Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.
A: literary genius parents
Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?
A: We admires Mom Egg Review and Mutha Magazine and Raising Mothers for parenting essays but what we truly love are really edgy and crazy off-the-deep end zines and staggering illustrated art publications of all kinds - we are breaking the stereotype of what people should expect from parents. Just having a kid should never end a literary career: eight of the last ten Nobel Prize Winners had kids! We want to show that parents write all kinds of things--they're not just mommy bloggers.
Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?
A: We select a winner from the entries and our publishing partner (Dreamers Creative Writing) does the actual publishing - our readers are diverse and we select our Fellowship Winner not based on genre or a particular style but mostly for the writer achieving what they set out to do. We choose our first-readers for their excellent taste in a broad selection of fiction.
Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?
A: We reward the talent and dedication of parents to the art of literary writing - we do not publish parenting essays and many other parent-centric literary magazines focus only on the topic of parenthood. We prefer brilliant writing on other topics, but written by parents. (of course we will sometimes choose a story about parenting. It is entirely based on the talent of the writer and not the subject or particular style.
Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?
A: When we say send us your best work, we really mean it. The talent pool is extraordinary. Please don't send trunk stories. We want new work.
Q: Describe the ideal submission.
A: Keeps to the word count. Follows the rules. And knocks us emotionally out of the ballpark or makes us laugh out loud.
Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?
A: They think we want them to write about their kids or their parenting. We don't. We want them to write something amazing (it can be about parenthood but it certainly doesn't have to be)
Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?
A: We do not read cover letters until after we have chosen the winner. Our judging is entirely blind and goes through many rounds. We are frequently surprised and/or delighted by the biographies of the writers we select.
Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?
A: We read every piece.
Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?
A: Our first round is simply to determine if the rules were followed - word count, formatting, etc. Second round is a simple yes/no. The shortlist is analyzed and then sorted and then for the final round, real discussions happen.
Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?
A: Since we only judge the contest once per year, I will defer this to the year-round editors.
Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?
A: We found it much easier to read and judge when paper was king, but our costs are lower not needing to mail the manuscripts around. We always print out the top stories because writing somehow reads differently on paper than on a screen, particularly if you are reading several short pieces one after another. There is less fatigue when it is on paper.
Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?
A: We do not edit which is why it has to be perfect - we are so disappointed when we find typos or glaring unintentional errors in a submission.
Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?
A: We are an award.