Our Submissions Window - What You Need to Know!

As editors, we are often asked what we look for in a submission. What makes your submitted sample of ten pages leap to the top of the pile and, ultimately, become our pick for the next publication slot?

We could summarise our answer by saying, 'We know it when we see it'. But, while true, this won't get you much further.

We have tried to bottle the scent of the poetic elixir that we're after on our Submissions Page:

"We are keen to publish thematically-linked sequences of poems: works that riff on a core conceit, event or narrative voice. Cohesion is important to us, as is consistency of register and attention to form.

However, we don’t want to be too rigid, as much of our favourite poetry is shape-shifting and studded with chameleonic surprises, even within a single poem."

Like many publishers, we could simply add, 'Buy our books if you want to get a sense of the poetry we go for.' And, while this is also true, we know everyone has limited time and money, and this suggestion may seem more like a marketing ploy than helpful advice (*See note below).

Things are complicated by the fact that our editorial team look for very different qualities in a submission:

• David's all about the formal qualities of the poems: the balance between text and white space; variations in line and verse length; the sense that the chosen form matches the subject; moments when a poem turns and goes somewhere totally unexpected.

• Gena gets into the emotional heft of each submission: she picks up on things the poet leaves out; the way feelings are evoked by image and sequencing; where the emotive core of each sequence is to be found; how the poetic voice or arc develops or resolves itself.

Whether we longlist you or not, we'll share the notes we took while reading your poems. Perhaps these individually-tailored pieces of feedback are the closest we can come to explaining our editorial desiderata. Many poets tell us they are invaluable in helping them further develop their writing.

Generally, the works we shortlist are the ones that both of us have at the top of our piles. This happens more often than not. In many ways, that's our superpower: poetically (and in many other ways!), we're each other's yin and yang.

However, sometimes, one of us falls in love with a submission that the other has not, initially, rated as highly. Then, it's the excitement of coming to read a submission through the other's eyes and coming to love it just as much, that makes our job so enjoyable and satisfying.

For both of us, our bottom line is: poetics, poetics, poetics...

• Poetics in the way the words fizz from the page.

• Poetics in the way poems talk to each other, calling forwards and back.

• Poetics in how the world the poems inhabit is presented slant, so the reader encounters something totally fresh and new.

And, while we don't like to focus on the negative, we do have certain icks - things that might harm your chances of success.

• Don't cram poems onto the page. We believe strongly that poems need to breathe - white space can be just as important as text

• Don't send us more than we have asked for. For example, formatting your poems to A5 really helps us get a sense of how your poems will sit on the page in our preferred printed format

• Don’t forget the basics. Typos, inconsistent formatting, and missing titles won’t disqualify you, but they do detract from your strengths.

• Don’t ignore the submission guidelines. They’re not hoops to jump through; they’re there to help us read your work under the best possible conditions.

What we’re really saying is this: send us the work that feels like your best. The poems that couldn’t have been written by anyone else. We’re not looking for perfection. We’re looking for poetics that feel alive on the page. Work that surprises us, unsettles us, delights us, or shows us an alternative way of looking at the world. If your submission does that, we’ll know.

And if it doesn’t (yet), our feedback will tell you exactly where the best bits are, where you might push further next time, and where the potential lies. We consider it a privilege to read your work, and we take that responsibility very seriously.

So, send us your sequences. Send us your experiments. Send us the poems that won’t leave you alone, because they are the ones that showcase your unique voice.

We can’t wait to see what arrives in the inbox next.

David and Gena Herring

* That said, do consider buying our books. Great poetry, carefully curated by Dithering Chaps!