Portfolio Proposal

Being an amateur writer in the publishing community can be a daunting idea considering the competitive field publishing is to begin with, the prestigious writers in literary magazines with a name and reputation, and preparing for the rejections that are sure to come. So how exactly am I supposed to make my signature in this dog eat, dog world of publishing you might ask. Well, for starters I am going to try and break this mindset I have that I am not good enough for publishing. I still need experience and a feel in my writing and finding my niche, but along the way I am going to submit to literary journals, keep up with some frequent writing blogs, write a few authors whose work I greatly admire, and develop myself as a more confident and ambitious writer. Now, all this may seem like too much to accomplish in one semester and for the most part I think it is, but I can at least begin learning how to platform myself and while still learning about the publishing community and all the persistence and passion it entails.

I compiled a list that consists of places I have chosen to submit my work. Most of the literary magazines are local or regional for my personal preference of wishing to start out with less prestigious but equally creative literary magazines that just might be interested in a story I submit. I also chose to search for literary magazines that are run by undergraduate students and colleges because again, I feel like my work would be best suited for an area where it has the best chance of recognition. Besides, to be in any college literary magazine would still be a great achievement to me. Another search criteria I searched the for regarding my submissions was one that submits short stories, does not charge an entry fee, and accepts simultaneous submissions. I was specific in these three search criteria because first off short stories are what I have dabbled in the most, secondly I do not know how I feel about an entry fee when I’m already a penniless college student, and thirdly I am selective with my submission choice and only have a few to submit in the first place therefore finding literary magazines that accepted simultaneous submissions was a must. The option of online submission was another plus for me since frankly I find it much easier and less time consuming, although it wasn’t necessarily the deal breaker if a Literary Magazine preferred snail mail.

1. Vortex - Immediately, I thought of submitting my work to the Vortex literary magazine here at UCA because I already have last year’s publication and I can become more active in what this magazine is about since it’s so close to home and is complied of emerging writers like myself .

2. Blackbird-This is another college literary magazine and is organized by the Virginia Commonwealth University and the New Virginia Review. With this magazine I could also submit more than just a fiction story if I chose to do so.

3. Oxford Magazine- Unlike my other literary magazine choices, this is an online publication and comes out once a year, making my chances of acceptance a bit slimmer, but regardless I’ll take my chance. Oxford magazine is edited and published by graduate students in the Department of English at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

4. Fourth Genre- This magazine is published twice annually by Michigan State University. The thing that caught my eye with the submission guidelines was the option of personal essays being welcome along with memoirs, which I can contribute.

5. Literary Laundry-Within the first few sentences, this journal makes it clear that they do not believe in an author paying for their work to be read, and I was practically sold after that. And to make things even better, if the same work is published again in the future by another journal or magazine all that they ask is that it appeared in Literary Laundry first.

6. Wolf-Although this literary magazine is still in the early stages of development, I wanted to give it a chance since I’m in the early stages of platforming myself as a writer. The three co-founders are based in Northwest Arkansas and features work by University of Arkansas undergraduates, MFA students, faculty, etc.

7. Oxford American-Not to be confused by Oxford Magazine, this literary journal is based in Conway. Although this magazine does not take email submissions, I’ll submit my work via snail mail and go from there. I also have a copy of their magazine so I can become more familiar with what to expect in their style.

8. Dark Sky Magazine- Dark Sky Magazine publishes web and print issues, which I found interesting. They are also an independent press and publish 4-6 new titles per year, and that means a better chance of a poem or short story acceptance to me.

Some authors that influenced my desire to write are J.K. Rowling, author of the notorious HarryPotter series, Louis Lowry author of The Giver, and Stephen Chbosky and his story The Perks of Being a Wallflower. These are a few books I have read over the past few years, however I plan to write more authors than the ones listed each time I enjoyed a book from now on. I'm already excited to contact Daniel Pink once I finish his book, A Whole New Mind: Why RightBrainers will Rule the Future.

The most important lesson I hope to acquire throughout my platform process is to have fun and enjoy what I'm learning. I do not want to dread every letter I rejection letter I receive as a failure to my work, but more of a sign that my work was at least read by an editor and that there is a future home for my writing somewhere in the vast cosmic universe of the internet and print literary journals.

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