Editor Interview: The Bookends Review

Affective writing

Connotation Press
The Rusty Nail
Subtopian Magazine
FictionBrigade
Classic Rock Presents Prog

Chuck Palahniuk
Bret Easton Ellis
Stephen King
J.D. Salinger
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Well, I can't really say since I don't know what other editors' processes are. I can assure submitters that my staff and I discuss our decisions at length (in other words, there are no snap choices). As clichéd as it sounds, we only publish material that speaks to us. If that means that we’ll go a few weeks without publishing something (because we haven’t selected anything), so be it. We’d rather publish something special every month than something average every week. In terms of aesthetics, I like to think that our publication looks very inviting and cool. It’s also very easy to navigate.

Adhere to the guidelines and go for it! You will never succeed if you don't try. If you have any questions, feel free to email us.

This will sound clichéd, but oh well ha-ha. It should be something short but sweet; something that moves us in some way (laughter, heartache, shock, etc). It should be unique, bold, and fearless.

Your usual guideline issues - the work is too long, it's an excerpt from a larger piece, etc. Also, submitters will send pieces that should be group together (say, five poems) as indiviudal submissions. Sometimes people email us work instead of submitting through Submittable, too.

We ask that submitters send us a brief biography that includes whatever he or she wants to say. What have they done so far in terms of writing/teaching, for example. If they have previous credits, we'd like to know about it. We welcome humor and sarcasm in biographies, too.

All of it. Every time. That is, unless it automatically violates certain rules (length, it's a chapter from a book, etc). But if it fits the guidelines, we read the entire piece as many times as necessary to vote on it confidentially.

Our process is simple—we vote on pieces and let the majority rule. Pretty simple.

First, I look over all the submissions and make sure that my staff is voting on them. If a piece has enough votes to be accepted or rejected, I send out the appropriate response and schedule the piece. I also look around the site to make sure it looks perfect. Every Sunday, I prepare the week's piece. There's also a bit of promotion, too, such as posting about new content on social media sites.