Skip to Content

Editor Interview: Local Gems Poetry Press

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

A: Poetic "Gems"

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

A: Rattle, Three Rooms Press, Write Bloody Inc, Allbook-Books

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

A: Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Rumi, Dante, Ginsberg
Living Poets:
Taylor Mali, George Wallace, Mark Doty, Common

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

A: Our consistantcy and dedication. We at Local Gems are doing this from the heart--not as a business, and we care deeply for the continuation and spreading of poetry and performance along with printed materials. We grew up on books--we admire books, we love books. But moreso we appreciate the importance of the artform and always have a project going on to ensure our poets have a reason to keep writing. We also use poetry to help instill social change and believe that poetry is the voice of the people that can be used to do great things. See the Perspectives Series.

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

A: Don't send us Jesus poetry unless we are doing a Jesus anthology. Don't send poetry about clowns to an anthology about suba diving. Be on target for the mission statement and subject matter and send in work that is powerful and genuine.
Our guidelines are pretty simple to follow so follow them. We are friendly people on this end and prefer inclusion rather than exclusion--but in order to let us do that everyone has to play by the rules.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: An eager participant who references the project specifically showing us that they are familiar with it and the guidelines. It is nice when people are familiar with our website or other projects though certainly not a requirement. A submission that follows the guidelines and the mission statement is ideal.

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

A: They don't know how to read--or it seems that way sometimes.
All too often they will send the poetry as an attachment without including it in the body of the email, or they will send it in the body without an attachment--we ask for both. Also that quote earlier about Jesus poetry for an anthology that couldn't be more opposite wasn't fiction. (Mind you, we have no problems with Jesus!)

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

A: It's nice to find out why the person chose to submit to our publication, and a couple of lines about them--but frankly we don't care about scores and previous publications. We like John Dillinger, don't care so much where someone has been only where they are going. Everyone starts out as an equal when they submit to us--we only judge by their work.

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

A: We read every piece we recieve--several times over. Usually, there are several of us who read each submission.

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

A: If we hate it--it doesn't go in.
No, seriously, we have to like it.

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

A: There is no day in the life--every day is different. Sometimes I'm out booking tables for events to get books sold or going to live poetry readings and setting up events--other days im sleeping all day because I was up for 2 nights in a row reviewing submissions--depends on what time during the project you catch me on.

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

A: It is important to be open to new things without going crazy. If a publisher jumps on top of every shiney new trend they are just going to sink themselves into a mountain of debt trying to buy every new thing and let's face it--these days trends come and go on a daily basis.
That being said it is important for publishers to get out of the stone age as well--snail mail submissions? Overlays? Email is a necessity, computing technologiy and familiarity with formatting software is a must as well.
But some traditional methods are important too--like face to face communication with business owners. It's important to stay as Michael Chrichton elegently put it in his novel The Lost World "At the edge of chaos" publishers--or any business that doesn't keep up with the changing times is doomed to fail--on the opposite end--anyone who changes too rapidly too fast is just as doomed to fail. Like everything--there is a balance and it has to be walked carefully.