After volunteering as a reader for a literary magazine as a student, and having my own short stories and poems published, I knew I wanted to start my own publication.
In terms of building a magazine, I had no clue where to start. My approach was a mixture of my own intuition and research on how other journals did things. And in early 2019, I started welcoming submissions to Silk + Smoke. (You can view the archive issues here.)
The magazine ran for two issues before I decided to put it on hiatus to focus on my own writing. I might bring it back from the dead one day. But for now, here’s how to set up your own literary magazine with no experience.
Getting clear on your idea
As the founder of your own magazine, you can let your imagination run wild.
But here are 10 questions to ask yourself before you get started:
What do you want to call the magazine?
Do you want to do themed issues or generic submission calls?
Do you want to focus on one genre like horror, sci-fi, or fantasy? Or accept submissions across genres?
Do you want to receive short stories, poems, flash fiction, or scripts? Or a combination?
Do you have a colour palette, logo, or artwork in mind? If you’re doing this on a budget, Canva is your friend.
Will you release online and/or print issues?
Will you accept local, national, or international submissions?
How many pieces are you going to publish in each issue?
Do you have the funds to pay your writers? If you don’t, that’s fine. But here’s the golden rule: if you can’t afford to pay your writers then do not charge them a fee to submit to your magazine; it’s only fair.
What are your values going to be? And how are you going to share them?
Once you’re clear on what you want your magazine to be, you can start finding your audience.
Finding your people
In my case, I went to Twitter. This allowed me to connect with writers and drum up awareness for the magazine’s first submission call. It was a great way to get the word out, engage with writers, and let people know what kind of submissions I’d be looking for.
You could also start accounts on other social media channels like Instagram and Facebook. But if you’re going to be working alone, be realistic and kind to yourself when it comes to how much you can take on.
Building a website
It’s not absolutely essential to build a website for your literary magazine. There are plenty of scrappy, creative ways to create and distribute an issue without one, which might work better for you and your specific audience.
But on most occasions, having a website will make life much easier for you, your contributions, and your readers.
There are plenty of great platforms that can help you do this quickly and easily like WordPress and Squarespace. These platforms also have free options, and you can make your website as simple or as detailed as you like. You’re head honcho here, so you can do things your own way.
Submission process
The first issue of Silk + Smoke received over 200 global submissions, which was so exciting. But there were a lot of pieces to read through, and I needed help from some writer friends to get through the workload.
In hindsight, I would’ve done the submission process differently. I had quite a long submission window; if I could go back, I’d make this shorter. And I accepted submissions through email, which worked fine. But using a platform like Submittable, Duosuma, or even Google Forms probably would’ve streamlined the process.
Here is the basic information you’ll need to collect from people submitting their writing:
● Full name and/or pen name and pronouns
● Email address
● Author bio
● Links and social handles
You should also create a privacy policy to make sure you’re handling personal data properly. However you choose to manage submissions, make your processes watertight before you put the call out there.
Some words on fairness
Make sure you set expectations with writers on how long they’ll be waiting before they receive a response.
If you tell people that you’ll respond within 2 months, try your best to meet that deadline. And if you can’t, let people know in advance that they’ll be waiting a little longer.
As long as you’re honest with your audience, most people won’t mind. There’s such a supportive online community of writers and readers cheering on new indie magazines, and you’ll receive a lot of kindness if you give it out.
While we’re talking about being fair with writers, I would also strongly recommend accepting simultaneous submissions (when a writer submits work to more than one market at a time). And ask writers to let you know if their piece is accepted elsewhere so you can withdraw it from consideration.
Sending out little pieces of your soul, in the form of short stories and poems, can be a gruelling process for writers, with lots of waiting and rejection. If you tell your audience that you don’t accept simultaneous submissions, and they should wait 6 months for a response, you’ll put people off.
As a courtesy, only ask for exclusive submissions if you can respond quickly, ideally within one month.
Selecting pieces to publish
This can be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable parts of having your own literary magazine. But it’s also one of the most challenging.
Make sure you give yourself the time you need to read, reread, and carefully choose the submissions you want to publish. Where possible, get a second set of eyes on your submissions too.
Rejections and acceptances
Next, I would recommend sending out rejection emails.
It’s never easy saying no to people who have sent their work to you. But creating a thoughtful response that thanks them for giving you the opportunity to read their work, and encourages them to continue to submit to your magazine and elsewhere, is much better than a simple, matter-of-fact rejection.
Once you’ve sent out the rejections, move on to the acceptance emails. (Tip: In these emails, confirm with each writer that they still want to publish their piece with you.)
Most writers are delighted to find out that their work is going to be published. You’ll receive a lot of excited responses, which will definitely lift your spirits after sending out rejections.
Sending acceptance emails was one of my favourite aspects of running a magazine.
Getting ready for publication
Once you have your final list of confirmed pieces, it’s time to start preparing for publication.
However you’re going to distribute the pieces, you should create a plan and a schedule for when they’ll be released. This will help you get organised, and avoid feeling overwhelmed further down the road.
You should also think about how you’re going to promote each piece. To build a community, connect with your audience, and put a spotlight on the writers. Take the time to build a strong strategy for this. Think of ways you can engage readers online and promote the amazing work in your issue.
For example, if you have the capacity, you could interview the contributors about their writing, create blog posts from their responses, and repurpose that content into Tweets, Instagram captions, etc.
For Silk + Smoke, I asked each writer to send in a song that inspired or aligned with their writing, and I created a Spotify playlist for the issue for readers to listen to as they read.
Keeping the ball rolling
When your pieces are scheduled for publication and your social strategy is ready to go (a scheduling tool will be a huge help), you can take a breath, and let your writers and readers enjoy the work.
At the same time, you can start thinking about your next issue.
Ask yourself:
● When do you want to open submissions again?
● Is there anything you’d change about the way you do things?
● Do you want to try a themed issue?
● Do you want to completely change direction?
You should also consider: do you want to continue? Running a literary magazine, especially solo, is a lot of work. And if you only do one issue and then decide it’s not for you, don’t beat yourself up or feel obligated to carry on. Or if you want to keep going but need more help, try to find people in your network who would like to work on the magazine with you.
If you loved every minute of setting up and running your own publication, then keep going! Just remember:
● Regularly check in with yourself on how much work you’re taking on
● Ask for and accept help when you need it
● Give yourself plenty of time to meet your deadlines
● Continue to find new, creative ways to improve your processes
● Look into funding options and even consider ways to monetise your magazine (and pay your writers)
Would you like to read more from Sophie? Head over to her website to learn more.
Starting a literary magazine is an exciting journey! Focus on your vision, decide on your themes and submission types, and consider eBook publishing for a wider reach. Engage with the literary community, and remember to keep learning as you go. Good luck!
"Some words on fairness" is my favourite part Sophie 💑