When I am on the lookout for journals to submit to, I always take certain obvious factors into the equation: Their acceptance rate on Duotrope, The reputation of the magazine, if they are print or electronic. However sometimes the press is new, or I have never heard of it, or there is no listed acceptance rate. There are no obvious indicators for me to follow. In these situations, I start looking into the following factors. Some are legitimate indicators of quality while others can be easily dismissed as personal bias.

The Website:

If the journal has a wonderfully designed, clean, and simple to use website, I will most likely submit. If that website is formatted like a blog, I will not submit. I do not want my work to end up somewhere that looks no different than a personal blog. I have made an exception to this rule, only once, because I was so smitten with the theme of the journal. If that website is a mess, with graphics everywhere and too many things to press, I will not submit, unless it is a print journal. I am aesthetically sensitive person, I see no reason to pretend otherwise.

Author Bio:

I have encountered a surprising amount of journals that do not publish author’s bios. I am well aware of the fact that most author bios are generic, and mine is no different, but I find having one helpful, particularly online where it can link to my website. It is also important if the Journal ends up spelling my last name incorrectly, which has happened on a surprising number of occasions. Also if there are author bios already up on the site, you can see if the authors already published in the journal are established.

Print Journals:

I tend to avoid submitting to journals that do not send you a complimentary contributors copy. There are some exceptions to this rule but they are rare.

The Mission Statement:

A lot of journals have a mission statement, designed to inform the potential submitter about the tastes of the editor and the magazine. These mission statements are almost always useless. I  never read them thoroughly anymore, after spending almost two years reading nearly identical mission statements that are generic and give you no real indication of what the editors are looking for. However I always skim the mission statement in case they mention a love of magic realism, or a preoccupation with the apocalypse.

The Quality:

This is more subjective, and a little obvious, but you should at least like some of the writing that has already been posted on the site.