If your goal is to publish more in literary magazines, we’ve got something that will help. And it’s boring English teacher shit.

I know, I know. I told you that I was going to give you all the lessons I taught at university without the university price tag. While this writing advice is going to seem seriously boring, I promise it’s doing quiet work on your behalf.

If you’re submitting to literary magazines, this is for you. This is not the same as pitching a story to a magazine.

Follow Industry Standard Formatting

(wtf is that, exactly?)

Now, you may have heard of industry standard formatting, and if so, skip to the next subhead. If not, strap in.

When you start submitting your writing to magazines for publication, it can be exciting to think about fonts and colors and how you might want to lay your piece out as if it were to appear in Vogue. All fancy like.

I get it because I’m a real sucker for exquisite design, and if you have had a years-long love affair with Bodoni or Lucida Sans, or are a champion of navy blue typeset (you know who you are), I’m about to break your heart.

Why Follow Formatting Rules, Anyway?

It boils down to the magazine staff’s time and workload, and how much of a dream (or PITA) you’re going to be to work with. And yes, these judgments are made in the blink of an eye, with one glance at your documents.

How do I know? I not only worked for a literary magazine for a few years, I taught a class on how to run and produce one.

• Following traditional formatting rules shows you’re a professional who knows what the industry expects from you, and that you can read directions. Publishing often happens in specific timeframes, and good formatting signals that you can follow instructions, and consequently, there’s a higher chance you’ll meet deadlines.
• If you submit a sloppy manuscript, editors will question just how much work your project is going to be for them. A lot of magazines run on volunteer or student staff, and they simply don’t have the resources to massage your piece into shape.
• There are pedantic slush pile readers who will chuck your submission without reading a single word when the formatting isn’t correct. And they’re not being assholes.
• With the amount of AI slop, and really great human written work being submitted, there are times when an editor is literally looking for anything to reject your work. Not because it’s bad. Because there isn’t enough room in their publication.

What is Industry Standard Formatting

Now that you know the philosophy behind it, here’s what you’ve gotta do when submitting prose. Poetry has it’s own set of rules, and usually goes against everything I’ve outlined here. I love those rebels.

• Font: 12 pt Times New Roman (Georgia and Garamond are also cool)
• Margins: One inch all around.
• Line Spacing: Double Spaced

This is the bare minimum formatting that everyone will accept. I suggest setting up a document template if you’re working in Word or Pages to reflect these choices. A set it and forget it method to make sure you’re on track even when it doesn’t matter. You can do the same with Projects in Scrivener, if you write in that program.

While screwing up the formatting isn’t always a deal breaker, it’s always an impression maker. This is a simple and easy way to make your document shine and convey to the publishing world that you know your stuff because now you do.

Blind or Not Blind? What’s the difference?

Some magazines will ask you to submit your work blind. What they’re asking is that you remove any identifying information about you on your submission. So, no last name in the header. No full name after the title. No author information anywhere on the piece. If your email address includes your name, don’t put it next to the word count.

Even when magazines don’t specifically ask for a blind submission, I tend to do it anyway. I don’t want their slush pile readers to have any clue about me, and most magazines do this in order to fight bias. So, let’s help them out.

Magazine Specific Rules

Magazines are particular little buggers. A lot of them will have additional requests in their submission portal. Do your best to follow them to a tee.

They also tend to publish a certain type of work, either in theme, topic, or style. And they’re kinda the worst at telling you what that is. You will see a lot of this phrase. “To know what we like to publish, read a few of our back issues to get a sense of our taste.”

Which, to me, is lazy as fuck. Because you know who else wants to know the kind of work they publish? People thinking of buying a subscription, but that’s the marketer in me cringing, and also annoyed because it’s one thing to be published. It’s another to be read. Anyway….

All this to say, do what you can to determine the kind of information and submissions they want, and then follow that as closely as you can to not waste everyone’s time.