From the Managing Editor: Submission Tips

Beginning March 1 and ending April 30, CavanKerry’s portals will be open to accept submissions from poets and memoirists. It is a hectic time in the lives of the staff. Along with continuing the ongoing work of the day-to-day operations, we anticipate reading hundreds of manuscripts from hopeful, hard-working writers.

It is a privilege to read the variety of work submitted by emerging and notable writers each year. Because each editor and publisher at CKP is also a writer, we are able to see the process of submitting work for possible publication from a writer’s view. But we are also editors and publishers managing a press, and proceed from that perspective during the open submissions period.

Some things for you to keep in mind as you place your work into our hands:

• Know what CavanKerry publishes. Check our website. Look at our books. Talk to our authors. If what you write doesn’t fit, find a press that is a better venue for your work. You may have created a wonderful collection of poetry, or a fascinating memoir, but if it doesn’t fit our niche, it is better to submit where it does.
• Follow directions. Our new process with Submittable gives quite specific directions about what you need to send. Going above and beyond, and trying anything to catch an editor’s eye is always a temptation. Following directions and submitting your best work will catch our eye in a positive way.
• We know how hard it is to wait. Our submissions page gives the time frame in which we generally respond to your work. Most of the time we respond long before the time frame allowed. Please don’t contact us; we will notify you in a timely manner.
• Make sure your work is error free. It is very disheartening to read a manuscript filled with typos, punctuation errors, and spelling mistakes. Your work – and its clean polished presentation – reflects positively on you.

If accepted, know that your words will be handled with all the care we can give them. It is important to us to be as good to our writers as we are to our readers. If not accepted, know that we have read and discussed your work with care as well. We encourage you to keep putting your words out there.

-Starr Troup, Managing Editor