Why Pick and Choose?
Dear Horace Greeley,
Literary journal editors will always ask for a social media handle -- then only shout out some of the published pieces and not others. Why? That seems like poor netiquette to me. What do you say?
Perplexed Poet
Dear Perplexed,
We can’t speak for all literary journals, but the ones we know have tiny staff - sometimes only one person!
Out in the wider world, companies pay a pretty penny to have a social media person, because social media strategy, content creation, and scheduling can be a full-time job. With a smaller staff, indie lit journals have to prioritize. Sometimes, it’s not even that the press itself is busy - it’s that the editors do this as an after-hours labor of love, and those editors are sitting up with a sick relative, or moving house, or studying for finals.
If the presses you’ve published with haven’t been able to give you the shout-out you’re looking for, there’s nothing stopping you from doing it yourself! Nobody is going to be mad if you point your friends, family, and fans to places where they can find your work. And literary journals will love you if you point people to where they can support the press’s efforts.
Your humble servant,
Horace Greeley