As you, my lovely little reader of DPGOnline, may already be aware, Drexel University publishes a quarterly literary magazine. Nothing big, y’know… just a little mag that’s been around for nearly 40 years, receives submissions from all over the world, and has an odd tendency to discover literary gems that find their way into places like The Best American Poetry. It goes by Painted Bride Quarterly, in case you were wondering. (And you can order a copy here!)

But what is a literary magazine? And why do you need to know?

Most people have the wrong idea. They’re surprised to see a real, bound, book-thick “magazine.” Dump the image of some shlocky glossy number that’s stapled together and is full of the local creative writing teacher trying frantically to endorse himself. (Or herself, sorry.)  9 times out 10 — heck, 9 times out of 100 — that’s the wrong idea. While tragically (tragically!) little-known to the general non-literary public, lit mags are actually a fabulous starting point for any aspiring writer.

I don’t want to shatter your precious, harp-scored dreams of overnight success with the To Kill A Mockingbird of 2009, but chances are, in the cruel, cold world of publishing, it’s just not gonna happen. Don’t trash your manuscript, of course — but I can’t stress enough that it’s (imagine me saying this slowly and pounding my fist for emphasis) a very good practice to hone your skills and rack up credentials on smaller pieces, like short fiction and poetry, by winning the hearts of literary magazines.

Some carry more weight than others, and each one has its own editorial voice (i.e. preference) in terms of the material they publish. Some are in distribution of greater than 10,000, and some drop into obscurity at the opposite end of the spectrum.

A few great resources for lit mag beginners are NewPages, Poets & Writers, and Webdelsol. Check out lit mags like The Paris Review, Tin House, and AGNI. Poke around. Read some material from the archives, check out their links, and definitely look into submitting your own work! You can put yourself out there — you just need to know the right steps to take.

Blog, Literature, Painted Bride Quarterly, Publishing Industry