Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.
A: Evocative poetry
Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?
A: Poetry Northwest, Frontier Poetry, Waxwing, West Branch, The Sewanee Review, American Poetry Review—and so many more!
Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?
A: Palette Poetry is an online literary journal that uplifts and platforms emerging and established poets. solicit submissions, and our Featured Poetry category is open year-round and always free. Palette firmly believes writers should be compensated for their work and is a paying market. We pay $50 per poem accepted. We do not charge fees for Featured Poetry submissions and offer a quick-response submission option for writers of historically marginalized identities. All creative work published in Palette comes through our submission windows; we do not solicit poetry for Featured Poetry or our contests.
Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?
A: Familiarize yourself with the work we publish—read the archives! That's the best way to get a sense of what kind of work we've been drawn to in the best, and to gauge if we might be a good home for your work. I also highly recommend reading contemporary poetry widely and familiarizing yourself with other journals publishing poetry today, both in print and online. And finally, consider your audience or reader when submitting your work. Ask yourself if the poems you're submitting will appeal to a broader audience: will someone else read them and find themselves changed, challenged, awed? If not, they might not be ready for publication.
Q: Describe the ideal submission.
A: The ideal submission consists of 3-5 sensory, voice-driven, and evocative poems that present us with a range of the poet's work, styles, etc... Submissions of a single poem are rarely accepted because they don't offer us the chance to really dive into or understand a poet's voice.
Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?
A: Your cover letter can be as simple as a few sentences—even one sentence: "enclosed are a few poems for your consideration." There's no need to agonize over the cover letter. The poems are what we're really paying attention to!
Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?
A: We are committed to uplifting BIPOC, queer, marginalized, and under-represented voices. To that end, we don't look for or prioritize submissions by writers with MFAs or particular publication credits. We are especially excited when we get to accept work where we're the poet's first publication credit!
Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?
A: Our team of readers reads every piece thoroughly. We assign 4-5 readers per submission to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?
A: It's extremely important that editors make the submission process as accessible and simple as possible. While we prefer electronic submissions via Submittable, we accept mailed print submissions as well.
Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?
A: We offer occasional line edits as needed, but the author always gets to approve the final edits. We want poets to be happy with the work they publish with us!
Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?
A: Yes! We nominate for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and more.