#in case you're lost as to how my weebly works like I was at the beginning

[librarycards]

hi friend! i have had a dream of creating a publication of some kind that uplifts artists/writers in my area. i have been so lost at what i want to or should be doing, so i think this might be a good time to strike!! i'm reaching out to the student magazines at local colleges to see if they have any advice, but i wanted to see if you had any advice to offer as someone who might not have had something so significant (like a school) backing you and your litmag! Thank you so much for everything!!

hello anon, and thanks for your patience!! [full disclosure this was completed last week but in my drafts im sorry!!]

the first piece i have is to read: read mags that print a variety of types of work, those that are established and upstarts and everyone in between. this isn't only to get a sense of what the literary landscape is like rn, but also to find patterns: what do these sites have in common? how about their submission guidelines, norms, expectations?

^ in regard to the above, i also *strongly* recommend you submit and go through the publication process in at least a few mags before starting your own. maybe you have already! in any case, think about what kinds of editorial support/communication/practice you've liked and disliked. what kind of editor are you/do you want to be? if you're not sure yet, consider joining the reading team at a magazine, or editing a folio or guest issue! going from no experience to EIC is not a great plan, in no small part because you learn who and what you are as an editor, and who and what you want to edit, as you gain more experience. joining an established publication in some capacity is something i recommend to *everyone* interested in starting a lit mag. that is, i do not recommend attempting to start a publication if you have no experience on a masthead already.

presuming that you do have this experience, you're going to have some new considerations for your new publication in addition to those you're familiar with:

probably-familiar things to consider:

who is my demographic (do I have any restrictions on who submits?)

what are my values? (this is what you put in your about/mission statement/submission guidelines. for example, I don't submit to magazines who do not make their antizionism/pro-palestine stance clear)

who are my coworkers (do I want to run this thing on my own, or get multiple editors on with me? do I want to just make a quick squarespace site or have a designer onboard?)

what genres, lengths, and other specifications do I want for submissions (docx vs pdf vs rtf? how much do you actually have time to read? what do you feel confident in your ability to assess?)

where can people find us? (social media? twitter/x is still a home base for a huge portion of publications, despite everything. ig has a fair few. tumblr hasn't been very successful in lit mag world - but maybe you'll change that? there's a fair but niche showing on bsky and mastodon. facebook, as with everything else, is for boomers with shit politics.)

probably-unfamiliar things to consider:

what's your title? is a domain available for that title? how are you paying for the domain?

how about website hosting? (squarespace, weebly, google sites, wordpress, something else? is your site accessible? do you need to make extra access considerations, e.g. if publishing visual art?)

do you pay? how much? (without institutional backing, the money will either come from your pocket or donations, or both. if you want to pay but are broke, you could set up a fundraiser - but no promises on people following through.)

what submissions platform will you use? (email? manywor(l)ds does this, and we like it. submittable? pricy, but streamlined. moksha/oleda/duotrope? i mean....you do you but i find them weird)

how often will you be open for submissions? will you solicit any, or be all-slush? (I take a 90/10 approach in favor of slush, personally. slushpile 4 lyfe xoxo)

do you charge fees? (hint: DON'T)

where are you listed? (chillsubs, duotrope, the submission grinder, and other sites aggregate lit mag opportunities. you should get yourself here!)

how often do you want to publish? how many pieces per issue? (consider how much time you actually have. this is all unpaid work, too.)

(if you have an editorial staff beyond yourself) how often are you meeting? how are decisions being made? how are you handling conflicts of interest?

there are also things that become relevant as you begin your mag: like, keeping track of published pieces eligible/nominated for prizes, making editorial friends/comrades (CRUCIAL), managing harassment and spam in the submission process, and other issues you'll encounter just in the daily practice of operating a magazine. remember, more than anything, that you're part of a community - or more accurately, an archipelago of communities and subcultures. this is why participation is so important, and imo necessary, as a pre- and continuous co-requisite to 'having' a lit mag. you're there to fill a niche, not pick out and publish All the Good Writing Ever. This will help you let go of great pieces that 'don't quite work' or just 'aren't a fit' (editors are serious when we say we reject a fuckton of amazing pieces every issue) and let go of submissions you yourself receive rejections for.

anyway, i hope this helps give you a few places to start. in short, focus on community, reciprocity, and building slow&steady experience and expertise (as well as your own editorial styles/techniques) vs. launching into developing your own thing right away!

[owawaaa]

I really wanna know more about your ocs! Do you have like a post about them or anything? They are are super cute and I need to know more!

I’m so happy to hear that!!! ;; I have a page but it’s outdated since I haven’t touched it in.. more than a year or two?... it’s this one 

I’ll have to update my weebly......... pictures AND text....