“The Internet has been a wonderful resource for writers in may respects,” Diane Goettel, the managing editor of Black Lawrence Press emailed me yesterday. “Not only are there dozens of great sites that allow writers to network, search for work and competitions, and find contact information for editors, but it has also given rise to a new form of literary magazine: web-based journals.” Black Lawrence’s The Adirondack Review is among those publications, one where Goettel has published writers at just about every stage in their careers—but although “it is a particular thrill to publish someone for the first time,” she warns that beginning writers shouldn’t necessarily count on online journals being quicker to accept stories than their print counterparts. “It’s not that it is easier to get published online,” she explained. “It’s that the internet has given a new space for journals; there are more editors searching for work than there were before the dawn of online literary magazines, so writers have a better chance of finding a home for their work.”
Goettel will be speaking tonight at Park Slope’s Perch Café about how to get published in literary journals and attract the attention of small presses—and we wondered if, given the difficulties the largest publishing conglomerates have been through over the last few months, independent publishers might be able to claim some new market territory. “Certainly, we are all suffering right now due to the economic crisis,” she conceded. “However, my sense is that smaller publishers, who are always paying meticulous attention to budget, aren’t feeling the pinch in the same way that big publishers are… At Black Lawrence Press and Dzanc Books, our parent company, we’ve maintained all of our staff and are still signing contracts. I think that right now it is actually safer to go with smaller publishers.”
As for how to get to the point where you might be signing that contract, Goettel’s core advice to writers is simple and straightforward: “The most important thing an author can do to get our attention is to produce a fantastic manuscript that is right for our list. Because we only publish a handful of titles a year, we have to be incredibly selective; so the manuscripts that we accept are the manuscripts that we simply can’t bear to let go and that we think are really at home with our press.” For more detailed counsel, swing by the Perch (365 Fifth Avenue) tonight at 7:30 p.m.