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Editor Interview: Press Pause

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

A: Anything in your heart.

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

A: Passages North, Hobart, Carve, A Public Space, Harper's, Featherproof Books, Dzanc Books (&Catapult), Tyrant Books

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

A: We publish people internationally from all walks of life. Many of our contributors do not have direct links to the writing or art world (MFAs, etc). And many have been published more than once. We are a community who believes in honest, authentic art that doesn't get too caught up in the noise.

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

A: Read our volumes and send us whatever is in your heart right now.

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

A: We do not publish full-length books! And we are a very small team, running on passion and small donations, and all have more than full time jobs. We constantly dream of the day we'll be able to only write, make art, and run Press Pause. If we are a little slow to reply or accept or decline, it's about us and our productive capacity, and not you.

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

A: We like casual cover letters and interesting bios, but we don't mind if there isn't a cover letter either.

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

A: All submissions are read to completion unless a submission rubs us the wrong way morally or is typed in Comic Sans.

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

A: I think it's important for publishers to fully embrace their own mission. Ours is very important to us in the modern noisy world. Our mission is to create a quiet and vibrant space online and in print, where artists from all over feel completely free to express themselves. We choose not to have a social media account in eager pursuit of this mission, but don't mind if contributors share their Press Pause work on their own social media. We believe in the good parts of the internet, and love that artists in India and Iran and New Zealand (and and and) are finding us because of beautiful technology. (The lovely staff at Duotrope have helped us reach many of our contributors, for instance). We believe and are hopeful that humans can feel free and empowered to create their own online spaces and experiences without being dragged around by ads and clickbait. We aren't anti-technology or anti-social media. We're just pro-honest, authentic art in the modern world.

Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?

A: It depends on the piece. Sometimes we edit nothing except for a light copy-edit, and sometimes we spend weeks with a writer. For our international folks: we don't change to American spellings! So you'll get to see your work in print in an American journal exactly as you wrote it. One of our favourite ( ;) )things is hearing the happiness from our international contributors when they realize we use their spellings.

Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?

A: We haven't yet, but we are thinking 2023.