THE LIST OF SHAME
Poetry markets that charge for submissions.
THE LIST OF SHAMEPoetry markets that charge for submissions. |
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Why is it wrong to charge poets to submit their work? Submission fees are unethical and exploitative. Not only do they not accurately reflect the actual expense associated with evaluating and responding to a submission (which usually consists of 1-5 short poems), they also attempt to transfer the operational costs from the producers of the magazine, journal, or website (whether commercial or non-profit) who package and promote the work as "content" for an audience of readers back onto those from whom they are acquiring that content—i.e., the very same people who are already providing them—usually without remuneration—the work that they depend upon to assemble their product. It's like not only expecting a farmer to provide his produce to your store for free but to then demand that he or she pay a bribe to even be considered as a vendor (with a vanishingly small chance of being accepted). Generating revenue Certainly, generating a profit (or at least breaking even) is an important concern for any publisher who isn't doing it strictly as a hobby or labor of love, but it is preposterous to look to the writers to generate the revenue required to do so. It isn't right to bite the hand that feeds you, no matter how many hands you may have reaching out toward you. Given market realities, few publications pay for the poetry they publish in the first place. In what other professional field would it be acceptable to demand someone PAY for a chance (and, statistically, a very small one) to give away their work for free? Would people tolerate paying an agent to consider taking them on as a client? Would actors pay a fee for every audition, knowing that most will not result in a job? Do all editors at these publications (as well as all other staff) pay out of pocket for the privilege of doing their jobs? Why is it that only writers are devalued to the point that they are expected to "pay-to-play" (an unfortunate term when many writers are not nearly so casual in their efforts to publish)? If you can't find a profit model based on sales, ad-revenue, sponsorship, contest fees, or the various other methods used successfully by many poetry markets historically and today, then it may be time to admit that the market simply isn't there for your product and for you to cease operations. If someone, poet or publisher, is in the poetry business to make money, they have already made a very grievous mistake and would be better off turning their efforts to...well, almost anything else. Gatekeeping Submission fees prey upon a population that tends to be more economically challenged than most to begin with (more than half of all writers earn less than the poverty level from their work). The frequent rejoinder of "$3 is the equivalent of skipping one visit to Starbucks" is a blatant signal of the privilege of those who choose to (and are able to) frequent Starbucks in the first place. There's a reason that the stereotype of "starving poet" exists. Do we really want only to hear from those in our society who are financially comfortable/secure? Do we want to actively discourage those who are not? Often the same publications that charge a submission fee loudly and proudly trumpet their desire to preserve and promote diversity in their pages, while doing the one thing most likely to quash it. The hypocrisy is repellent and taints those publications and everyone associated with them, who must be judged on what they do, not what they say. How serious are we really about wanting to hear and promote society's marginalized voices? No doubt, the modern internet-facilitated slushpile is huge and difficult to manage. But in constructing a financial barrier against the slushpile, you create a barrier against a fair and diverse representation. This results in not only a limited and skewed pool of work from which to choose, but bars a large number of people from the opportunity of even having their work considered for sharing with a wider audience. This is a lazy answer to the problem, with significant unintended and undesirable consequences. (A few markets that charge submission fees offer the option of contacting them if you are too poor to pay the fee and they will waive it. There is little to be said of this affront to dignity other than that no one should be forcing someone else into a position where they have to come, hat in hand, to beg for special favors.) Conclusion There are lists online of markets that don't charge a fee to submit. But we feel it is important to go beyond that, to see and draw attention to those who are actually committing this anti-writer practice—thus, this list. If you know of other markets that aren't listed here which charge a submission fee, or if you feel that one of the publications on this list is listed erroneously because it does not in fact charge a fee to submit (with luck, some may change their policy in the future), please let us know by clicking on the shame emoji on the right. Perhaps it has become an idealistic stance, but we strongly feel that a poem should be assessed on its own relative merits, not on the temporary or permanent financial circumstances of the person who wrote it. With more and more markets opting for the "easy money" of submission fees, there are less and less potential outlets available for many writers. Do we really want to see a two-tier ecosystem in poetry in which people without the funds to spend on trying to place their work are relegated to smaller, less-read, less-prestigious outlets—in other words, unable to fully participate in the poetry community, market, and profession? If you say no, if you want to see all poems and poets given equal consideration (at least within the slushpile) and no one discriminated against because of their financial situation, and if you think it's just plain wrong for the writers already providing their work to these publications without being paid to be additionally and uniquely asked to fund it up front, then please consider boycotting the publications on The List of Shame below, all of which have chosen to impose submission fees. Others making the case against submission fees: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
Click the shame emoji to request the addition or removal of a publication from TLOS: 
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32 Poems |