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Our editorial for this issue is about submission etiquette. As writers ourselves, we always try to take a look at the submission guidelines before we submit our own writing to places, and we try our hardest to follow them. We always thought that everyone did this, but after doing six issues of GlassFire, we've found that's just not the case. Now, we don't want to sound like we're chastising anyone or ranting about our writers - the vast majority of our submitters have read our guidelines and follow them to the letter (thank you for that!). However, some people don't. Generally, we go ahead and read the submissions anyway. We aren't usually that picky on what the email subject line says or on what information is included on the submission (although it makes our lives much easier if you put your name, address, and email on your submissions or at least in the email). The only rule we're now being sticklers about is the three poems/two prose per issue rule, simply because we don't have time to read more than that. GlassFire is run by a staff of two with the occasional volunteer reader, and we both have day jobs.
We both know that it is difficult breaking into the publishing industry, whether it be as an author or an editor; however, no matter how excited you are about the possibility of finding a market that will publish you, you should not distance yourself from this market by breaking all of their submission guidelines. There are reasons editors take the time to create these guidelines and post them, and it isn't for mere enjoyment or the sheer hell of it. No, it is because most editor's couldn't handle running their publications if they allowed people to submit everything they wanted. Imagine having over one hundred authors send you more than three poems and two fiction pieces each...now imagine that you have to read them all...see the dilemma?
Something else that you might want to keep in mind when submitting your work to a magazine of any form that pays is that asking for more money and/or mocking the publication is not a good way to get accepted. We pay what we pay because that is what our budget allows. In all honestly, we feel that many poems and stories are worth more than mere money, but we only have so many resources available to us. That is just a sad fact of life in almost any job.
Don't get us wrong - like we said earlier, most submitters, ninety-five percent in fact, are very professional and follow all the guidelines; however, we've had an issue with that last five percent each quarter that causes us much headache and drama. We still love putting together the magazine and getting the opportunity to meet and interact with authors from all over the world; sometimes, though, it's just frustrating for us.
All of this semi-ranting is just a prelude to the fact that we have a print anthology closing its deadline August 15th and our fall issue August 30th, and it's causing us a little bit of a meltdown. We should be better soon, hopefully. Having said this, we do welcome your submissions to both publications. If everything goes well and we manage to sell the same number of anthologies that we print, thus breaking even, we will hopefully make this an annual event.
We hope to hear more from you all in the future. Thanks for reading our rant!
Matt & Kristina
Ira Joel Haber was born and lives in Brooklyn New York. He is a sculptor, painter, book dealer and teacher. His work has been seen in numerous group shows both in USA and Europe and he has had 9 one man shows including several retrospectives of his sculpture. His work is in the collections of New York University, The Guggenheim Museum, The Hirshhorn Museum & The Albright-Knox Art Gallery. His paintings, drawings and collages have been published in many on line and print magazines including Rock Heals, Otoliths, Winamop, Melancholia’s Tremulous Dreadlocks, Barfing Frog, The Raving Dove, Foliate Oak, Siren, Prose Toad, Triplopia, Thieves Jargon, Opium, Dirt, The Centrifugal Eye, the DMQ Review, Broadsided, Hotmetalpress, Double Dare Press, Events Quarterly, Unlikely Stories, Coupremine, Cerebration, Chick Flicks, Softblow Eclectica Magazine Backwards City Review, Right Hand Pointing, Ascent Aspirations Magazine, Brew City Magazine, Fiction Attic, Blue Print Review and Ellipsis. Over the years he has received three National Endowments For The Arts Fellowship, two Pollock-Krasner grants, and, most recently in 2004, he received The Adolph Gottlieb Foundation grant. Currently he teaches art at the United Federation of Teachers Retiree Program in Brooklyn