Have I paid them? Mmm...yes, now and then, and today I have splashed out the equivalent of £3.25 to send three poems over the pond for consideration. I did it because I liked what they were publishing and felt my poetry would fit. They have no sponsors or advertising and you can read everything online (no print copies). I also liked their turnaround because these days you can wait up to six months for a reply from some magazines. I realise they have lots of submissions and it takes a long time, but I find I now avoid those with really long waits (especially for poetry).
I also got to thinking about UK competitions. Some are now charging £10, and novel entries (First Chapter) are around £25. So actually a low reading fee is looking marginally better, and perhaps more likely for publication. Having struggled to get anything published in the UK for some time now (is that down to the quality of my writing or too much competition?) I am considering my options.
I've also noticed (from writing magazines that I subscribe to) that there are far more USA magazines (online and print) asking for submissions than the UK. I prefer submitting in the UK but I have submitted to the USA, Canada and Australia.
Anyway, I thought I'd put this out there and see if anyone else has an opinion. Please do comment.
Meanwhile, my novel is ready to submit for critiquing by my tutor later this month (nerve wracking to say the least....I'm imaging the worst, of course!), and I have challenged myself to write a poem a day for a year! I asked some Facebook friends to give me five random words to help motivate me. I hope to eventually self-publish, but a year is a long way away and not all poems will make it by the time I get to serious editing. I shall submit some to magazines when I am happy with them.
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