Editor Interviews
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Read all the editors' answers to Duotrope's interview question: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it? Learn more.
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Here is a small sampling from our recent Editor Interviews. We have interviewed over 2,275 editors.
Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?
A: I read each piece to the end. If it's well-crafted, carries a decent plot, and fits the romance theme, even if it's not to my liking, I'll accept it. Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean my readers won't. There have been several stories/poems I didn't personally like but were extremely well-received by my audience.
A: Within the first three pages, our readers make a general decision, though we typically read to the very end.
A: Unless it is wildly unreadable or, say, obviously a children's story, every piece is read, to the end, by myself and at least two other readers! Because even if I have a feeling it will be rejected, we still try to provide feedback, including which types of markets the piece could be better suited for.
A: Because our word count is short, we read the entire piece even if it's not grabbing us. We occasionally offer feedback or a request for revision.
A: I mostly read till the end, but sometimes a poem is already so much unappealing to me within the first few lines that I stop there itself and take the decision to reject it.
A: Our prose and poetry reviewer team generally makes the initial call on whether a piece is a good fit for The Cawnpore Magazine and before making any decision they’ll read the whole piece carefully. That said, I also read every submission myself before making any final decisions. Even if the reviewer team gives initial feedback, I like to ensure that the work aligns with the vision of our magazine
A: If a submission is not set in the galactic empire, it is rejected as soon as that becomes apparent.
A: Each poem or prose piece is afforded at least two full readings all the way through in fairness to both the submitter and myself; I often come back to poems on a different day to read it under new light. However, I generally know if something isn’t right for Prairie Home after the first read, especially if there’s difficult-to-follow formatting. Most acceptances happen on the first read-through, when I’m either smiling because something caught me off-guard or in total agreement with the poet. It’s a gut feeling that often doesn’t take long to recognize, but we always give it a second look just to make sure. Some poems have actually accepted even mid-way through the poem when I haven't even finished it yet--the ending is like a confirmation that yes, this is still really good poetry.
A: We do not publish 'writing' in the sense understood by this question, insofar as I understand this question.
A: I can generally tell if something isn’t right in the first few lines or sentences.
A: We typically read the complete submission. Submissions go through two rounds of reading. During the first prescreening round, our readers can vote submissions "up." All submissions that receive an "up" vote will move forward to the full prose or poetry committee, where the team will discuss them for publication.
A: For poetry, where we ask for 5 poems in a submission, usually we can tell if the poet will be a fit for our site by the end of the second poem. If we are engrossed with all five poems, acceptance is likely. For fiction, the first couple pages of a story will tell us if we want to keep reading/accept.