A Literation @aliterationmag - Tumblr Blog

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Dearest Contributors, Followers, and Friends––

It is long past time for a status update. I am pleased to announce that the long-delayed June 2015 issue that turned into a June/August 2015 combo issue that turned into a Whatever-It-Is-Now issue will be published. Possibly before the end of February. I can be confident in this assessment because we/I are/am not alone. The long-awaited print issue, bursting with prose, poetry, and visual arts contributions that are not to be believed, will be published in partnership with @punkswritepoems.

This will be our final print issue. I have struggled with the fact that my mounting business, financial, and social obligations leave little time to continue this magazine in its present form. Because of all of this, I have made the decision to discontinue print publication for the conceivable future.

You may have noticed that submissions are closed, and have been for about a month. A few of you submitted towards the end of 2015––those submissions have been saved as “unreviewed submissions,” which basically means that if you haven’t received an email from me your submission hasn’t been looked at by anyone. For all intents and purposes, you can pretend you didn’t submit it at all––the outcome will likely be the same.

We will remain as a Tumblr blog, and hope to pursue some online publishing and promotion of writers in the coming months. So watch this space (figuratively, of course––if you literally watch this particular space it will never change and you’ll be disappointed) to see what the next iteration of A Literation becomes.

I greatly appreciate the enthusiasm, passion, and support of this community.

Keep creating,

Jen

#poetry #prose #lit #lit mag #aliterationmag

Dearest Submitters, Contributors, Readers, and Friends:

Several of you (fewer than 100 but more than 10) have emailed me and very politely asked if you had somehow missed the release of our massive double issue. No, you did not miss it, because it hasn’t come out yet.

Here’s why: We’ve had some delays and production issues essentially stemming from the fact that our Production Manager, Matt Freeman (@raisethecurve) is currently sans PC, which leaves production of said issue in the hands of yours truly. Unfortunately, my hands have little to no experience with production-type things, so it’s taking me some time to get the issue to look as beautiful as your words read. And I want to do justice to both our writers and our readers.

I should have posted something sooner, but I suppose I didn’t because I kept thinking it would be ready sometime soon like next week, and I thought that for like six weeks straight. So, mea culpa.

I guaran-damn-tee this issue will be out before the end of the year.

Thank you all for your incredible support.

Love,

Jen Founder and Editor-in-Chief

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#aliterationmag #lit mag #poetry #prose #lit

Dearest Submitters,

The time has come for you to check your email. If you’ve submitted within the past couple of months, you should find an email from me passing along the decision of our editors regarding your submission. If you have an email [spoiler alert] with the subject line “Just Look at What You’ve Done,” that means at least one of your submissions was accepted.

Due to various circumstances beyond pretty much anyone’s control, production got delayed on the August issue, leading to this super-massive double issue. What this means is that if you already got an email in July saying your work was accepted for the August issue, your work is still accepted for the double issue – you don’t have to do a thing.

If you got an email today, please reply with your bio and whatnot as soon as possible, or before the deadline in the email.

This thrilling double issue, including selections from our esteemed Guest Editor Erika Price, should be available before the end of the month.

I appreciate your patience and, as always, your incredible submissions.

Stay shiny,

Jen Founder and Editor-in-Chief

____________________

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#aliterationmag #submissions #poetry #prose #lit

Double Bonus!

We’ve been working behind the scenes, and I only just now realized that OMG WE HAVEN’T LET ANY OF Y’ALL KNOW THIS WTF APPLESAUCE.

Ahem. Those of you who were supposed to be in our August issue: REJOICE, YOU ARE NOW PART OF OUR MASSIVE DOUBLE ISSUE.

Those of you who submitted in the meantime: REJOICE, YOUR SUBMISSIONS WILL BE REVIEWED FOR POSSIBLE INCLUSION IN OUR MASSIVE DOUBLE ISSUE.

Many of us (but mostly just me) got set back and overwhelmed and were otherwise busy with various life shenanigans that got in the way of specific and important A Literation shenanigans. But now we are back on track and otherwise moving and grooving.

So: Look for an amazing, fantastic MASSIVE DOUBLE ISSUE of A Literation coming your way in late October.

AND: If you’ve submitted and not yet heard from us, look for an email in short order (where by “short order” I mean sometime in the next 3-4 weeks).

That’s the order of the world as we know it. Here, have a GIF of a cat getting freaked out by a banana:

Love always,

Jen Founder and Editor-in-Chief

____________________

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#aliterationmag #poetry #prose #lit #lit mag

Double Issue!

Dearest readers, contributors, submitters, and friends,

August has been a crazy month for us here at A Literation! Well, okay, crazy for certain staff members who are essential to the production of the issue. So that put August way behind. However, we prefer to look forward, not backward, and to always look on the bright side.

So, our August and October issues will be combined into a massive, impressive, and otherwise gorgeous double issue, which would be suitable for framing but then you couldn’t read it so what would be the point really? Right. We don’t frame our books.

Here’s what this means for you (because of course it’s all about you, darling, of course it is):

If you want to submit something, SUBMIT! We accept submissions all the time but yeah, go ahead and send us all your fabulous poetry and prose and artwork.

If you submitted something before, and it was accepted for our August issue, it will be published in the double issue in October. So you just have to wait a little while longer, maybe, but you will get to be in this fabulous impressive double issue.

Thank you for your patience, and as always, thanks for your support!

Jen Mueller Founder & Editor-in-Chief

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#aliterationmag #poetry #prose #lit #submissions #lit mag

Regarding Your Recent Submission

Dear August Submitters,

You will imminently find an email in your inbox with the above subject line. It means the editors have finished reviewing your piece and decided whether to publish it. If you want to know their decision, you’ll have to read the email. I offer no spoilers in my subject lines.

Love,

Jen

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#submissions #poetry #prose #lit #lit mags #aliterationmag

Taking a Poll

I’ve been thinking (for roughly the past ten minutes) about having a high-profile guest editor in Poetry for the October issue. Now, I’ve got a few names rolling around in my head, but just because I consider someone “high-profile” doesn’t mean they would impress you much (although hopefully they’d impress you at least a little).

So I’m putting it to y’all––Who would you like to see as Poetry Guest Editor for the October issue?

Thanks for your input!

Jen

____________________

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#poetry #it's a poll

Attention Awesome August Submitters

As I know you’re on tenterhooks, please know that I am doing my best to get a response to you as quickly as possible. We’ve had a number of delays this month, most of which are as always my fault. If you don’t hear from me personally (at whatever email address you entered into the submission form) by the end of the month, please feel free to hunt me down and challenge me to a duel.

Thanks y’all,

––Jen

#poetry #prose #lit #aliterationmag #august issue #update

quaintobsessions

Before I forget to mention it, I have a story in this.

I bought the print copy (alright, I may have bought more than one, I tend to spill tea when I least expect it) and I’ve got to tell you - it’s great.

It’s just small enough to fit into a mid-size bag so you can take it with you and read it anywhere, and big enough to hide your face behind when you don’t want to be recognised and pulled back into that great-aunt’s birthday party/ lichen-counting expedition/ sleeper car with three snoring strangers, and it’s jam-packed with great reading from lots of people we all know and love. Plus my weird story. That is not false modesty, it is one weird story. So go for it!

Now I’d better come up with some prose for the August issue quick :)

aliterationmag

We’re sometimes a bit slow on the uptake, but hey! We really liked your weird story (obviously) and also, we really like your cat. That’s a great cat. And you. You’re really great.

Is there a certain kind of "bias" when deciding what submissions to accept? For example, if one submission was a romance flash fiction and the other submission was a horror flash fiction, and they were both written equally well, would their genre have an impact on which one gets submitted? Also, does a submitters age, how long they've been writing, whether or not they've had previous works published, etc, matter when you're deciding what submissions to accept? thanks!

Hi! What lovely questions, thank you so much for your interest.

As to having a genre preference, we do not have any genre preferences as a magazine, meaning that we don’t exclude any particular genre, nor do we have any stated house style. Our three prose editors are readers like anyone else, and I’m sure their personal preferences play somewhat of a role in their selections, in that it’s really difficult for an editor to vote up a piece for publication if it’s something they didn’t enjoy reading. I realize that probably sounds like I’m talking in circles, but I don’t believe it’s possible for anyone to be 100 percent objective (and even if it were, I’m not sure I’d want such a person as an editor). As far as what our editors like, they all have writing blogs which are linked on the staff page, so checking out their blogs and seeing the kind of stuff they write (or like, or reblog, or whatever) would give you a good idea of the types of writing each of them is interested in.

If an editor felt extremely biased against a particular story for whatever reason (like say there was something in it that was triggering for the editor, or that disgusted or offended them), they more likely than not would abstain from voting on that piece. Additionally, since all three editors are voting for each piece, and a piece must have at least two votes to be published, the effect of individual bias is minimized somewhat.

As for your last question, our editors read all submissions blindly, meaning any and all identifying information is removed from the submission before they ever see it. They know nothing whatsoever about the writer (and have been asked to recuse themselves from voting if they happen to recognize a piece or a style, which has happened exactly twice), so none of those things factor into our selection process at all.

Thanks again for your interest, and happy submitting!

––Jen

If someone is published, are they credited by their real name, tumblr url, or both? For example, I do not go by my real name on tumblr, as I prefer to keep them separate.

Excellent question, thank you!

This is an issue for many people, and it’s something we do try to accommodate with sensitivity. When you receive notification of your acceptance, you’ll be asked to submit a photo and a brief bio. We identify contributors by whatever name they give us. Accordingly, the photo is whatever photo you give us. So this decision is entirely up to you: if you want to be identified by your real name but would prefer to leave your Tumblr URL off, we’ll do that. If you want to use a pseudonym and your Tumblr, we’re happy to do that as well. It’s entirely up to you––this isn’t about having to “out” yourself on Tumblr if you don’t want to.

Thanks again, and I hope that helps.

––Jen

I have a few questions about prose submissions. Can I submit something I wrote for a creative writing class? How long or short do the submissions need to be? Are there any rules or restrictions I should know about, or a page I can go to for info on that?

Hi!

By all means, submit something you wrote for a creative writing class. That sounds swell! The rest of your questions are probably answered in either the Submission Guidelines or the FAQs.

Thanks for your interest, and we look forward to reading your work!

aliterationmag

I Have a Bone to Pick ...

Hey––Prose Writers!

I was just looking at August submissions, and I want to bring the following to your attention:

Poetry submissions outnumber prose submissions FIVE TO ONE.

You know what this is? This is a problem. It happens to be a problem I’m personally pretty sick of dealing with, but every issue I have to jump up and down and scream and yell to get y’all to submit. It’s even worse because for the August issue we have a super spectacular guest editor, the esteemed and inimitable Erika Price, who we all very much want to impress. What’s wrong, prose writers? Don’t want to be published?

Don’t answer that. Of course you do. So get on it. I’ve extended submissions through July 4th. Between now and then, I expect to see at least twenty prose submissions.

Got it? Good. Now send me some stories before I start getting nasty.

Love,

Jen

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jayarrarr

Since I posted this, there have been three new prose submissions. Three is not twenty. Three is less than twenty. Actually, three is a lot less than twenty. Remember: we’re not asking you to write something brandy-spanky new or whatever. Send something you wrote a week ago or a month ago or last year, something that’s looking for a home. The editors are chomping at the bit to read your work.

demonprincex

Submit! Submit!

yeahwrite

Prose writers, assemble!

yellingintothevoid

So I went to look at this (because why not) and it’s not quite sitting right with me. This part in the T&C is sticking out: By submitting Work you grant Publisher a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, transferable license to reproduce and distribute the Work in connection with Publisher’s (and its successors’ and affiliates’) business, including without limitation for promoting or redistributing all or part of the publication A Literation in digital or print format through any media channels.

Admittedly I don’t actually know much about how these kinds of things work, but the ‘perpetual, irrevocable’ part makes me uneasy. Non-exclusive or not, isn’t that basically saying that if this mag accepts my work for publication, they can continue to publish it/distribute it until, basically, the world blows up? I doubt other publishers would want a work that’s already been signed away like that.

Also, there’s no compensation to the writer, not even a free copy of the issue they get published in. IDK, maybe I’m just paranoid, but it seems like a lot to be signing away. I don’t think you’re supposed to sign more than first rights. Someone with more knowledge, feel free to chime in.

aliterationmag

Hi! Thanks so much for actually reading the terms and conditions––that makes you awesome.

We don’t ask for first rights. All we’re asking for is the ability to publish your work in the magazine itself. It’s perpetual because we independently publish (so print is on-demand), and irrevocable because how fucked up would that be if we granted contributors the right to randomly call us up one day and say “yeah, I changed my mind, you can’t publish my piece anymore.” Sorry, I don’t work that way. Additionally, we make digital archives available for free on the website after a period of time, and that term enables us to do that without getting any additional permissions from our contributors. Thus, perpetual and irrevocable, because you know once you put something on the internet it’s there forever.

You say “more than first rights,” but first rights is actually a lot. First rights is a publication saying they want to be the first to publish something ever, and to give away first rights without being paid for them is never a good thing. I have never asked for first rights. What I’m asking for is a good deal less than first rights. I encourage people to send in something that’s already been published, or something they’ve posted on their blog (because that destroys first rights, you know). All we ask for is the ability to print your piece in our mag, and have it in our online archives. You’re right, another publication probably wouldn’t want your work after we’ve published it, because nearly every other publication I’ve looked at (and I’ve looked at hundreds) asks for first rights. Sorry for the big scary language, but #lawyer.

Although it’s not listed anywhere, we do give each contributor an electronic copy for free. Unfortunately that’s all we can “pay” writers, because we don’t really make any money. I spend more than the mag makes every month just to keep it running. Our editors don’t get paid, I don’t get paid, and our contributors don’t get paid. As a writer I can confirm we’re not in the minority on that score. I wish it were different, but it’s not.

Thanks again, I hope this helped. Feel free to email me if you have any further questions.

–Jennifer R.R. Mueller, Founder and Editor-in-Chief

What types/genres of prose do you generally choose? Is there a certain feel you're going for with the mag?

As with any mag, we encourage our submitters to review our archives before submitting. Additionally, since our editors have writing blogs, you can check those out as well to get a general idea of the sort of work they might be into.

The best answer I can give to your questions is that our editors are looking for cohesive, error-free, efficient and well-written prose that tells a compelling story.

Hi. I don't know how to submit my prose, could you please tell me? Also, is there a word limit or anything?

As for your first question, it’s been answered here.

As for your second question, please check the submission guidelines.

I Have a Bone to Pick ...

Hey––Prose Writers!

I was just looking at August submissions, and I want to bring the following to your attention:

Poetry submissions outnumber prose submissions FIVE TO ONE.

Don’t answer that. Of course you do. So get on it. I’ve extended submissions through July 4th. Between now and then, I expect to see at least twenty prose submissions.

Got it? Good. Now send me some stories before I start getting nasty.

Love,

Jen

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When will submission decisions for the August issue be out?

Hey! Thanks for reminding me they were supposed to close the 22nd––you’re amazing and keep better track of things than I do, because I’d totally forgotten.

Here’s what’s gotta happen: 1. I’ll look at our volume and see if we need a larger pool. If we do, I’ll post something telling people to submit. As it is, I’m going to tell everybody that if you submit through July 4th you’ll be in consideration for the August issue. 2. The editors have to read everything, and then I have to tabulate votes, and then emails go out. So let’s say you’ll hear from us one way or the other by July 15th.

We’re cool, right? Right.

Stay awesome!

––Jen

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