Ye Olde New Poet’s Market Report
I buy Poet’s Market every year, probably out of nostalgia, because I bought my first one when I was 18 or 19, and just pored over it, trying to glean some kind of literary knowledge from the pages. (I was a terrible writer then, but I still really wanted to be a writer.) So I bought the new one, and you know what’s freaking me out? The absence of certain literary magazines from the 2008’s Poet’s Market. Not only Crab Creek Review (which has been running consistently for 20 years) which I work for (troubling, but not impossible to understand – the former CC editors, full of turmoil in the turnover, probably didn’t return some form or something) but Redactions, Sentence? Weird. I kept looking for magazines, magazines that I own, subscribe to, submit to, etc, and not finding them anywhere. What are your favorite magazines that didn’t make it in? How hard does Poet’s Market make it to get listed? Is there a secret blacklist or something I don’t know about? I say, make it into a web form process, people at Writer’s Market inc, and you’d probably get more responses.
On the plus side, thanks to Amanda for listing my name among recently published poets (with some very fine company, I might add) for the entry for The Pebble Lake Review. One of my favorite journals that DID make it in.
And there is a good roundtable on blogging at the beginning of the book, including Jilly Dybka, C. Dale Young, Janet Holmes, and Reb Livingston. How’s that for fun?
Jilly
I think lit mags opt out because of the volume of submissions they get. (Not sure if that is the case with the ones you listed though.)
Oliver de la Paz
I’ve always been a CLMP guy, myself . . .
Reb
Some magazines ask not to be included due to the volume of submissions — NTM is one of those publications.
Cipolline
J9,
I haven’t used the WD markets books in years.
I find the Directory of Little Magazines and Small Presses far more comprehensive and searchable, and I also use the CLMP.
Also, online, there are several good directories that are simply far more up-to-date and inclusive than the WD markets books. Check out Duotrope, for instance. Also conveniently searchable.
And don’t forget the AWP Chronicle back pages!
jeannine
Thanks for the info guys! Sadly, as a bit of an OC (obsessive compulsive) type, I signed up for Duetrope when it came out and I have the CLMP AND the Dustbooks directory. But I can’t stop myself from buying Poet’s Market anyway…
Thanks for the tip on why markets (like No Tell!) might not be listed – I hadn’t thought about that whole “inundated by folks” aspect.
Robert
Good for you. I’m still working off an ’03 copy. Between that and duotrope.com, I figure I could write a poem an hour for the next year and still not cover all the options. Best, I think, to focus in on the ones I admire and read and subscribe-to first. And that keeps me plenty busy for now.
NancyB.
Thanks for the questions you raise, Jeannine. You’re right regarding why Crab Creek doesn’t appear–we never received a reply to our verification mailings. As for Redactions and Sentence, there are three possibilities: 1) Neither contacted me for a listing questionnaire; 2) I may have sent them a questionnaire but never received a response; 3) I overlooked them when trying to contact markets new to the 2008 edition last fall (the most likely option; it’s really hard to keep track of everything that’s out there, both print and online, if no one contacts me about a given magazine).
And both Jilly and Reb are right regarding magazines opting out because of the volume of submissions. There are many other reasons magazines don’t want to be listed as well, sometimes for only temporary reasons (like being on hiatus or being currently overstocked with work).
I don’t really make it very hard to get into Poet’s Market. No “black list”–the red flag I pay most attention to is if there’s a reading fee involved in submitting work, especially if it seems excessive and/or the editor just seems to be preying on unsuspecting poets.
How I would love to have our whole questionnaire/verification process online! It’s been on my “wish list” for years, but it’s not something I’m able to generate myself.
Thanks for your feedback, Jeannine. I’m always interested in good questions like yours about Poet’s Market.
–Nancy Breen, editor
jeannine
Thanks Nancy! Always good to get the news straight for the source!
PS You could advocate hiring a freelancer to set up a web form – if you have a good database – or if you don’t you could even use access or Excel – it wouldn’t be that expensive – or you could set up an e-mail process!