Editor Interview: Nobody's Home

essays about the South

I like "Southern Cultures" magazine, and for books, I think pretty highly of Chelsea Green.

My favorite writers in the vein of work that I publish are novelist and critic Albert Murray, and critic and educator bell hooks. On the other side of things, I like David Brooks's columns, and the essays and articles in "Christian Century" magazine.

Being a GenXer who grew up in the South, I'm more interested the post-Civil Rights era than in the movement years of the 1950s and '60s. Earlier in my career, I pitched projects or articles about post-movement subjects, and they were not accepted because focusing on Civil Rights history was the cause celebre in the 2000s and 2010s. So I started a publication to tell the stories that I wanted to read. Granted, there have been strong publications about the modern South since the 1990s -- starting with John Grisham's "Oxford American" -- but I find that they're often too busy being quirky or clever.

Follow the guidelines, and be clear about what you want to send me. I genuinely read every query, and I respond personally and pretty quickly.

"Nobody's Home" publishes creative nonfiction about the beliefs, myths, and narrative that have driven Southern culture since 1970. A submission should contain a clear exploration of a belief, a myth, or a narrative in or about the South that is being lived in the real world, and the story or explanation should be easily read by an ordinary person in an online format. The idea of "the South" is chock-full of beliefs, myths, and narratives, and the ideal submission will bring one (or more) of those into focus for a reader.

Too many writers who query don't provide the information that I ask for in a query. I request that several questions are answered, mainly to ensure that the submission could/would actually fit in the anthology. Some writers choose to either ignore those questions or only answer some of them.

I am more interested in the writing than the writer. I appreciate a cover letter, but I don't really care what publications a writer has been in previously. Sure, tell me a bit about who you are and what you're sending, but please don't try to use credentials to impress me. The work should do that.

Once I've read the query and responded to the writer to send the work, I read the whole thing multiple times. The query is what I use to cull submissions quickly.

There are multiple answers to this question. If I receive a complete submission and it is either not well written or not appropriate to the publication, I do reject those. Sometimes writers tell half-truths in queries, saying enough that the submission seems to be in line with the topical parameters, when really it is only partially about the subjects they described. Most submissions receive some requests for minor changes, if for no other reason to bring some aspects of the writing in line with a house style. Some submissions do receive requests for more significant revisions, and I suggest possible time frames for those if the writer is interested. Those would be for submissions that have a good idea that does not seem fully executed yet.

I have an Open Submissions Period from April 15 until June 15. That's when I pay close attention to submissions, usually beginning in March by promoting an upcoming call for works. The rest of the year is for promoting or advancing the project's purview in other ways. I tend to read submissions multiple times over multiple weeks, so I am sure of my sense of what each one says, what it offers, and what it might need. I evaluate them not only on writing quality and adherence to the project's themes but also in light of whether a new essay would ADD something to the overall project. I send answers to all writers on the same day -- that's in July, on whatever day I feel done and ready -- and I publish new works in August. The fall is for promoting and for writing the lesson plans that accompany the new submissions.

That depends. Because I receive submissions from many different kinds of writers, the works' needs vary widely. Some essays can be formatted and published with only one or two minor adjustments to fit an online format. Some have to be sent back to the writer more than once. If I believe in a work, and in its substance fundamentally, I'll work with a writer to get the essay where it needs to be— if they want that. But I will never make needless changes for the sake of being heavy handed.

No. I've probably got work that deserves it, though.