Ploughshares: Market Spotlight
For this week’s market spotlight, we look at Ploughshares, a quarterly literary journal. Currently open for submissions June 1, 2020 to January 15, 2021.
Ploughshares is a quarterly literary journal. Established in 1971, Ploughshares has been based at Emerson College in Boston since 1989.
The editors say, "The history of Ploughshares is not only one of critical inquiry, but also one of active reform. ... We promise to continue our work of recognizing and supporting the unique ways writers respond to and reflect significant changes in culture. More than ever, we need our writers to help us understand the world."
They pay $45 per printed page ($90 minimum per title) with a $450 maximum per author, two contributor copies of the issue, and a one-year subscription.
What They’re Looking For
Ploughshares is currently open for submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from June 1, 2020 to January 15, 2021.
Fiction and nonfiction submissions can run up to 7,500 words. That said, work of 7,500-20,000 words can be submitted for Ploughshares Solos series.
Poets can submit one to five pages of poetry with each poem beginning on a new page.
The editors say, "Expect three to five months for a decision (our backlog is heaviest during the fall and spring). We now receive well over a thousand manuscripts a month, so please be patient."
How to Submit
Potential writers can submit via Ploughshares' online submission manager.
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In this workshop, you will gain a working knowledge of how to write poetry—including basic poetic forms and the fundamental techniques of writing both rhymed and free verse. This class is for poets looking to take their work to the next level through a thorough understanding of classical poetic structures and techniques.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
