The Five Steps to Getting Published in Literary Journals.

Here's how it works...

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1. Reading & Editing

After you sign up, choose a package (see our Services page), and upload your short story, essay, or poems, we will carefully read/edit and analyze your work, scoring it in thirteen categories for our algorithm (step 3 below): Is your work topical? Formally experimental? Is your prose especially stylized or lyrical? Is your work humorous? Dark? Difficult? Does your poem follow strict meter or have visual elements? Etc. ​

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2. Revisions

We will return your work to you for revisions, what we call "cleaning." If we only read your work, you probably won't have much to do. If we edited your work, however, you'll review our notes and revise your piece as you'd like.  

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3. Submitit's Algorithm

When you return a "clean" (final) version of your work, we'll plug it into the Submitit Algorithm and match it to literary journals that we think will offer you the best chance of an acceptance. We'll usually start with solid mid-tier journals, but our submission strategy is always up to you. 

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4. Submissions (in Two Rounds)

After making sure your work is formatted properly, and fine-tuning your bio and cover letter, it's time to submit! In round one, we'll start with "better" journals (depending on your chosen strategy). You can sit back and relax. All journal replies will go to your regular email, and we'll check in occasionally. 

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Then, if necessary, usually after around four months (yes, it's a wait), we'll run the algorithm again, this time targeting more accessible journals (often smaller and newer). You can read more about our timing plan here.

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5. Acceptance!

And hopefully, before too long, we'll be celebrating an acceptance!

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So let's get started!

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