Publishing Journals

I have been learning a little about publishing journals lately through some classes I’m taking in Creative Nonfiction and Poetry. I want to write down some of the things I have found out about them, in case any reader-wanna-be-writers out there can benefit from the information.

-          Most journals require you (the author) to pay them something when you send in your piece. It ranges in price depending on how well-known the journal is. I’ve heard as little as 3$ to as much as hundreds.

-          Do your research on the journal:  you don’t want to build a bad reputation by having been published by a not-so-good journal.

-          You don’t get paid for getting published in a journal. But most of them run contests, so if you’re very good you can win as much as $1000. Also, you’re usually given a few complimentary copies of the journal that you get published in.

-          There are submission dates, deadlines, and guidelines that you will need to follow.

-          Keep your audience in mind: many journals are based out of Universities, and are edited by Grad students there.

-          Careful what you sign: some journals have you hand over the rights to your piece, or give the journal the right to edit your piece at their discretion.

-          However, most journals give you back the rights to your piece once it’s finished being published.

-          Every journal has its own “image”. Check into the types of pieces they’re publishing- are they edgy? Political? Happy-endings? Don’t waste your time sending your work to a journal that doesn’t typically publish your style.

-          Journals (if they accept you) want “first rights” to your piece – they want to be the first journal to publish you because if you get famous that will reflect well on them.

-          It could take the journal months to respond to your submission. In the meanwhile, see below

-          You’re apparently not supposed to send your piece to more than one journal at a time. Meaning, while you’re waiting for Journal X to get back to you, you can’t send your submission to Journal Y. If Journal Y accepts your piece, then Journal X wants to accept your piece too, Journal X will be angry at you and possibly tarnish your name amongst the publishing journal community.

That last one is what surprised me the most. I was thinking about sending my pieces out, but I don’t want to wait several months between attempts.

Originality

I want to talk about originality. Not because I have some conclusive statement on it, but because it’s an important topic.

The Hunger Games movie is coming out in March, and I’m quite excited. I thought that the first two books were very good – fast paced, pretty good characters, sufficient complicity of plot. (we will not mention the third book. I am trying to ignore its existence). However, my younger sister is constantly pointing out that the books’ idea is not original. There was a book/movie (With Arnold Schwarzenegger and Richard Dawson!) called The Running Man. This has some basic things in common with the Hunger Games: future post-apocalyptic U.S., evil government, put people in a televised competition to the death as a way of subduing the rebellious. There was another book before that which she mentioned, that again has the same plot features.

I’m perturbed over this. I believe in the old adage “nothing is new under the sun”. So, loosely speaking, I think that some themes and ideas will come up again and again.

Does time make any difference? The Running Man came out in 1982. Since most younger people are unfamiliar with it, is that why the Hunger games can get away with a very similar storyline? I’ve also heard that the Aragorn books are pretty similar to the Lord of the Rings. I’m just curious about what circumstances decide what things are too similar and what things can get away with it.