Six Questions for Frank Coffman, Publisher, Journ-E

Journ-E publishes fiction and nonfiction (1,000-5,000 words), poetry, reviews, and illustrations in a variety of speculative literature subgenera. Read the complete guidelines here. 

SQF: Why did you start this magazine?

Frank Coffman: I believed that an eclectic journal, covering the major sub-genres of the High Imagination/Popular Literature (Adventure, Detection & Mystery, Fantasy, Horror & the Supernatural, and Science Fiction), featuring both contemporary and classic examples of short fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and illustration, would have a market.

SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?

FC:

1. Adherance to Submission Guidelines — automatic rejection if these are not followed. Any respectable writer needs to know and follow the rules for submitting.

2. Technical, grammatical, punctuational correctness. Violations of these standards seriously lower the chances of acceptance. Writers should know their craft—the conventions of written English (the "standard grapholect") should be known by all submitters. Illustrations should be immediately "striking" and demonstrating real artistic skill and/or distinctiveness.

3. Plots that make sense. No internal contradictions or impossibilities. "Grabber" beginnings that provide suspense—"promises made" to the reader that the rest of the writing should "keep." In poetry: if formal, then skillful use of meter and/or rhyming effects; if free verse, then something far beyond "tennis with the net down" or "prose arranged 'funnily' upon the page." Non-fiction that shows readable style and skilled research.

SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?

FC: Violations of any/all of the three above. Evident novice, "wannabe," rather than someone clearly striving to excel at their craft and art.

SQF: What do you look for in the opening paragraph(s)/stanza(s) of a submission?

FC: The "Grabber." But one that is followed up with more and more suspenseful details, developing questions in the reader's mind, leaving a trail of enticing "bread crumbs" to follow.  Something that "pulls" the reader into the story and toward its final revelations.

SQF: Many guidelines pages are long and boring. Is it really necessary to read them?

FC: Yes. But publishers/editors should strive to make such guidelines as brief--but also as specific as possible.

SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?

FC: How do you handle rejection notices? 

Do you always use a "boilerplate" standard rejection message, or do you sometimes respond with specific critical comments—especially if you believe the unsuccessuful submitter has potential, but just didn't make the "cut" on this particular "Call" or project?

Thank you, Frank. We all appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.