WHAT IS AN INDEPENDENT LITERARY MAGAZINE?
As an essay on the Web site of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) explains, “Literary magazines publish fiction, poetry, book reviews, criticism, and essays. Some focus solely on one genre, others provide a mix, yet others emphasize poetry or fiction but also include reviews, criticism and essays. The majority of literary magazines publish quarterly, though frequency ranges from monthly to biannually. Their format can be perfect bound or tabloid, with anywhere from 14 to 400 pages.” (See Resources for more information on the CLMP Web site.) The tradition of such magazines in the United States is more than 100 years old, and many of the works that we now consider classic first appeared in such publications. Literary magazines play an important role in the publishing process. They offer new authors a chance to shine and established authors a chance to test new and adventurous work. These magazines and journals, no matter how ephemeral, are the laboratories in which writ
