This year was the first year that I actively submitted and published my poetry. I also wrote about some other things like books and comics, printed a few zines, and made some neat stuff for my library classes.
Data Data Data
I love crunching numbers, so I decided to track a few publishing stats in a trusty Google Sheet I updated throughout the year. Some fun facts:
I averaged 5 submissions each month from March (when I began submitting in earnest) to December.
I submitted 27 poems/stories 141 times in 48 packets to 42 publications.
Of those 48 submissions, 32 were rejected and 11 were accepted.
I submitted the most in July (10 subs), was rejected the most in November (6 rejects), accepted the most in December (3 acceptances), and published the most in July (2 pubs; 1 poem, 1 article) and December (2 pubs; 3 poems total).
My most submitted and most rejected piece was a prose poem titled "the worst apology, left on red" which was published in September by coalitionworks.
Each accepted piece was submitted an average of 6 times, and rejected an average of 4 times.
The average time from first submission to acceptance was almost 6 months, and the average time from acceptance to publication was about a month.
This data was a bit skewed by two pieces that were accepted on their first submission: "if the tides can turn then so can i" (Hot Pot Magazine, Issue 3) and "the kind of caterpillar that blooms into an onion" (fifth wheel press, forthcoming). Each of these was written for these publications for a specific themed call.
Thoughts
Ultimately I decided to start submitting my poetry because I felt like I was finally ready to. It helped me to find a great writing community, both locally and online, and encouraged me to write more and seek out the kind of connections I wanted. I don't plan to set a concrete writing goal for myself in 2024 other than to keep submitting, hopefully around 5 subs each month. It's not much, but hey I've got a lot of other stuff going on and for me, publication is a nice to have rather than an essential. I'm not a writer by trade and don't have any plans to try to make a living off of it, and that's alright with me. I'm afraid that setting too firm a goal for something that is ultimately a hobby would make me feel like I'd failed if I had to take a break for school, work, or other Life Events, so I'm just going to let myself create what I enjoy and hopefully get a few opportunities to share that work with others who might enjoy it too.
One of the things that encouraged me the most this year was discovering Chill Subs thanks to a friend's recommendation. It's a fantastic community (RIP [ugh]) and service that made it easy to find the kind of small, cool indie mags that I like to work with. I can't say enough how much I appreciate their transparency and attitude towards supporting both writers and small time litmags, zines, and presses. Through them I discovered Ouch! Collective, who published one of my favorite projects this year that I'm proud to be included in.
My other favorite tool remains my tried and true Notion, which was especially helpful this year in organizing zine ideas. I do most of my actual writing in Google Docs, but when it comes to planning there's no other software I've used more consistently. It's extremely flexible, and offers a host of tools that have changed the way I work. (I'm disappointed to see that they've recently been incorporating "AI" but I've found it easy enough to completely ignore those features).
Speaking of zines, I made a few of those this year too. My biggest creative goal for 2024 is to table at a zine fest or art market here in PVD, and I've got my eye on a couple that I've loved attending and have heard are well-organized and supportive.
If you have any of your own reflections on 2023 or goals for 2024 I'd love to hear them! Here's to keeping that good ol creative flow going in the new year, through writing, art, zines, or whatever else strikes our fancy.
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