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Editor Interview: Flock: A Literary Journal

This interview is provided for archival purposes. The listing is not currently active.

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

A: The strange yet familiar.

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

A: We admire journals with a strong vision, dedication to their authors and artists, and bold and elegant design. Many more come to mind than would be reasonable to list here. A selection: Tin House, Fence, the Fairy Tale Review, A Public Space, Bomb, Orion, Assaracus, Black Warrior Review, Gulf Coast, Brevity, Zyzzyva, Monkey Business, Crazyhorse, The Collagist, The Common, etc. etc. We also follow with great admiration literary journals published out of our hometown, such as Bridge Eight, UNF's The Talon Review, and Mudlark.

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

A: Flock surfs the boundary between traditional and experimental. We publish the gamut, but our sweet spot is work that--via form or content or style--is gently pushing into new territory.

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

A: Send it in. We are honored to receive your work and will give it our deep attention.

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

A: The work submitted is what matters. That said, we are thrilled to see work by published and unpublished writers alike. In the former case, we get to see interesting connections and places writers have been before they arrived to us. In the latter, we have the possibility of being a writer's first place of publication.
We do like to know about our submitters. It's meaningful to know a bit about who's sending us their treasures. A location, an occupation--whatever feels genuine. We also keep an eye out for especially beautiful, quirky, playful cover letters and bios for possible recognition with our Gypsy Sachet Award. Full details are on our submission page.

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

A: 99% of the time, we read 100% of a submission before making a decision about rejection.

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

A: Every work we publish goes through line editing, copy editing, and proofreading. Occasionally we'll provisionally accept a story or essay contingent upon developmental editing if a) it's blowing us away and b) we can see a clear path for editing. The author always gets to review and approve final edits.

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

A: Yes--every honor we can find, including the Pushcart Prize.