#0090 Guidelines Are Suggestions, Right? Part Two

Please don’t get creative when it comes to some specific rules & regs

Last time I wrote about guidelines (#0087), I cautioned against ignoring 3 basic rules and regs of submission guidelines: 

1. When a place says do not include your name, remove your name from the submission and the file name

2. When a place has word-count/page-count/line limits, do not exceed them (truly and especially for print publications)

3. When a place indicates 12-point Times New Roman or similar readable font, resist letting your creativity shine via 27-point Comic Sans in fluorescent lime. (Dude, really?!)

You want to best all your Club friends by getting to 100 Rejections first? By all means ignore basic submission guidelines. But this easy-peasy way to garner a rejection? Just might backfire if you end up on publishers’ blacklists. FYI, the world of indie publishing is small and gossipy, so behave yourself!

These ferocious littermates battle in the hopes of one day becoming “top dog” of their very own 100 Rejections Club. My wager is on Halloween! (Photo by Benjie Delmonte on Unsplash.)

Today, let’s get into some of the nitty-gritty details of submission guidelines, including:

• Limits

• File extensions

• Simultaneous subs

• Grouped subs

There Are Limits,  Re: demographics, caps, themes

Inlandia Journal recently published its 8th-annual All-Teen Issue. As you may have noticed, the issue had a demographic limit: teens only. The guidelines defined teens as those 13–19 years old. I’ve seen other demographic limits, such as those who identify as BIPOC, or Canadian residents, or a university’s members.

In response to our screeners drowning in submissions in the fall of 2023, I placed caps on the number of subs per category we would allow for the fall 2024 issue. We closed the poetry option once we received 100 poems. For fiction subs, we closed at 50 stories. Art subs were capped at 100, and we limited the creative nonfiction category at 50 subs. Some places cap total subs rather than by category, and others cap the number of free subs.

Probably the most common limit is thematic. When a journal decides to publish a theme issue, it’s tempting for people to try to shoehorn their creative work to fit the theme. Change the title of the artwork, maybe revise the final stanza of the poem? Please don’t. Instead, how about direct that creative energy to make something new, something truly inspired by the stated aspects of the theme the journal is looking for. 

Those Letters Mean Things, Re: file extensions show the contents 

As managing editor, one of my tasks is to review incoming submissions to be sure the files are accessible for our screeners and usable with our publishing platform. I look at the file extension (sometimes called file type) — those 3 or 4 letters at the end of the file name — to know what type of file it is and whether I have the software to open it. If I see a word-processing program extension such as docx or rtf, I can guess it will be a poem or prose piece; jpg and png, an image of artwork. 

We’ve received writing subs as art files (png, jpg, gif) and art subs embedded in text files (docx, rtf) or with links to online spaces (dropbox, websites). Sigh. When guidelines specify which file type or types are acceptable for subs? Pay attention. 

There are places that will decline to review a sub with an incorrect file extension and not even send a form rejection. Others are more lenient, stating to withdraw the incorrect sub and resubmit following the guidelines. Some will work with submitters to assist with tech challenges. I try to help where I can by explaining the need for a particular type of file, sometimes sending links to conversion instructions, etc. But the more time I devote to one incorrectly submitted poem is time I’m not spending on other incoming subs.

See What Sticks re: submit to(o) many places aka simultaneously

Last January, I set up a one-month Speedrun to Rejection (#0067), which was super fun! To ensure participants would receive speedy notifications, I researched places that promised turnaround times of a week or less. As I explained in the post for that third week (#0069):

To give lickety-split responses, some of the places on this list want to evaluate your creative work exclusively. I believe that’s a fair request, especially since you might hear a response in a day (instead of in six months). Be sure to Read The Guidelines to determine if the place allows for simultaneous submissions; if not, either only submit to the one place or skip that one place for others that allow simultaneous submissions.

Lots of places, including Inlandia Journal, allow simultaneous submissions. We’re fine with screening something you submit not only to us but also to other places because we understand there are many opportunities with open calls when we do. If you receive an acceptance from some other place before you get a response from us? Be kind: swiftly notify us and withdraw the submission from consideration.

Grouped Subs re: packets vs one-offs and multiple flashes

At Inlandia Journal, we allow 1–5 poems from a submitter every issue, each poem as its own sub. The guidelines have the phrase in bold: each in its own submission. In another part of the guidelines, we state that editors review and seriously consider every submission, which implies each sub — in this example, each poem — stands on its own.

Yet every single open call, I review at least one sub with several poems in the document. These poems might appear on different pages or flow one right after another. They might have an overriding theme or focus on one topic, say bird feathers. Lots of poets submit to lots of places that request poetry packets, perhaps 3–5 or 2–6 poems at a time. In our guidelines, we do not ask for packets. 

If you submit poetry packets instead of single poems to IJ, it kinda hurts my feelings. You cannot be bothered to read the guidelines and follow them? Yet you want me to take your creative expression seriously and handle your poetry with care. It takes little time or effort to break a poetry packet into individual files with one per poem, and IJ doesn’t have submission fees. Please be kind. 

I’ve seen calls for submissions of, say, up to 3 flash pieces limited to 1,500 words total (with variations on the number of words/pieces). Usually these places specialize in flash fiction or micro creative nonfiction. IJ gladly receives short prose. In fact, our guidelines specify no minimum length. But? We only want one fiction sub per submitter per issue. We only want one creative nonfiction sub per submitter per issue.

There’s More?

When I posted Guidelines Are Suggestions, Right? Part One back in June (#0087), I thought I’d only be writing a wee bit more about details. Now that I’ve covered some specific rules & regs, I’ve come to realize additional aspects of guidelines not to be ignored.

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Next time: Guidelines Are Suggestions, Right? Part Three (even more of the nit and the grit)