Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.
A: Underrepresented voices
Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?
A: Hyacinth Girl Press, YesYes Books, The Adroit Journal, The Shallow Ends, Muzzle Magazine, and other independent publishers working to increasing the visibility of poetry.
Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?
A: Our mission is to champion great work—especially by persons under-represented in literary publishing—and we welcome writers and artists regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, religion, class, veteran status, and educational background.
Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?
A: Read our books. Chapbooks are available for free from our website. This will help give you more of a sense of the types of voices we are drawn to as well as what we're looking for in terms of collection cohesion.
Q: Describe the ideal submission.
A: Our aesthetic sensibilities run the gamut from traditional to innovative; we do not align ourselves with a single school or style. While we do confess a preference for poetry, we do not publish it exclusively. Instead, we seek works in all genres by intelligent, creative humans that speak to other intelligent, creative humans. In many ways, Sundress Publications envisions the manuscripts it publishes as concept albums, not merely as collections of hot singles. We are most interested in the overall effect created by the artist, how the parts act in concert to create the whole.
Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?
A: Pay attention to the details of the call including page limits for manuscripts, whether to omit your name from submissions, and other specifics listed in our individual guidelines.
Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?
A: We are there to judge the work not the writer. That being said, if you are a writer who is a strong and engaged literary citizen, we are even more excited about reading your work!
Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?
A: This depends greatly on the particular call. We look for manuscripts that read front the back regardless of genre. Wow us early, but also make sure that your collection tells us a story.
Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?
A: All manuscripts and contests submissions are read by at least three editors before it is sent to either our judge or our associate editors for decision.
Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?
A: All full-length manuscripts go through an editorial process looking at both micro (line edits, grammar, formatting) and macro (ordering, inclusion of specific poems, etc) elements of the collection.
Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?
A: Yes.