Just spent an hour looking back through several websites looking for that one Precious Literary Journal Editorial Staff that just made my day. What they noted in their submission guidelines was that no author would be published more than twice in their publication. How terrific is that?
What this journal seems to understand is that while famous names or established writers may sell a journal, their reading audience is made up in the largest part by writers. Mostly writers who haven’t been published yet. How many years will they be willing to shell out that $25/year for a subscription to the journals that keep rejecting them when there are hundreds of journals out there to support instead. If a reader/writer keeps seeing the same folk being published and they never seem to get a shot at it, it tells them that the magazine is in business not to help or promote new writers, but to make it worthwhile or profitable.
It was especially upsetting to see one of the big name journals point out how many times so many of their authors had previously been published in their journal: "This is the fourth time…" What sense does it make to support this journal both by submission and subscription, when what they’re obviously interested in is pushing the credentialed writers and give them several coveted spots in their pages instead of giving a shot to a new writer.
I hope to find exactly which journal had this bold restriction placed within their acceptance policy, since I believe they should be supported by writers in return. I’m sure they’re not sacrificing quality by giving space to the unknown writers; as a matter of fact, I think they’re probably more quality-minded since they’re basing their decisions on the work alone.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology