication rates, frequency of resubmitting, and the airing of general frustrations or concerns about diversity in literary publishing.

But the most positive thing to come out of this group so far is something so obvious, I couldn't believe I didn't predict it. Motivation and accountability. So many members thanked me for giving them the boost they needed to submit their writing. Much like exercising with a buddy, we're all in this submission game together. It should become part of the routine. This normally solitary, hidden process of gathering together a manuscript to submit is now something we are doing together, as a community, for the sake of submitting and supporting one another as we each try to make our way as writers.

BTW: Writers, if you are interested in joining the Submission Bombers just request a FB friendship and message me for an invite.

Today marks the end of our first bombing. Our community is emboldened by the individual acceptances and overall participation rate. The group has almost 400 people and while a small fraction told the group about their submission, I'm sure a few others still did and kept it a secret. I imagine that with each bombing we'll have varying levels of participation, but I expect the next few to grow significantly.

Editors, this is where you come in.

We need a new target. We have work we want to submit. We are a diverse group and hopefully getting more so as we grow. We are the writers you might not hear from as often: women, writers of color, lgbtqia writers, writers of age, emerging writers, non-academics, varying socioeconomic backgrounds, writers with varying/different abilities, writers who want to be heard.

If you are an editor and you're interested in a participating in a Submission Bombing in the very near future, please leave me a comment below with your contact info and a link to your publications website. We're especially interested in publications that accept poetry and prose submissions and have some online content to help our writers become familiar with the work you publish.

SO, who wants to hear from us? Who wants some explosive writing? Who wants to read the freshest stories and cutting-edge poems? That's us. We have our words ready for you. We've got stamps. We're waiting to hit send.

BOOM.

21 comments:

Nicolette Wong said...

I might be interested (we'll have to talk about the dets). email me at aminormagazine@gmail.com

http://aminormagazine.com/

Cindy (from Flashquake) said...

Sounds interesting. Flashquake is all about diversity, blinds all submissions, and accepts submissions online for free. We also have 10 years of issues available online for submitters to read. Reach me at flashquake@flashquake.org. Our website is www.flashquake.org. We just closed for submissions, but will be open again July 1–Aug 20.

Crystal said...

This is a really brilliant idea Laura. You are completely right about accountability and motivation. This kind of groups is exactly what I need. I find it really hard to get motivated to submit. Like a little kid, I still don't want to do the non-fun part. You've found a great way to turn it into a game!

Hippocampus Magazine said...

What the heck. :) www.hippocampusmagazine.com 

Beth Staples said...

Bomb us!

www.haydensferryreview.org

Doug Lance said...

Editor of eFiction, the premier indie fiction magazine here. Here's our submissions page http://efictionmag.submishmash.com . And to get an idea of what we publish, there are tons of free stories on our sitehttp://www.efictionmag.com. We have about 40 submission readers, so bomb us if you want. We can handle it.

Jessica Bixel said...

We would welcome a bombing: www.rufouscityreview.com (editor@rufouscityreview.com).

Ian Chung said...

I'm up for this. http://eunoiareview.wordpress.com

eunoiareview@gmail.com

Camille Gooderham Campbell said...

Every Day Fiction would love to be submission-bombed! http://www.everydayfiction.com/submit-story/

Laura Davis said...

Thanks Crystal! I'm glad you've found it motivating. You do have to make submissions like a game. I've learned to enjoy the numbers part of it all. Playing with different poems, sending them to markets that might surprise you. Sending out a bunch of submissions at once. It's all about the numbers.

Stevie Edwards said...

Hey Laura,

My name is Stevie Edwards, and I'm the Editor-in-Chief/Founder of Muzzle Magazine: www.muzzlemagazine.com. With each issue we aim to provide a diverse array of voices, and we'd love to participate in this project/ be a "bomb" target. 

Leslye Reaves said...

The Quotable is up for the challenge! We're a quarterly online & print mag with each issue based on a theme and a quote.  We open again for submissions on June 1 for our 7th issue with the theme "Feast or Famine."
















“All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast
of the mind.”  ~Khalil Gibranhttp://thequotablelit.com/submissions

Leslye said...

Sorry, the link came out weird:   http://thequotablelit.com/submissions

Alex said...

We (
http://fictionfix.net/ ) are very interested in this, but the timing would have to be right so the submissions could get the proper attention.  The month of August would be awesome if possible.  Email me at a.k.pucher@fictionfix.net

Emily O'Neill said...

I'm the poetry editor for Side B magazine, and we'd love to be submission bombed in the near future.  We publish poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, specifically by traditionally marginialized writers.  We accept online submissions via Submittable (no fee, easy interface) and have sample work up on our website @ http://sidebmag.com@Stevie Edwards 

Our issues are typically themed, although our summer issue (deadline for submissions is June 30th) seems to be unthemed.

Linda Hofke said...

This is awesome. I just took part in SAD/SAW in May. After completing a poem a day in April a bunch of writing friends decided we should submit in May. We didn't have 400 people participating (maybe 25) but we had similar results. Everyone shared links to lit journals accepting submissions and gave support and encouragement. Several people have multiple acceptances already and several are still waiting for replies. I guess there really is strength in numbers.

OkieDokie said...

I'd be curious to hear what some of these editors have to say about aesthetic marginalization. A lot of literary magazines only want experimental, non sequetur "languagey" poems and turn up their noses at those who use form or rhyme. And vice-versa with "traditional" journals. I think this makes for homogonized magazines. I'd like to see a diverse array of good work as opposed to a house style in such journals.

Jenny said...

scissors and spackle would be up for the challenge. We accept all forms, including traditional form OkieDokie, all genres, and all length's. We read for the journal year round and just opened submissions for an upcoming anthology. Our site is at http://www.scissorsandspackle.com and submission guidelines can be found at http://www.scissorsandspackle.com/submissions/

The New Guard said...

We'd love it. We accept every form and juxtapose experiment with tradition to create a new dialogue. We don't have examples online because we are print-only. Contests and submissions start up again next spring. We strive to publish new undersung authors alongside established authors. There is a submissions fee and there is a prize of $1K in poetry and $1K in fiction. www.newguardreview.com

Laura E. Davis said...

Thanks for the comment! Send me an email at lauraelizabethdavis at gmail dot com :)

Nostrovia! Poetry said...

Bombs away! Nostrovia! Poetry will not hide under a school desk.


www.nostroviatowriting.com