So I've been given the idea to start a literary journal, for the purpose of creative writing and possibly some visual arts, at my university. And at the present, I'm not really sure where to start...I've spoken with the English department head, looked up what the submission guidelines are for other Canadian journals, and e-mailed a few editors to see what sort of information and direction they may be able to give me, but I'm still in dire need of any suggestions or ideas that people can offer me. So yeah, any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions?
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Um, as in a magazine type thing, not as in a blog type thing?
Nope, nothing's coming to me. Wait, have you checked out what the journals look like at other universities? That could be a good idea - get past issues, see what works, what doesn't. See how much they charge, format, that sort of thing.
Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :
yeah, I'm thinking a printed journal...or perhaps one that is just online, as I don't know how much it would cost to run hardcopies, just yet
Posted by Beanny (Member # 7109) on :
Good luck
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
Sounds like a big project. Very cool. Sadly, I have no advice to offer...
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
If your student government or whoever hands out student funding currently funds any similar endeavors, you can likely get funding out of them for yours once you have interest and a plan.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Your first priority will be to find editors. Your second priority will be to encourage submissions. All the other considerations come later.
Practical issues: 1) What funds do you have? 2) What's your potential readership? 3) Which rights do you intend to retain re: submitted work? 4) How stringent is your submission criteria? 5) How often will you release a new edition?
Posted by HesterGray (Member # 7384) on :
This is what we have at my school. I was a co-art editor last year. We just accepted submissions of poems, short stories, written excerpts of longer works, and all kinds of art. Then we all went through the submissions and chose the best stuff to put in the publication.
One of the funding issues we came across was that we only had enough money to put four of the artworks in color; the rest had to be in black and white. Of course, we had to check with the artists to make sure they were willing to have their work in black and white.
That's all I know about it. Good luck with yours!
Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :
Yeah, similar to that. Editors is a good point. I think I'll hit the English Student Association for that, and for some funding. The rights that most journals that I've seen are first publishing rights or first publishing rights in North America, after which the copyright reverts to the author. I was thinking that at first we'll only be able to release the journal on an annual basis, partly because I expect that we may not have enough submissions to release it any more frequently, and also because it would be better to test what we're doing if we only plan for once a year.
I know that all the journals I've seen only run their artwork in black and white, save for the cover.
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Wait, have you checked out what the journals look like at other universities? That could be a good idea - get past issues, see what works, what doesn't. See how much they charge, format, that sort of thing.
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Sadly, I have no advice to offer...