Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.
A: Poetry, reviews
Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?
A: Beltway Editions, Agni, The New Verse News, Bourgeon, Poetry, New England Review
Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?
A: Baron Wormser, Mervyn Taylor, Sara Cahill Marron, Jennifer Rathbun, Indran Amirthanayagam, Ilya Kaminsky, Maurya Simon, Jennifer Browne, Renee Gherity, Safiya Jama, Anne Casey, Heather Bourbeau, William O’ Daly, Kim Roberts.
Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?
A: The journal was built on and around a geographic focus. Founder, Kim Roberts, intended to document and celebrate regional poetry (Washington, DC and the surrounding states of MD, VA, WV, and DE). The magazine now publishes poetry from all over the world. It also publishes reviews and translations.
Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?
A: Consider that poetry is a kind of word music.
Q: Describe the ideal submission.
A: We are always looking for new talent and like to develop relationships with writers.
Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?
A: Need to submit in MS Word format.
Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?
A: We ask for a one-paragraph bio along with all submissions. We don't need cover letters, but we do want that bio. We prefer bios that are factual, not flowery, and bios that are succinct. If the author has previous publication credits, we do want to know! But we are open to authors who are previously unpublished as well.
Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?
A: We read every single poem sent to us completely through at least once. If a poem is of interest, we read it more than once.
Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?
A: We look for poems that are well written. We also look at how poems interact with other poems we've accepted for publication.
Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?
A: I usually create three groups: yes, maybe, and no. When working with my associate editors, I then compare where we agree or disagree on a poem, and that brings us back to re-reading poems. I enjoy the process immensely! Inevitably, there are poems that a co-editor feels strongly about that I skipped over too quickly. Working with another editor makes me a better reader. After we make our selections, we need to create an order for the poems, decide if we want to divide the poems into sections, and write an introduction to the issue.
Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?
A: Beltway Poetry Quarterly has always been online only. I love the feel of a book in my hands as much as anyone, but electronic publications have some distinct advantages: we reach a larger audience, we can be available for free, we have a format that works extremely well for people with disabilities, and we don't have to worry about distribution. All our submissions are electronic, and our subscriber list is as well. Poetry is particularly well suited for reading online. We also have a Facebook page.
Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?
A: We edit when necessary.
Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?
A: We nominate for Pushcart prizes. We are open to nominating poems for other prizes as well