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[Journal] Harvard Review

ChaseJxyz

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I saw one of their slush pile readers do a #tenqueries for short story submissions and was curious who they worked for and what their submission guidelines were. One thing led to another and I discovered Harvard Review, which charges a $3 reading fee, and in my further Googling that it doesn't pay you at all. I really couldn't believe it. That Harvard? The one with the $40 B endowment? Charging you to submit and they don't even pay you?

I have to be missing something here, it just strikes me as so odd that such a big/prestigious college would do something like this. I saw that they publish anthologies, so maybe you get paid really well if your story ends up in that? Does anyone have experience with them or know what's really going on?
 

Lakey

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Nothing going on -- this is standard practice for literary markets. Many literary magazines, whether associated with a university or independent, charge a fee -- usually the standard Submittable fee of $3.00 or so. I've seen some that will waive the fee if you ask them to. Many of the more prestigious ones pay the authors they publish, but it's common to see some that don't, too. They all operate on a shoestring budget. I'm sure the Harvard Review is just like any other university lit mag -- Harvard's endowment is of no relevance; it won't fund the review any more than it funds hundreds of other organizations and activities affiliated with the university.

:e2coffee:
 
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ChaseJxyz

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I've seen here (and in other places) that it isn't normal or okay for agents or editors to charge a reading fee and that you should always be paid for your work, since you're providing a product and they are buying the rights from you, to which they then sell to customers who then buy the book (or magazine or anthology or what have you). So is that only the case for book-book publishers but not for periodicals?
 

Lakey

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I wouldn’t say periodicals generally; but rather literary journals specifically. I’ve only submitted to literary markets myself, not to genre mags, but the last time I remember talking about this question here, what I recall is that the genre writers were horrified at the notion of a submission fee (or of reading fees for contests, which can even be somewhat larger), whereas the literary writers were like “yeah, no, that’s how it is in our world.” While it’s generally true that “money should flow toward the author,” it’s just a little different for the markets in which less established literary writers seek to publish. They are usually shoestring operations run by students/volunteers.

:e2coffee:
 
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Fuchsia Groan

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I used to be an academic, and it’s my impression that many (not all!) of the writers who submit to and have work accepted by these high-tier literary journals are MFA students or graduates. Rather than selling their writing per se, they’re using it to beef up their CVs and increase their chances of landing a tenure-track job or tenure, which would provide significant financial/career benefits. The $3 is an investment from that standpoint.