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Editor Interview: Arroyo Literary Review

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

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

A: SF Bay Area (and beyond!)

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

A: There are so many magazines today producing quality work. My favorites, though, are:
Tin House, Zyzzyva, Gargoyle, Ploughshares, Fourteen Hills, Switchback, Bartleby Snopes, 32 Poems, 580 Split, A cappella Zoo, AGNI, The Atlantic, Bat City Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Black Warrior Review, Cimarron Review, Crazyhorse, Cream City Review, decomP, Devil's Lake, DIAGRAM, diode poetry journal, DOGZPLOT, failbetter.com, Faultline, Ghost Town, Granta, Gulf Coast, Harper's, Hayden's Ferry Review, The Los Angeles Review, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, New Ohio Review, New South, Ninth Letter, The Normal School, One Story, Orion Magazine, PANK, Permafrost, Pleiades, Prairie Schooner, Rattle, Rhino, The Rumpus, theNewerYork, Salamander, Sixth Finch, Sonora Review, Superstition Review, Thin Air, Third Coast, THRUSH, and Word Riot.

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

A: Arroyo is proud to represent the San Francisco Bay Area and West Coast, but our tastes are by no means limited by region. We have a passion for diversity in voice, subject matter, and style, plus we work hard to include both new and established writers. Each issue features an interview, poetry, translations, as well as short and long fiction (we pride ourselves on accepting longer pieces in this age of Get-In-and-Get-Out).

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

A: Every interview says this: please read the submission guidelines posted on our website. We also feature a handful of pieces from the previous issue on the front page, which should give readers a better idea what we're interested in.
Also, as several other editors have said, I'd much rather be confused than bored. Leave the same-old, same-old on your USB, and send over the good stuff!

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: The writer acknowledges the proper genre editor, submitting work that's both meaningful and unique. Their cover letter is succinct (letting the actual work do the talking), and their full contact information is provided for response (it's frustrating to find something you love, only to have no means of reaching the person).

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

A: Generally our submitters do well, though we still get the following now and then:
way too many poems (our limit is 5, but somebody might send along +10), no stamps (or even a SASE!), work with nothing at stake or no emotional connection, typos (we're not sticklers, but you really shoot yourself in the foot with mistakes on your opening page), and not getting back to us with withdrawals for simultaneous submissions.

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

A: While the cover letter definitely forms some initial impressions, I'm proud that our team looks beyond this, focusing more upon the work itself. Previous publications are noted, but by no means a requirement for acceptance (we take experienced and new talent, alike). We're fine to check out anything interesting you have to say, but please keep it to a paragraph. Also, business cards and postcards are not encouraged. Less is more.

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

A: Every submission gets read by several staff members before reaching their respective genre editor, who reviews the piece all the way through--most of the MSS I consider as Editor have already been read by at least 3 other readers. That said, it's easy to tell in the first few pages when a poetry MS or story isn't going anywhere. If I'm uninterested by the opening, I'm inclined to believe Arroyo's readers wouldn't feel differently...

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

A: While print magazines aren't going anywhere, the game's definitely changing. It would be foolish for magazines to ignore services like Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook, all which offer so much reach to the readers of this age.