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Editor Interview: Antiphony Journal

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

A: Innovative poetry

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

A: So many. There are so many exciting journals out there these days. Some of my favorite would be Tripwire, New American Writing, Jacket2.

Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?

A: My short list would be: Elizabeth Willis, I can't get enough of her right now. Emily Skillings, Lisa Robertson, Lucy Ives, always Anne Carson, always. Some new favorites are Joel Newberger, Phoebe Giannisi, and Jena Osman.

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

A: I started antiphony after having done just an obscene number of submissions myself. I think my Submittable was over a thousand at one point. And so I think a lot of the decisions I've made in terms of both the journal and the press have come out of my experience as a writer and a submitter. In a way, I see antiphony as a way to create a journal that doesn't do the things that drive me crazy as a writer. This is why I don't charge submission fees or hold contests. My submission guidelines are pretty simple. I respond very quickly-almost all of my acceptances go out the same day. And I try to do as much as I can to support and promote my contributors and authors.

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

A: The best advice I can give is to look at what I've already published in antiphony. I'm not a big fan of work that is overly dependent on narrative; I'm always on the look-out for work that surprises me-but not in a gratuitous way. Writing that does something I've never seen done before. Work that feels new and innovative but at the same time, maintains a kind of human quality.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: I don't think there could be an ideal submission. I would tell anyone considering submitting to me to simply send me the best of whatever they've got.

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

A: The thing submitters often get wrong is they submit work that is just far removed from what I'm looking for.

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

A: I personally don't pay much attention to cover letters. And previous publication credits don't mean that much to me. Just because someone has gotten into some very competitive journals doesn't necessarily mean they are doing the kind of work that I'm looking for.

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

A: I make decisions very quickly. I can usually tell just from the first couple of lines.

Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?

A: I have two interns, who are wonderful. They help me with a lot of the technology involved with the journal and press. But other than that, I am a one-stop shop here. Editor, reader, reviews editor, copy-editor, distributor, marketing department, social media manager, accounting department. I read all of the submissions myself and make all of the editorial decisions.

Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?

A: There's always work to be done. I like to stay on top of things so every day I am responding to emails, reading and deciding on submissions, posting to Instagram. And then there's all the work on the press side of things. When we are in the middle of book production, those days are really busy.

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

A: I think technology is great. When I first started writing in 1988 there was no email; everything was stamps and envelopes. So certainly being able to correspond with people so easily is very nice. I'm not a big social media person, but I do use Instagram because it's a great way to reach people who would not necessarily find the website otherwise.

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

A: I would say I suggest edits on 5% of the work I accept. That's for the poetry. The reviews sometimes require a lot of editing on my part. In both cases I will make suggestions-it's up to the poet or reviewer to decide whether or not to incorporate my suggestions. There's a certain amount of flexibility with the reviews-with the poems it's a bit of a different story.

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

A: I already did my first set of Best of the Net nominations, which was very fun. I am looking forward to doing my Pushcart nominations in Oct.