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Overcoming

Ref: January7,8,9,2k15

Q: ‘Ref’ing back to Overcoming: your itemizations pose some interesting points. How do the editors at Cheap Seats select those pieces to be used?'

                                        P. Evans: Temecula, CA

Q:  'Do editors (specifically those at Cheap Seats Ticket to Ride) subconsciously base their choices for inclusion on some sort of similar criteria as mentioned in Overcoming? Do they have a check list of accept/reject guidelines?'

                                R. Robins: Ushuaia, Patagonia

AA: Don’t know about the selection procedures of  “editors” at other publications. Here at Cheap Seats, our selection criteria is a bit different than most, I would surmise.

   The primary acceptance criteria of a piece with any publication, would have to be interest; is the piece interesting, accessible, uniquely written and professionally presented.

First one should realize there are primarily three types of publications: Full editorial control, no editorial control, and somewhere in between.

Full editorial control: this can range from draconian hob nail boot tactics to helpful suggestions and requests that are made to allow the writer to look good as well as comply with the publication’s criteria and desired content and appearance. Now these requests are usually handled via e-mail regardless, whether the submission was e-ed or mailed. This is where the real-deal editors show up.

No editorial control: the most prevalent (and depressing) of the “editorial” situations. Just send your material in and some faceless, sometimes nameless entity on the receiving end finds a spot in the publication for the “poems”; good or bad. Poetry anthologies operate along this line—although, they want to see the color of your money for a copy or two before printing someone’s/ anyone’s work.

   This scenario becomes even more depressing with the advent of on-line publishing: where the only “editorial input: is to have the site provided, and not monitored at all. Weep for the future of writing.

Somewhere in between: Small, usually ink and paper, publications many times fall into this category. Publications put together by a person or collective which is attempting to provide an outlet for writers (“poets”) to showcase their material.

   These small press productions many times operate directly from the materials sent in; cutting and pasting the submission (as in paper and glue pasting) into a mechanical or perhaps scanning the work and transferring to a publication template. This style of publication does not allow for any (or little) actual editorial input. The editorial oversight occurs primarily at the acceptance or rejection stage; the written works having to stand on their own merit from that point on.

to be continued…

Max tdc