Dear Poets,

Should you publish with a small press or self-publish?

Be aware that if you publish with most small presses -- some exceptions might be Greywolf, Copper Canyon, or others -- selling your book will be pretty much up to you. Small presses have no sales staff, and the publisher is busy doing something else to survive, not promoting your book.

Authors have unrealized expectations when it comes selling literary fiction and poetry.

If you main way you will sell your book is by self-promotion, why not then self-publish and make all the profits to be made?  With print on demand, it will not cost much. PLUS YOU GET TOTAL CREATIVE CONTROL ON HOW YOUR BOOK AS AN OBJECT WILL LOOK!

The first reason to publish with another is to get some editing, and then the validation that your work is good. Another reason is that you might be a professor and need to get promotions and raises. Self-publishing will not help you there in the English department.

Think about these things. It may be best to self-publish.


Chuck Taylor

A breeze of crumbs

The green grid of greed
With its razor sharp bars
Slices the humanity substance
A breeze of crumbs for my dinner

The clock is nailed to its tongue
No itch to bind myself to ground
Only lust, greed and death
Cuff destinies together

So, I am passing my time
As a plop
As a waft
As a dot with no control..

 

O briza de firimituri

 

Verdele grilaj al lacomiei

cu ascutitele-i lame

feliaza esenta umanitatii

O briza de firimituri pentru a mea cina

Ceasul a intepenit

Nici un chef sa prind radacini

Doar dorinta, lacomia si moartea

Ne incatuseaza unii cu altii

 

Asadar, imi petrec timpul

precum o cadere de apa

precum o boare

precum un punct  fara control

 

Bayou Magazine call for submissions

Bayou Magazine, literary journal published by the Creative Writing Workshop at the University of New Orleans, accepts Nonfiction, Poetry and Fiction submissions from Sept 1-June 1.

Please submit previously unpublished stories and creative nonfiction work up to 7500 words, or no more than five poems. Flash fiction is welcome. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, if noted.

Drafthorse literary Journal is seeking submissions - April 2013

Drafthorse literary Journal is seeking submissions for its Summer 2013 issue. Drafthorse is a biannual online publication of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, visual narrative, and other media art where work, occupation, labor—or lack of the same—is in some way intrinsic to a narrative’s potential for epiphany.  We are interested in how work, or the absence of it, effects people and communities on an intimate level.  While we’re open to various interpretations, we expect the subject to be fundamental to your submission in some way.

Transference Journal seeks translated poetry dealines January 15, 2013

Transference, a new journal published by the Department of World Languages and Literatures at Western Michigan University, invites submissions of translated poetry and accompanying commentary on the art of translation for upcoming issues. 

The Bristol Short Story Prize dealines: April 2013

The Bristol Short Story Prize - an international short story competition open to all UK and non-UK based writers that publishes an annual anthology as well as presenting cash prizes.

The 2013 Bristol Short Story Prize is now open. Stories can be entered online or by post and the closing date for entries is midnight (BST) on 30th April 2013. Please read the 2013 BSSP rules before entering. The judging panel will be chaired by editor and literary consultant, Ali Reynolds, a former editor at Random House.

The Malahat Review 2013 Long Poem Prize

The Malahat Review, Canada’s premier literary magazine, invites entries from Canadian, American, and overseas authors for the Long Poem Prize. Two awards of $1,000 CAD each are given. Poets contributing to The Malahat Review have also won or been nominated for National Magazine Awards for Poetry and the Pushcart Prize. The Long Poem Prize is offered every second year, alternating with the Novella Prize.

Chautauqua will accept new submissions in February 2013

Chautauqua will accept new submissions in February. We will be seeking poems, stories, and essays for the 2014 issue. This issue will explore “the wonders of the world.” We treat themes broadly. Submission period February–April. Payment in copies. Simultaneous submissions accepted. No previously published works. For more information, visit www.ciweb.org/literary-journal.