Literaring to go

There were literary and philosophy magazines circling the Gentleman's Magazine.  Later works still repeated titles like History of the works of the learned  or carried titles like
Present state of the republick of letters.

 Memoirs for the ingenious tells you in the title who their intended reader is.

Memoirs of literature speaks to this same rising literacy and advent of the printing press.

Samuel Jebb, the great physician, was responsible for Bibliotheca Literaria

It is important to note that publications were appearing in different languages. When we looked at magazines the first time, we were concerned with what was in Vogue. The origins, distinctions with magazine/journal to one side, speak to a more serious purpose.

Boxing Day clever

In 1731 plays written or performed included The Letter Writers, The London Merchant, The Tragedy of Tragedies and The Welsh Opera. It was the year of real life vampire hysteria. 

You could read An Epistle from a Footman in London to the Celebrated Stephen Duck by Robert Dodsley. Right from the beginning of the year you could peruse Trader's monthly intelligencer thanks to Edward Cave of London. In it's better known title it is cited as the first general interest magazine.

Benjamin Franklin and fellow subscribers start the Library Company of Philadelphia

Alexander Pope completes the original writing of his poem An Essay on Man and Hollandsche Spectator can't decide if it's a magazine or newspaper.

686 hours on the trans access road

I have the time to repeat my travels
where signature move unravels
across the treeless plain
twenty eight and a half days
later

a litter of airy journals

Again? Does any literary journal want the work of one writer? Isn't the idea to give an even spread? Maybe your style flat out doesn't suit the theme of some issues or is working outside the dynamic of other contributors whose work we favour.
There's a reason even seasoned authors have a slush pile and keep rejection letters to track their progress and to celebrate when work does get accepted.

What makes you think that having a widely unread blog qualifies you to jump the queue? Do you even have an agent? You've been trying to get one. You've been looking up 'literary agent' and asking online. OK

What's the point of choosing a familiar title that I have a personal connection to in showing what I am capable of? Well, that's presumably harder than choosing something obscure and without emotional resonance.
I could probably have a go at Dagenham Dave or (I Don't Want to) Go to Chelsea but, realistically, I know nothing about these places and I'd be bringing my own regional sensibility into the piece so there's not much point. I've had to shelve the completed product for Get a grip on yourself (without parentheses)

Rejected manuscript

Although my writer wrung every drop
out of miss us Malaprop
should suit to bring me to notice
Not us they cried

Look at your lack of lucid locale
No centre to enter where you're in control
Words are for the birds
where is the soul?

The enriching skritching and enraptured scratching
coarse thoughts and crosshatching
Shown the era of our ways

Keeping a journal

If this article is any indication, maintaining a literary journal in Australia requires some dedication. Given the importance, whether as gadfly or guiding light, I can be thankful for this by inference.

As far as publishers go, Overland speaks of publishing work - the title of the journal and the name of the publisher are indivisible, with maybe some Inc splashed around.
The Review Review on the other hand notes that 'Southerly is Australia’s oldest literary journal, founded in 1939 by R. G. Howarth and published by the Sydney branch of the English Association.' 
Westerly was established through the efforts of arts students at UWA

What's missing, as far as I'm concerned, is a veritable pipeline from poet to publication. No going caps in hand to see whether your latest work is up to standard. It is, deal with it.

I can see situations where various scribes have elected to start their own magazine because it's a way of getting their own work out there and to network. I don't think every poet should have to do that when it's as simple for the few to say "You want me to create an original piece using the title of one of my favourite artists songs without it being a tribute to his number? No probs"

Lip Service

A slip of the tongue
chewing  gum
starting to hum
demands to daemon
been struck dumb

A brandished brief
whistles through teeth
palatial as palatable
all relational still sensational
pursing lips at fever grip
fractured phrasings at her fingertips

Founders' capers

 

Literary journal founders/founding editors

•  Pierre Bayle
• Francis Jeffrey, Henry Brougham, Sydney Smith
• Sir Richard Phillips
• John Crockford, Edward William Cox
• Philolexian Society
• R.G. Howarth
• Clem Christesen
• Harriet Monroe 

Put your eds together

I keep reading how literary journals aren't a great moneymaking venture; further denting the resolve of writers hoping to make a living from their work. Yet at Overland we see, in addition to editor Jacinda Woodhead, a consulting editor, a fiction editor, a poetry editor, a deputy editor, contributing editors, a contributing fiction editor, editorial intern, 32 editorial assistants fiction, 18 editorial assistants poetry in addition to staff performing other functions and the Board.

Southerly, which is thicker than Overland in the copies I have, has an Editor and Special Editor plus an editor for that issue's tribute to a departing editor, an Associate Editor, Poetry Editor, fiction and poetry readers, Reviews Editors, 9 Editorial Advisers, and the usual complement.

Meanjin has an editor, deputy editor, fiction editor, poetry critic, copy editor and proofreader (the same person) and an editorial advisory board of eight members, quite well known.

You could read this section at the front that people don't read as a sign of just how much work is being submitted and what a thriving industry it is. It just does beg the question that, if you have seven senior staff and fifty plus other assistants to pay, the scale as to what is profitable is relative. I know nothing I've done could pay that many people, leaving aside the double duties or unpaid contributions wherever they occur.

It is only fair to use successful publications and leading journals since that is how we have approached every field, every endeavour.

II

The practical issue for me is in dealing with Toby Fitch who appears to be everywhere.

Edit ed. Edit TED. Edit ion. Edit or

Trust Going Down Swinging to highlight the roadblocks editors represent. I don't doubt the Australian poetry community is political.

Here's another free poem, only, instead of taking one home this is giving one away

A free poem wot I rote

Verse that veers off course of course

tears that tore off more remorse

blotches and splotches in bleak despatches

the state of me next to a statesman's statue

Reams of rhymes it teems at times

then there's a tunnel to funnel this line

gamble that you won't stumble

if anyone has a handle on humble

this stanza good one to take

Patron eyes

While some websites claiming to be literary journals invite us to be patrons, this honour is normally reserved for such illustrious figures as Barry Jones and Chris Wallace-Crabbe.

Take things literally

Nobody is saying that CopperNickel, with its serendipitous appearance here, can be compared with a journal pitched to the actual Customer Zone Technician II
while he is up his ladder

It seems from our readings that the literary journal can be all things to all people. Well all artsy people leastwise.

From a writer's perspective, I want to know if publication pays or leads to a paying job in the field.

Or am I just saying this because I missed the great free poetry ebook download day? Why was I frantically, if unsuccessfully, assembling a book with the correct layout, converting it to a PDF if success had meant that potentially lots of people could download my stuff on their iPhones for free?

But if you take the scrooge scribbler approach, you wouldn't have a blog or publish stuff on social media. Or you'd have judicious and pushy samples.
 
Funnily enough, one of the literary journals did have a piece about poems being sold in the street and what happens to them. A poem you've bought telling you about poems whose sale is less certain.

A free poem

I found a poem and took it home

it traced the trees and nudged a gnome

it flowed into the middle of their ode

slid on a lid as the traffic slowed

grazed the grass no blade surpassed

dogged a dog and caught a cat

whisked risk onto the welcome mat

MAGA zine

Given that the first literary journal was published in 1663, the year that an anonymous drama with the wordy, if not worthy, title of The Wandering Whores' Complaint for Want of Trading was published and Moliere released his La Critique de l'école des femmes, it would be fair to also canvass the appearance of magazines in books. That is, if we hadn't said nothing but dust jacket a couple of posts ago.
Opinions as to the worst literary magazine are unfair to n+1 if I don't know what n+1 are saying.

The School Magazine is the longest running literary magazine, turning a hundred in 2015.

NewPages mentions that Little Star is nearly four hundred pages long.

It's of little import whether John Spencer was producing work at the time the literary magazine made its first appearance since it is now clear that these publications publish poetry and short stories themselves and need not allude to books, or can mention them in passing.
Though who can say what the ripple effect is at any one time?