In 2023, I shot off 67 submissions across various literary magazines and poetry contests around the world. I had zero strategy and was quite indiscriminate in what I sent and where I sent it. From those 67 submissions, I received 4 acceptances, a rate of 5.9%.
After I began my first editorial role at Tabula Rasa Review midway through 2023, I learnt very quickly how unproductively I had been approaching the submission process. I decided to pump the brakes in the following year and expand my editorial experience.
In 2024, I published four issues with two different literary journals, the other being Milk Press, PSNY’s publishing arm. I’ve been serving as the Managing Editor of Milk Press since September last year, and thought it was about time I shared what I’ve learned!
Here are my top four tips for submitting, after two years on the publishing side.
1.) Be YOU
The only way to stand out is by honing the best asset we have as writers, our individuality.
A writer-friend of mine, Sara Saleh, put it this way: Everyone can write about heartbreak, but only you can write about YOUR heartbreak.
Editors – and I’d add, probably every experienced reader – have an instinct for work that contains authenticity, and work that is still in the emulation-phase (a very necessary growth stage of our writing lives). It takes some self-awareness to catch yourself when you’re writing for praise or prestige, and when you’re writing from the heart. It’s a cliche for a reason!
There is no complex recipe for emotional resonance, just one ingredient, honesty.
2.) READ THE PUBLICATION
Before I did Editorial work, I had heard this advice 100 times, and ignored it 101.
I’m ashamed looking back, how often I thought I could get away with faking my interest in a publication. It’s suuuuper obvious when submitters have never read an issue of the journal I’m working on. Between the three journals I have experience working on, their vibes are worlds apart.
My previous mag loved trimmed, imagistic pieces when it came to poetry. We rarely published anything with political connotations or satire. The same pieces that I would put through to a second round of reading there, I wouldn’t do for a Milk Press submission. The same goes at Milk Press, where we favor the lyrical and experimental.
The same principle applies to manuscripts of publishing houses. Or finding a literary agent to represent your work. Or a good pair of jeans. It is far more nuanced than whether a piece contains strong material or not. It needs to be the right fit.
This has slowed me down in my own pursuits of publishing. I read more widely and patiently, taking mental notes of a publication’s vibe and whether any of my works are a genre and audience match for them. I have greater trust that if alignment exists, my writing will find its intended readership. Gone are the days of shooting off the same five poems to every open call!
3.) Don’t Submit a First (or Second) Draft
For a poem to appear effortless, it requires the exact opposite. Multiple drafts, enjambments tweaked to perfection, meticulous attention paid to the sonic and visual. I could go on. Our first drafts hurl a piece into existence, but they must evolve past this. Feedback is an essential part of that evolution. We all have blind spots!
Ask yourself: how many people have read what I’m submitting and given me feedback? If it’s less than two, maybe it needs more time under construction before putting it out there. If you don’t have more than two people you could show a piece to, you might be in need of a broader writing community. PSNY can certainly help with that! We have Virtual Intensives twice seasonally that involve thorough workshopping of your writing. In fact, PSNY was the first place I was exposed to just how fantastic and transformative workshopping can be when you have the right culture in the room.
4.) Pay Attention to Finer Details
You would be shocked at how many people do not even read a Submittable description before attaching a file and sending it off into the void. Submission guidelines are there for a reason folks – do the basics and respect the time and energy of editors by ensuring you double-check formatting and file stipulations. When there’s 100+ submissions to read, glaring mistakes on the submission form might prevent your pieces from even being opened.
In 2025, who knows how many submissions and rejections I will accrue. But one thing is for sure, I’m trusting the process & I hope you will too!
F.M Papaz is a Greek-Australian poet, editor and teacher who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared in Wild Roof Journal, Five South and Mantissa Poetry Review. She is the Managing Editor of Milk Press and a 2024-2025 Barbara Germack Foundry Fellow. Connect @fmpapaz on socials or fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life.