Submit: Let's Not

Have you picked up on the rude tone of most literary-journal guidelines for submission? Submission, all right! I hadn't thought much about the rude tone until I found welcoming guidelines on the website for Poetry London, and compared them with those from Ploughshares, which are typical of many journals.

At Poetry London, Colette Bryce (above left) asks that poems be sent to her; she tells us that she and Martha Kapos (above right), the assistant poetry editor, read the poems and confer about them. I believe her when she says she is "always interested in work by unpublished poets." She also writes: "Postal submissions are welcome and are all carefully read." Poets are encouraged to send up to six poems, a generous amount.

In contrast, Ploughshares' guidelines are replete with threats: I quote their "RESTRICTIONS"--caps and red ink are theirs; the bolding is mine:

Send only one manuscript at a time, either by mail or online. Do not send duplicate or multiple submissions. There is a limit of two total submissions per writer per reading period, regardless of genre, whether it is by mail or online. Do not send a second submission until you have heard about the first. We will cross-reference our databases periodically, and if we find more than one active submission, or a third submission (or more) during the reading period, all submissions will be immediately and summarily rejected unread. Simultaneous submissions to other journals are amenable as long as they are indicated as such and we are notified immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. We do not reprint previously published work.

SUBMISSIONS BY MAIL: Mail your manuscript in a page-size manila envelope, your full name and address written on the outside (at least an inch down from the top, to account for USPS barcodes). In general, address submissions to the"Fiction Editor,""Poetry Editor," or"Nonfiction Editor," not to the guest or staff editors by name, unless you have a legitimate association with them or have been previously published in the magazine. Unsolicited work sent directly to a guest editor's home or office will be ignored and discarded; guest editors are formally instructed not to read such work. All manuscripts and correspondence regarding submissions should be accompanied by a self-addressed, 44¢-stamped #10 envelope (S.A.S.E.) for a response; no replies will be given to domestic addresses by e-mail or postcard. For international submissions, please include a stamped International Reply Coupon (I.R.C.) with your self-addressed envelope, or provide a valid email address for us to respond with. Send a recyclable copy of your manuscript; manuscript copies will not be returned.

Why do we put up with such rudeness? Humiliated, hectored, lectured-to writers speak up!