Hi Geoff, can you provide some tips on how to evaluate an online poetry journal? I usually just see if the journal nominates for Pushcart prizes and other awards or appears to have a high journal ranking. I was wondering if there is a strategic way that you categorize poetry journals stylistically and then determine if it is a good fit for your poetry.
Thanks-
Debbie
this is a great question that, unfortunately, I don't have a great read on.
The list I typically used when I was submitting was this:2025 Literary Magazine Ranking–Poetry – Clifford Garstang but, similar to what you described, it's based mostly on awards and not on style or even quality necessarily The best advice I can give is, unfortunately, the general "read the magazine" to get a feel. That is also tricky because editors change, so the journal aesthetic can as well what I generally did when submitting was: 1) identify key characteristics of my writing (e.g., are the pieces I'm looking to get published more lyrics, more narrative, or more irony; what are my line lengths doing; what are the themes; what is my enjambment doing; how strong is my opening/closing/turn)
2) identify how many of those characteristics are in line with the journal I submit to
3) do I have any connections (e.g., relationships with the editors/readers/previous publications there/etc) there
hope this helps some! honestly, a lot of your top tier journals are going to have some similarities that they'll be looking for in terms of hooks, first lines, turns, stakes, and things