Real World: Editors - Episode 2
Welcome to Real World: Editors, where we find out what happens when editors stay polite, but also start getting real! If you missed Episode 1 - The Submission Process, check out Part1 and Part 2.
The next two parts will tackle publicity and promotion, aka paying in exposure.
Episode 2: Paying, and Paying In Exposure
Do you feel like our magazine pays in exposure/publicity? How do you keep up with former contributors? How do you promote current contributors? Are there downsides to promo/publicity (or things that people might not think about)?
Kaitlyn Andrews-Rice, Split Lip Editor-in-Chief:
DID YOU KNOW? Split Lip is now paying contributors!! We are ridiculously excited about this, however, I still feel strongly that exposure/publicity is one of the best things we can offer contributors. We want our contributors to feel like they’re part of a community, one that doesn’t end the minute we hit publish. In fact, paying contributors does not excuse a magazine from doing promotion. To that end, we promote all contributors equally on our various social media channels and have an entire team (shoutout to Social Media/Marketing coordinator Becky Robison and Managing Editor Amy Rossi) devoted to contributor exposure and promotion.
Marianne Chan, Split Lip Poetry Editor:
I think Amy Rossi, our Managing Editor, and Becky Robison, our Social Media Coordinator, do an excellent job promoting current and former contributors on social media. I can’t think of any downsides to the promo or publicity that we do. But promotion is not the only form of payment we offer. Split Lip is now paying COLD HARD CASH for poems and stories, people. It’s cold. It’s hard. It’s cash. We’re proud and fortunate to finally be able to give our contributors the compensation their work deserves, while continuing to promote their work on social media.
Maureen Langloss, Split Lip Flash Fiction Editor:
I am over the moon that we are now able to pay our contributors with actual money! Finding a way to do this was a HUGE priority for our whole team. We believe writing is important WORK, and authors deserve to be compensated for it. Split Lip also compensates contributors with LOVE. We promote the hell out of everything we publish. We share widely and repeatedly on social media. We host groovy rooftop bar readings at AWP. We talk up our authors to our writer friends. We read and promote the work our authors publish elsewhere. Supporting the Split Lip FAM and sharing their work is our duty and joy.
Ray Shea, Split Lip Memoir Editor:
Split Lip's profile in the indie lit world is higher than ever, so yes, getting your work into our magazine is definitely getting your writing in front of more people. Amy Rossi and Becky Robison do a ton of social media promotion of all our current and past contributors (the Split Lip fam), but I always try to give my memoir authors an extra boost, mostly on Twitter.
The biggest downside to your memoir getting lots of attention is just what you'd expect: that your mom/partner/ex/kids/boss might see it. ;)
Katie Flynn, Split Lip Fiction Editor:
Did you hear? We pay writers now. This has been a major goal at Split Lip since before I came on board as fiction editor. On top of this, we promote our contributors’ publications like crazy on social media. Being published in Split Lip means joining the SL FAM, and we treat our FAM right.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Stay tuned to hear editors at other journals weigh in on this question.