Vox Populi
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Michael Simms: Five Pieces of Advice to Writers Who Want to Publish
The best strategy for getting published is to become such a great writer that readers love your work, and publishers invite you to submit. Trying to get published is a distraction from the real work of producing poems and prose worth reading. That being said, here are five pointers which may be helpful to writers new to publishing.
1. Do your homework. Every publisher gets loads of manuscripts which are obviously unsuited for that press or magazine. April Ossman, the former Executive Director of Alice James, the feminist press in Maine, says that she regularly received letters of inquiry addressed to “Dear Sir”. She says that those letters went in the garbage immediately because the poet obviously had not done their homework. Autumn House Press, which publishes only poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, regularly gets submissions of literary criticism, history, biography, and even children’s picture books; these manuscripts inevitably end up in the garbage. Every publisher has a website which includes a statement of its editorial mission, guidelines for submitting, and samples of work they’ve published. Also, you should get a copy of at least one of their publications. Read it. The whole thing. If you don’t like reading it, then there’s a good chance that the editors are not going to like your work either.
2. Follow the publisher’s or agent’s guidelines. Every editor looks at lots of manuscripts. We received over 1,200 book-length submissions to Autumn House in 2016, the last year I was editor there, as well as hundreds of chapbook submissions for Coal Hill Review. I’ve heard that AHP is receiving even more submissions now. So every publisher has instituted procedures to facilitate the processing of manuscripts. If the guidelines say to go through the Submittable website, then do it. If there’s a submission fee for a contest, then pay it, or don’t submit.
3. Be careful of scams and incompetent publishers and agents. Check out the reputation of presses, editors, contest judges, and agents before you submit.
4. Be patient and persistent. There are lots of good manuscripts looking for a home. Don’t assume that your manuscript will be accepted immediately. Don’t take rejections personally. At Autumn House, we regularly had to reject excellent manuscripts just because we didn’t have room for them.
5. Get involved. Literary publishing exists only because writers and readers care about it. Organize readings and workshops. Attend readings and workshops organized by others. Volunteer as a screener and proofreader for local nonprofits. Correspond with other writers. Buy and read books by writers you’ve met. Read online journals. Subscribe to online and print magazines such as Prairie Schooner, Poetry, Clarkesworld, Georgia Review, One Art and Rattle, or read them in the library. If you want other people to support your efforts, you need to support theirs.
Copyright 2025 Michael Simms. This post is offered as part of a panel discussion on publishing hosted by the Greater Pittsburgh Festival of the Book.
Michael Simms is the founding editor of Vox Populi and the founding editor emeritus of Autumn House Press. His poems and essays have appeared in Poetry (Chicago), Plume, and Scientific American. His latest collection of poetry is Jubal Rising (Ragged Sky, 2025), and his latest speculative novels comprise The Talon Trilogy.
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25 comments on “Michael Simms: Five Pieces of Advice to Writers Who Want to Publish”
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This entry was posted on May 31, 2025 by Vox Populi in Literary Criticism and Reviews, Most Popular, Note from the Editor, Writing Prompts and tagged Advice to Writers Who Want to Publish, Michael Simms, tips for submitting your writing.Shortlink
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Whether we are editors, piblishers or writers, the worst service we can do for our readers is to either cater only to what we think they want to hear, or insulate them from what we think they don’t.
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I love your emphasis on becoming a great writer!
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Thanks, Pam.
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If I may add one more thing: when I edited anthologies, I would always smile at receiving submissions with, underneath the poem, a copyright sign, followed by the author’s name and a date. That’s not needed — truly. It isn’t. Maybe Bod Dylan or taylor Swift need to copyright their “oeuvre” — not us humble poets. Even the very famous ones don’t do this…
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Yes, thanks, Laure-Anne.
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Wise words all, Michael. You know the scene. And good to see so many of your readers are also teachers, who will share your thoughts with their classes or workshops. I just googled to discover Poetry, one of the central poetry journals, receives over 100,000 submissions per year. And that’s before AI will inflate their numbers.
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Thanks, Jim. I wonder how many poetry submissions the New Yorker receives. Last time I submitted poems, it took a year for them to respond with a standard rejection.
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“If you want other people to support your efforts, you need to support theirs”. Your last line is golden!!!
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Thanks, Donna. I greatly admire and appreciate our friend James Crews. No one serves the poetry community better than he does.
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I could not agree more!!! He is a wonderful human and example of serving the community. Michael and YOU do the same.
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I love his encouragement
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Yesssss!
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Excellent advice. I will share with my workshops.
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Thanks for this. I’m going to give it to my students this fall.
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Thanks, Barbara!
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Me too!
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Thanks, Lisa!
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Needed this. I admit to curling into a ball with my little electronic oblong and not submitting. Recently, I joined a group to support each other to submit our poems. I was actually doing well ( submitting) until old stroke brain realized I had sent out three poems and somehow listed their titles using, as the third title, the first line of the second page of the second. Stupid mistakes reignite my fear of submitting and I fear I have suffered a relapse. I meet with my group today. At least I can point to submissions before my flub.
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I am copying and keeping this, Michael — such good advice. So many participants/students at workshops or conferences ask that question. Thank you for answering it so succinctly. And thank you for offering, e-v-e-r-y d-a-y, poems, essays, articles and videos to make us — your grateful bunch of readers — something to think about, something to feel we belong.
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I echo what Laure-Anne says here about the value of this brief but useful collection of tips! Even though I am a subscriber to perhaps eight or ten other sources of poetry that land in my in-box daily, Vox Populi has become my FAVE since I “discovered” it. And as an editor or reader at two online poetry journals, I shake my head ruefully at the truth of what you said in items 1. and 2. above. When you ignore an editor’s specific guidelines, you make it easy for your submission to be unceremoniously dismissed. I also like Michael’s reminder about being a good “literary citizen;” I am lucky to live in an area where there are lots of poetry readings, and I don’t limit my attendance to poets with whose work I am already familiar. I like to support the people who go to the considerable effort of making poetry readings possible. I love being an active part of a lively poetry community (whether in person or online) and it has enriched my experience as a writer immeasurably.
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I second that! I live in Pittsburgh which has a very lively poetry community. It’s one of the reasons why Eva and I moved here in 1987.
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Thanks, Laure-Anne. I often think of you when I’m posting poems — what will she think of this one?
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Great advice, Michael!
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All great advice, Michael. And, when you do get accepted, be appreciative and cooperative and you are more likely to be accepted again.
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Exactly!
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