Getting Submissions.

skippy_kangeroo

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What are good ways to start receiving submissions for a journal?

I am trying out, advertising in classifieds, advertising on writers forums, advertising on my webpage, flyers, (I just got a big dose of deja vu, I don't know if you needed to know that), asking people I know, and I guess telling people I meet that I think might be interested.
 

Unimportant

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In general, the more you pay your writers, the more submissions you'll get.

For a brand new journal, I would expect that the editor has plenty of ties in the industry and lots of links with authors. (IMO, a journal whose editor has no industry experience and no networks is not an editor who has any business managing a brand new journal.) The editor can contact authors s/he knows and ask them to submit to the journal. Then, once some stories have been contracted, the journal can put in their Calls for Submissions the info that "Issue 1 will include stories by Big Name 1, Household Name 2, and Award Winning Name 3" or whatever, to let potential authors know that authors they admire and respect are publishing in this journal.

There are also usually a number of blogs and websites that do market listings for various genres. Seek them out and get your journal added to them.

Adding: Make sure that the journal's website is proofread and edited, too. Incorrect spelling/punctuation, such as the use of the "grocer's apostrophe", is going to send most authors running.

Finally, respect the privacy of authors. Once a contract has been signed, you can put the author's name on the ToC. But for many authors, the markets they submit to (and get rejected by!) is their own business, not the world's, and they would not be happy to have that information made public.
 
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Fruitbat

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List it on Duotrope and you should get plenty of submissions. It used to be free but now I think it's like $5 a month.

Also, check out their "top 25" lists and see if there's one you can aim for, like "fastest response time" or whatever. A lot of writers check those and it boosts your number of submissions, but you have to be on there for six months to be included.

Good luck!
 
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Jamesaritchie

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Writer's Market, Writer's Digest, and The Writer are also good places to get listings. But as Unimportant says, if you want good writers, pay them.

It astounds me how so many are willing to pay every cost of a magazine, all the way form an ISP up to listings, but don't pay the writers who ARE the magazine.