Ever wondered what happens after you hit “submit”?
Most writers who send their work to literary magazines know how mysterious and exhausting the submission process can feel. You upload your pieces to different portals, add them to your tracker or calendar, and then you wait. And wait. Patiently at first, then a little less so as the weeks turn into months.
Every magazine has its own publishing rhythm, and we know how hard that waiting can be. So, at PRISM international, we’d like to shed a little light on our own process and finally answer that ever-lingering question: What’s happening to your submission?
Here’s how your work moves through our editorial process, from submission to selection.
First reading the slush pile
Once a call closes, our first readers begin carefully reading through the submissions. Each piece is assigned to multiple members of our Editorial Boards, who review them in small batches. Depending on genre and volume, readers have varying timelines to complete their reads, ensuring each submission receives thoughtful attention.
Every submission is scored out of five and accompanied by a short review summarizing the reader’s thoughts. These scores are not based on personal taste but on whether the work feels complete, original, and compelling, whether it fits PRISM’s voice, and, if it is for a themed issue, how well it engages with the theme.
This first stage is where every submission gets its fair chance. Our readers approach each piece with care and curiosity, knowing how much heart goes into sending work out.
Once a submission has been rated and reviewed…
Second reading and creating a longlist
After the first round of reading, our editors and editorial assistants begin going through the prose and poetry submissions. Pieces rated 2 or below are declined at this stage. These are usually works that do not follow our guidelines, contain problematic material, or are simply not ready for publication.
Submissions rated between 2 and 3 are given a second look by our editorial assistants to see if they might be rescued, but they are often declined because they still need more development. Any submissions rated 4 or above are read again and usually longlisted for the upcoming issue.
Most submissions fall between 3 and 4, which means this group takes the longest to process. This is especially true for our general call, which receives the highest volume of submissions. Because our team is small and our readers are careful, some pieces can remain in the queue for several months before being read. Still, nearly every submission is read at least twice before a decision is made.
Selection and responses
We begin selecting work for the next issue around the same time we wrap up production on the current one. A simple, though not always consistent, way to tell when this is happening is to check the launch date of our most recent issue. The launch usually happens just before final work on the next issue begins.
Our content editors for prose and poetry then return to the longlisted pieces and make their final selections. For prose, this is usually about seven or eight pieces, roughly 1.4% of all submissions. Longlisted pieces that are not selected but are especially well loved may be kept in our bank. In those cases, authors receive an email letting them know that their work is being kept under consideration for a future issue, though they are welcome to submit it elsewhere in the meantime, since PRISM accepts simultaneous submissions.
The remaining submissions receive declines with an invitation to send us more work in future calls. Selected pieces are contacted shortly after with an acceptance email and contract.
And after that…
Well…
And after that, the rest is history. We work with our authors, artists, and editors to bring the issue together and wait, a little nervously, for launch day to arrive. We hope this glimpse behind the scenes eases some of the waiting and reminds you that every submission matters to us. Thank you for trusting us with your work and for being part of the PRISM community.