Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.
A: Solo fine art photography
Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?
A: Lenscratch, L'oeil de la photographie, F-Stop, Lenswork
Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?
A: We focus on contemporary lens-based art, from straight to strange. Each month's featured artist is our favorite.
Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?
A: We focus on a single artist as the feature for each issue, including a larger than usual number of images, themed and curated by the artist alone, and we always run an in-depth interview, steering questions toward the ones that the artist wants to be asked. The artist provides a free-form commentary for each included image. We focus on each artist's "story" as much as on their portfolio and the commentaries and interview combine to add depth and texture to the story. Dek Unu promotes each month's featured artist extensively via email, web, and social media during each month and provides statistical reports on reach and engagement for each promotional posting. Paperback editions of each month's magazine, perfect-bound, full-color, 36+ pages. are available for sale and profits are split with each month's artist. Selected images and artist links for each feature are published. in our permanent collection, at dekunuarts.com, Dek Unu Gallery. There is never a fee to submit for consideration for any of our 11 regular monthly calls. All featured artists in an annual online "yearbook" posting that includes a reminder, the names, and the links for each of the past year's artists. Winners of an annual fund-raising contest make up an August edition, online and in print.
Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?
A: Accomplished, adventurous artists are invited to submit well-seen, well-made images in portfolios that hang together, follow our guidelines exactly, and contribute to the positive momentum of the magazine. We look for both interesting art and interesting artists. Jurors base decisions on the creative quality, technical accomplishment, and narrative interest of each submitted portfolio, without regard to the artist's career stage or pedigree. Because we receive so many submissions for every call, and since we only publish eleven issues per year, we are highly selective; it is a fact of life at Dek Unu that we must turn away brilliant, feature-worthy work in every submission cycle.
Q: Describe the ideal submission.
A: We look for a combination of "speech" (well-crafted images) and "story" (a coherent aesthetic impression). All genres and techniques are welcome. Beyond craft and vision, we strive, in each selection cycle, to preserve an international focus and an overall diversity from issue to issue through the publication year. We keep censorship to a minimum but steer away from gratuitous violence and porn.
Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?
A: Not following guidelines and not meeting deadlines are the most common sins.
Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?
A: Bio, CV, and artist's project description are VERY important to our selection process. We appreciate a bio that tells what's interesting about each artist's life, preparation, and practice and we do not put a cap on the number of words. Accordingly, we do not impose the usual word count limit on supporting text material. The bio provides a starting point for our artist interview and we consciously select artists who tell an interesting story. Ask for a CV/bio but we do not need to see every show, course, and review. We are glad to receive an artist's statement that describes the work submitted; but we definitely prefer statements that avoid nebulous nouns, vacuous verbs, and other forms of overly-technical, art speak.
Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?
A: We are open to some hybrid forms, provided individually-creative photographic visual art is predominant. Creative work that uses AI elements as part of thoughtful integrated creative work is welcome.
Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?
A: We strive to maintain a high standard of quality but we also look for variety from issue to issue across the publication year. We do not do editorially "themed" issues but jurors look for a strong self-developed theme from each artist. Jurors usually must decide among several equally good portfolios and never know the direction an issue will take until the argument is finished and the dust has settled.
Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?
A: We try to post calls for submissions at least three times between deadlines. All subs are evaluated by our editors together and all respondents are notified of results as soon after the deadline as possible. The interview with a selected artist begins immediately via exchange of emails and, simultaneously, mobile and desktop layouts are created and tested for the major browsers. Each artist sees a "near-line" copy of the issue for final edits before it launches on the first day of the publication month. At least three times per month, we promote the issue and the artist across a large number of web and social media and via our private mailing list. At the end of each month, the profits from any print edition sales are split 50-50 with the artist.
Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?
A: As an international publication, created by an international staff, we could not function without electronic submissions, email, broad-based web-enabled promotion, and fast, high-quality print-on-demand service.
Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?
A: Each issue's images are themed and curated by each artist alone. We never edit portfolio images in any way. We develop the interview in close collaboration with each artist in an effort to publish "most of the words and all of the meaning." Artists get final approval for online and print editions well before they are launched.
Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?
A: Not at this time. We provide references and a permalink to each issue for artists who might need a citation in a grant application, cv, or other support.