Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.
A: Edgy, innovative, fresh
Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?
A: We love editors and journals who make overt and explicit efforts to put the writer first. Barrelhouse does a fantastic job of working in this mode; they're also great role models (for us) in terms of how to grow in a sustainable and ethical way and how to experiment with new initiatives. We love Sarabande for all of the same reasons but also because (like us) they have a taste for work that doesn't quite fit into conventional genres. Copper Nickel is a journal that we love for the extremely high quality of its contents; we look there for stuff that turns our heads around. Memorious is one of our favorite digital-only publications. We like what Wigleaf does online too.
Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?
A: Some of my favorite writers have appeared in our digital pages: Lydia Davis, Dan Beachy-Quick, Mathias Svalina, Chelsey Minnis, TC Tolbert, Sy Hoahwah, Grant Faulkner, Kiki Petrosino.
Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?
A: We've worked hard to cultivate a Miracle Monocle aesthetic, but that can be difficult to do when your core organizing principle is a devotion to eclecticism. I think readers know that they're going to see something new in every issue and writers know that work that pushes expectations formally and on the language-level is welcome here. We also work hard to treat writers well; that means getting at least three pairs of eyeballs on every submission and getting a response to writers within about 6 months. We don't charge for submissions and we do award two writers with cash prizes in each of our issues. We've published an editorial code of ethics on our site so that everyone can see how the Miracle Monocle sausage gets made.
Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?
A: I think it's very important to find the right match for your work and the only way to determine if your work is a good match for Miracle Monocle is to read some issues. They're all available online and for free. I'd also say that we value a strong manuscript over a pithy cover letter. You don't need fancy accolades to appear in our journal, but you do need very a carefully edited and very carefully considered manuscript to capture our attention.
Q: Describe the ideal submission.
A: It takes what I know of the short story, the essay, or the poem and expands that definition without sacrificing the other core elements of craft.
Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?
A: I think sometimes our aesthetic gets weirdly translated into the idea that we're the go-to venue for super trippy stuff. I'm not saying we won't publish a piece that conjures a drug or alcohol-induced haze, but we can only publish so many of those before things get stale. So, maybe send us your other piece too.
Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?
A: We really don't care too much about cover letters in the first round of consideration. In the second round, we're slightly more interested in knowing who you are and what you do--mainly because we want to make sure to get established AND fresh talents into each issue. Overall, we're less impressed by exhaustive lists of publications than we are with a cover letter that offers us real context for the writer's work. Tell us where you fit in the larger literary landscape. And maybe save the jokes for another context.
Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?
A: We read everything to the end. I'm an insane stickler about that and it means my editors sometimes hate me, but I think every piece deserves a real chance. That said, if a piece is full of racist, sexist, or homophobic bile, I reserve the right to reject it without subjecting my editors to the hate.
Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?
A: We have what I would describe as an unusually thorough process. It's all mapped out here: http://louisville.edu/miraclemonocle/editorial-code-of-conduct
Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?
A: Due to the extreme volume of submissions we receive, I can't read everything that hits our Submittable account, but I do read most of it. My student editors work in teams to make sure that each piece gets at least three pairs of eyeballs before it goes on to the next round of consideration or is rejected. Once we narrow things down to a tentative TOC, all of the editors read across genres and we make little tweaks: filling holes and swapping pieces in and out. Meanwhile, we're also soliciting writers, trying to raise awareness of the journal, trying to raise money, trying to innovate. My favorite moments are those in which a special project suddenly synthesizes. (For example, our recent suite of writer-made collages or our Ambitious Student Writers category/award.) But I'm not afraid to fail. I also love those moments where we figure out why something doesn't work. The feeling of pushing the work forward and bringing creative people together is what I'm after. I don't experience that every day, but it's a frequent enough occurrence to keep me going.
Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?
A: I wouldn't say that digital technology is inherently superior to print technology, but it is far cheaper and that's why we're able to exist and to grow.
Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?
A: The amount of editing we're able to do with each piece varies, but the speed of our editorial cycle generally determines the plausibility of deep edits. If we accept a piece with substantial flaws, we'll generally only accept it if we happen to discover it very early in the process; otherwise, we may have to pass on a piece that we love. We copyedit each piece (we do have a Style Guide to which we try to adhere), do some line-editing and proofreading, and we do give writers the chance to make tweaks/approve edits before launch. Situations in which we'd question a poet's spatial choices or ask a prose writer to change a major plot point are exceedingly rare.
Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?
A: Yes, we do.