Good evening poets!

Here are ten useful industry terms to help you get your first poem published in a Literature Magazine, or “Litmag.” 

1: “Litmag,”

same thing as: Literature Magazine

similar to: a magazine, a circular, periodical

A literature magazine is a small to medium sized publication that publishes 1-12 times a year. Most litmags publish poems, short stories, essays, and reviews of literature. Some litmags, like Poetry Magazine, are large enough to run events.

Today, most litmags are online.

2: Submission Call

abbreviation: subs = submissions

similar to: “open subs,” 

A submission call is a timed, specific request for poems from a publisher or literary magazine. If you submit poems outside a valid submission call, they will likely never be read by the relevant editor. 

Some submission calls require you to live in certain places, be of a certain age (usually under 18), or write about certain topics. 

3: A poem, a “piece”

When an editor makes a submission call, they specify how many poems, or “pieces”, they are looking for. A “piece” of writing is a poem, prose poem, short story, or essay, but rarely a short story.

The average submission call is for between one and three poems. 

A poem is expected to be between 3 and 100 lines.

A short poem is between 3 and 8 lines.

A medium length poem is between 8 and 40 lines

A long poem is anywhere up from 40 lines or a page. If it is book length, it is usually marketed as an epic or mixed form. 

4: Cover Letter

A cover letter is a brief paragraph introducing yourself to the editor. Each magazine will want different things, and some require no cover letter at all.

Follow the instructions carefully, do not include excess information, and always look up the “Masthead” (staff) page of a litmag for the name of the editor/s your are submitting to.

5: “Rights”

“Rights” refers to your legal rights over the poem you submit.

A good magazine will clearly identify what legally happens to your poem if they take it.

This should never be ambiguous.

The next three items on this list will cover sub-topics of rights.

6: “Rights revert to author upon publication”

This is the most standard term. It means that when the outlet publishes your piece, you get the rights back. However, the piece is now published. It is no longer considered original work.

In 2025, I, and many others, consider a poem to be published on Instagram or other social media to be published, and would not accept it as original work.

7: “first rights”

This refers to who publishes a piece the first time. Typically, there are two arrangements for individual poems. 

1: the magazine publishes your poem, then you get your poem back.

2: the magazine publishes your poem, they retain the rights for 1 year to re-publish, then you get your poem back.

Once you have your rights back, always notify the magazine if your poem is re-printed elsewhere. They will be happy to hear it.

8: “Original Work”

“Original work” refers to poetry you created and have not published anywhere else. If you have published it on Instagram, Twitter/X, or a blog, it is original work and published, eligible for anthologization. 

If you after another poet, but write the poem yourself, your poem is still original work.

If you write a found poem, your work is still original.

However, you must credit your sources, or you will be accused of plagiarism.

9: “Anthology rights” and “anthologization”

Once a poem has been published once, it is eligible to be anthologized. An anthology is a collection of poems from different authors. Unlike a literary magazine, chapbook, or book of poetry, anthologized work is expected to be already debuted or published. 

10: “form poem”

A form poem is a poem written in a traditional literary form. Some examples are sonnets, haiku, and ghazals. Some forms are only recently written in English, others are older than the modern English language. Some magazines only accept form poems, usually dedicated to sonnets or haiku. 

Important: form is not the same as rhyme scheme. A sonnet without rhyme is still a sonnet. Additionally, some forms should not rhyme traditionally. 

Good luck submitting, poets! In my experience, it takes around 200 hours to get poem 1 out there. When I submit, I read the litmags in one week, and I submit the next, usually finishing three packets in one hour.