VPR Note on Submissions: An Update

On Monday, May 11, the price for U.S. postal mail increased, as the cost of a first-class stamp rose two cents to 44 cents. I had assumed that everyone now purchases “Forever Stamps,” which continue to be good after any price change. However, as I read through the works submitted during the last month or so that are still on hand for consideration, I notice many return envelopes carry 42-cent stamps. As I did when postal rates were increased a year ago, I remind those submitting work by postal mail to any journals that the enclosed self-addressed stamped envelope now should reflect the new rate.

Moreover, I would like to take this opportunity to point out that Valparaiso Poetry Review has accepted e-mail submissions since its inception in 1999, and I encourage this option to as many writers as possible. Increasingly, a number of literary journals, including some print journals, have discovered the ease, manageability, and savings—for authors and editors—permitted by e-mail submissions.

Indeed, although the vast majority of submissions to Valparaiso Poetry Review in the first few years were sent by postal mail, a bit more than three-fourths of the nearly 7,500 poems received in the last year were sent by e-mail. Curious about the relationship of submissions to acceptances, I have examined the results and discovered that a little more than three-fourths of the works appearing in the most recent issues of VPR were submitted electronically, indicating there is no subconscious editorial bias toward either form of submission. As VPR’s Submissions Guidelines page states:

If possible, please include an e-mail return address with any postal submission. Authors of postal submissions sometimes may be contacted by e-mail for a Word document copy of the work if one can be supplied.

E-mail submissions, inquiries, or correspondence should be sent to the following: VPR@Valpo.Edu

Since typographical characteristics occasionally are lost when a poem is included within the text of e-mail, authors are encouraged to send a Word attachment of the submitted work in electronic submissions or to include a Word attachment in addition to the text of submissions appearing in the body of the e-mail.

Once again, as I have in the past, I wish to express my appreciation to all who have submitted poetry, reviews, essays, or interviews for appearance in Valparaiso Poetry Review this last year, as well as in the past ten years. Furthermore, as VPR has completed its first decade of existence with the current issue, I appreciate the trust, displayed by those who have submitted works during the first twenty issues, that I will exercise editorial judgment reflecting well upon all the contributions included in every volume of Valparaiso Poetry Review.