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Editor Interview: Slush Pile Magazine

This interview is provided for archival purposes. The listing is not currently active.

Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.

A: Simple, smart, delicious.

Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?

A: Harvard Review, first and foremost. Christina Thompson is amazing. Paris Review, Tin House, Ploughshares, AGNI, McSweeney's, Carolina Quarterly, Metazen.ca. Rick Rofihe is also great over at Anderbo.com.

Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?

A: Nabokov, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Austen & Dickens. More recently Paul Harding, Junot Diaz & Alexie Sherman. I'm currently reading and enjoying "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss.

Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?

A: I don't know. There are a lot of literary journals and magazines out there. They are all labors of love and many of them -- and I count Slush Pile among them -- are doing excellent work and publishing great writing. So what "sets us apart"? Hopefully our good looks and charming personality.

Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?

A: Here's a piece of advice that I give to writers submitting anywhere: the goal of submission should not necessarily be publication. You feel like you're sending your work off to some faceless void and then months later you get an equally impersonal rejection letter back, but that's not really what's happening. Someone has read it and, if your writing is strong, the next time you submit, and the time after that, the editorial staff will begin to take notice of you. You're forming a relationship with them. And then, eventually, you will send them the piece they can't refuse. So when you submit, approach it as forming a relationship with the editorial staff. Be persistent.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: The ideal submission is both transportative and meditative. I want to start reading a piece and not be able to set it down before I have finished it. My mind never wanders and I am immediately sucked into the premise and language of the story and the life of the characters.

Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?

A: I think people often resubmit too soon, before their work has undergone some kind of transformation. As I was just saying, the process is not nearly as impersonal as one might imagine. I read through thousands of manuscripts, but it only takes one or two repeat submissions before I recognize a person's name and can remember what I have lastly read of theirs.

Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?

A: Only notable publications. Otherwise, the fewer the better. Nothing else is of particular interest. Cover letters often have biographical bits, which I feel neutral about, and often synopses of the pieces being sent along. I'm not sure why people do this. Are there other publications that ask people to do this? Anyway, that's a decidedly bad idea, I'd say. Let the story speak for itself. A story should hook me by the first line anyway. Some cover letters are really aggressive. I feel like it goes without saying that these are a poor idea also. But maybe it doesn't: I certainly will not be giving your story special consideration if it the cover letter is insulting.

Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?

A: The majority are rejected by the end of the first paragraph; the rest are rejected by the end of page. There are very few rejections that I read to the end.

Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?

A: In the case of Slush Pile, none. In the case of most other journals, though, a submission is read by a reader, then a more experienced reader, and then (if it's still garnering positive recommendations) the editor. That's why, as the old adage goes, no news is good news: the longer it takes for you to hear back about a piece you have sent out, the more people are likely responding to it favorably.

Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?

A: I wake up in the morning, brew myself a pot of coffee and start reading submissions. After that, I often correspond with a contributor or two about the upcoming issue, or solicit work from someone whose work I have encountered elsewhere that has sparked my interest.

Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?

A: I will never stop preferring the feel and weight of printed paper in my hands, but Slush Pile would not be possible without the internet.