Cyanide Magazine is a brand-new literary mag looking for submissions for their first issue on Nov. 1st. We are looking for short stories, poetry, essays, interviews--anything literary. Feel free to visit www.cyanidemagazine.com for more details/submission guidelines.

Please note that this is not a place to just 'post' your work. It is published, so you'll be able to use that as propaganda in media kits, etc.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your submission guidelines.

Yup, me too. Laughed my arse off. I think I'll be keeping tabs to see what sort of stuff you finally agree upon. Definitely looks interesting, but wayyyyy beyong me.

BTW, Insane Bartender, if you liked their submissions page, check out The Do Not Press

submissions

Cheers,

Colin M

I've just added Cyanide to my list.

Thanks.

Colin, that was truely excellent! If everyone was a

<Added>

whoops, I was saying... if everyone was as honest, we'd know where we stood.
Elspeth

how about:

"we return all submissions, unread, with the same old photocopied reply slip saying we're not taking on new clients"

"Only apply if you're a close friend, or family of a friend, or if we've met you at a party"

"Don't send anything original as we're only looking for clones of established writers that belong to other agents"

"We read everything and give praise, comments and criticism - please include fee"



Colin M

now come on, Colin - "we read the first paragraph and scan the synopsis"

I got a super quick rejection the other day and a freind said - "That's very positive, she must have liked the hook and read it straight away." Whether this is true or not, it cheered me up!

Elspeth

Or perhaps -

"We thought about reading the first paragraph and scanning the synopsis with interest, but I'm afraid to say the thought just didn't grab me because you're not a close friend, or family of a friend, and we've never met you at a party. Another agent may well feel differently if you are their close friend etc. Good luck with your writing."

Andrea

PS Can you tell from this that I am no stranger to rejection letters?

I think it would be a refreshing change if a few agents took the Simon Cowell approach:

"I'm afraid we can't take your work on due to it being terrible. Really. It's badly written, badly punctuated and unoriginal. The characters are stereotypical and wafer thin; their dialogue is unconvincing, dull and repetitive. Other agents will not feel differently; they will agree with us that this piece is utter, utter garbage. Try something else with your life, or at least take the time to learn your craft before wasting our time with amateur dross."

At least you'd know where you stood.

Colin M

Actually, Colin, many years ago now I had a phone conversation with an agent just like that - she told me that she'd suggest I go on a creative writing course to learn the techniques, but it really wouldn't do me any good because I had absolutely no talent at all.

Andrea

Shocking!

Really. With the whole technological approach of today's world, I thought people would be encouraging less-technical skills such as the arts.

By less-technical I mean skills not involving high levels of technology. I'm learning fast that writing is as much a craft (if not more) as building rocket ships.