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Editor Interviews

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Read all the editors' answers to Duotrope's interview question: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted? Learn more.

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Here is a small sampling from our recent Editor Interviews. We have interviewed over 2,200 editors.

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

A: Suggested edits, if any are needed.
We, likewise, check with the submitters if our issue's release date aligns with their publishing time goals.

A: We judge work entirely on its quality.

A: Generally, our editors collaborate with one another after reading through submissions. We discuss pieces and they might go to another staff editor if we have further concerns or questions about a piece.

Margaret R. Sáraco and Mary Brancaccio, Poetry Editors of Platform Review, 04 March 2024

A: If the submission is for a themed issue, there is sometimes a conversation between guest editor(s) and EIC—though the selection process is led by the guest editor(s).

A: We check for the needs of the specific issue in mind. This additional component is often determined by the processes as it shapes up.

A: None.

Doug Jacquier, Editor of Witcraft, 28 February 2024

A: We don't like to impose our own will on submissions. If we love it, we want it, but if it’s a work in progress, it’s a pass. Easy peasy.

A: There's only one editor here. If I fall in love with a book, it might get published (sadly, we can only take a fraction even of the books I love!). If I don't, it won't. That's pretty much it. We do share our choices with the folks at Titan Books, with whom we've worked for more than a decade now to publish our books and get them into stores around the world, and they might sometimes have opinions about how a given book is likely to do or how it might best be presented. But it's not really "additional evaluations." It's counsel from some very smart people whose judgment is really excellent.

A: 1) Is the submission written by an emerging writer (anyone who has no more than one full length collection)?
2) What is the craft like in terms of language, imagery, vividness, form, etc.

A: This publication has two editors. That is all.

A: Tone, similar work we've taken lately, the emotion we're left with at the end, length.

Richard Thomas, Editor-in-Chief / Editor of Gamut Magazine, 01 February 2024

A: None. I'm only interested in the story.

Gary A. Markette, Senior editor of Anotherealm, 28 January 2024