It’s amazing the amount of times I ask a budding author, poet or writer in general about literary journals and they give me a blank stare.
Why does this amaze me you ask? Because literary journals are a writers best friend. While the process of submitting your work to multiple publications can be a timely and frustrating experience the pay off in the end makes it all worth it.
Many people will ask you where your work has been featured and in the event that your book hasn’t been published yet it’s nice to be able to pull out three or four magazines with your work in it. Not to mention it looks very good to be able to have a list of publications behind your name. Think of it as a piece of pie, once people know it’s there everyone wants a piece. No, it’s not your book nor can it replace that feeling but it is your work in print or online.
It’s important though to recognize that literary journals operate like micro publishers. They all have submission guidelines and it’s very important to stick to these guidelines lest your work be thrown in the trash or sent to spam for something simple like attaching your document in the wrong format.
It’s also important to note that once you submit your work to one publication you cannot (in most cases) submit the same piece to another publication. The response times are often long and sometimes they will ask for exclusivity for up to a year. Quite a long period of time.
However, thanks to the advancement of technology it‘s now easier to submit your work once finding a publication accepting submissions. While some publications are old fashioned and will only take mailed submissions the majority now accept your submission via email.
What about the pay you ask? While the literary journals will pay you for your work most of the independent ones will not pay you with a cheque but rather will pay you with a free copy of the edition that your work is featured in.
Yes I realize that this seems like a lot of work to get one poem or one story out there, but that one publication in print is far better than having none at all. It’s important to remember that you need to start somewhere and you need to crawl before you walk. Any type of promotion of your work is good promotion!
Here is a link to some literary journals: click here

Good Luck & Happy Hunting!
xoxo
Elle
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