A Checklist for Submitting Poetry to UK Magazines and Pamphlets

A good number of poetry rejections have nothing to do with the poems. They come from a submission that landed after the reading window shut, ignored a line limit, or arrived without return postage. Editors rarely explain, because the answers were in the guidelines all along. Do the dull work first and you clear half the obstacles before anyone reads a line of your work.

Read the Magazine Before You Send Anything

It sounds obvious, and almost nobody does it. Buy a recent issue, or read what the magazine puts online. Two or three issues will tell you more than any forum thread about what a publication likes: the line lengths, the tone, whether it runs formal verse, prose poems, translations, or work with a political edge. If your poems belong somewhere else, better to find that out for the price of a subscription than after three months of waiting.

Then read the submissions page properly. Not skimmed. Properly.

Reading periods

Some magazines read all year. Many open for a window of a few weeks or a couple of months, and some close over the summer. Note the date, and check whether the deadline is a postmark date or a receipt date — with postal entries the difference matters. Put the date in your calendar a fortnight earlier than it says.

House rules

Every magazine sets its own terms: how many poems, how many lines, one file or several, named or anonymous, simultaneous submissions accepted or not, fees, payment. Anonymity catches people out. If the guidelines ask for no identifying details, take your name off the file and out of the document properties as well as off the page.

The Pre-Submission Checklist

Work through this before you send anything, whether it is going by email or post.

1. The reading period is open, and today is not the closing date.
2. I have read the guidelines twice, all the way down, including the FAQ.
3. My poems meet the length and number limits.
4. Every poem has been read aloud and checked for typos, stray commas and inconsistent punctuation.
5. Titles are formatted consistently and each poem is clearly separated from the next.
6. My name, email address and postcode appear where the guidelines ask — and nowhere if they ask for anonymity.
7. None of the poems has appeared anywhere the magazine would count as prior publication, including a personal blog or a public social media post.
8. The cover letter is drafted at three or four sentences.
9. If simultaneous submissions are allowed, I have said so.
10. If posting: correct envelope, correct postage, stamped addressed envelope enclosed if returns are expected.
11. The submission is logged with the date sent and the expected response time.

That is the whole job, and most of it takes a single evening.

Cover Letters and Simultaneous Submissions

The cover letter

Keep it to a few sentences. Say what you are sending and how many poems. Mention one or two publication credits if they are relevant to the magazine in front of you; credits from a very different kind of publication carry less weight than you might hope. Give your contact details, say thank you, stop.

Don't explain the poems. Don't summarise their themes. Don't apologise for taking up anyone's time. Editors read hundreds of these, and a short, clear, well-mannered letter does its job and disappears.

Simultaneous submissions

Many UK magazines accept simultaneous submissions; some do not, and the guidelines will say. If they are allowed, mention it in one line: "These poems are simultaneously submitted; I will withdraw them immediately if they are accepted elsewhere." Then do exactly that, on the day it happens. An editor who has spent an hour with your poems and then finds them gone will remember it.

Withdrawing well means emailing with the poem titles and a brief note, or following the withdrawal process in an online system rather than replying to a no-reply address.

There is a temptation to treat simultaneous submission as permission to send the same six poems to forty magazines in one evening. Technically allowed. Practically, reading periods overlap, and you will spend a fortnight writing withdrawal emails. Three or four well-chosen targets is plenty.

If You're Posting It

Plenty of UK magazines have gone online-only, but many still take work by post, and pamphlet presses and competitions often do. Requirements vary, so read them, but a few habits hold good.

• Use clean A4 paper, printed on one side only.
• One poem per page, with your name and contact details on each page.
• Include a stamped addressed envelope if you want the poems returned. If you don't, say so — it saves everyone postage and a drawer full of paper.
• Never send your only copy, and never send anything you would mind losing.
• Post early. A deadline is usually a receipt date unless the guidelines say otherwise.
• Keep a note of the date you posted, in case you need to query a missing submission later.

Recorded delivery is rarely necessary and can complicate things at the other end. Ordinary post, sent in good time, is fine.

Pamphlets and Competitions

Pamphlet publishers work differently from magazines. Some read all year, some open for a month, and many publish through pamphlet competitions. Length expectations vary considerably, so check before you assemble a manuscript — a sequence of twenty-five poems is a different proposition from forty.

Most presses want a sample first, not the whole thing: a covering note, a few pages of poems, and a sense of the shape of the whole. Read the submission page carefully to see what "sample" means, because some ask for a short statement alongside the poems. If a contract offers terms that surprise you — rights, exclusivity, length of term — read it properly and ask the publisher to explain anything unclear before you sign.

Competitions usually want finished individual poems rather than a themed set, and often have their own formatting rules. If entry fees are a barrier, look for fee-free magazines and competitions; they exist, and they are worth the search.Photo: Ghinzo / Pixabay