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Choosing the poems for the Midcoast Poetry Journal – A “How To” Guide

Call For Submissions:

The call for submissions:  Opens 12/13/26 (2nd Sunday of the month)

                                         Closes 1/31/27 (last Sunday of the month)

Language of the call. The Midcoast Poetry Journal is now accepting submissions for

Volume ___4_. Poets residing in Midcoast Maine either part-time or full-time may submit up to three poems for consideration. The poems should be no longer than 40 lines, use Times New Roman 12 PT font, and have titles in bold. The poems should be submitted as a Word document without your name. In a separate document, please send your contact information and a brief bio to accompany the poems. All submissions will be reviewed by volunteer readers and editors for approval and publication.

Please send submissions to info@midcoastmainepoetry.org (subject line submission 

MPJ V___4__).

This is a non-profit, volunteer organization and no fee will be associated with publishing your work. However, we do accept donations (suggested $10.00) and if you wish to contribute to the production of the journal and all the events that occur year-round, please visit us at https://midcoastmainepoetry.com/ and click on the “Donate” button at the bottom of the page. Thank you in advance for your consideration.

FMI: https://midcoastmainepoetry.com/ Who we are and what we do.

Editor:

The editor is responsible for keeping the master list of poems, bios. and contact information. The editor will work in concert with the readers (3) and the assistant editor to approve suggested changes to the poets’ work. The editor contacts the poet by email to let them know that corrections have been suggested or made. The editor is responsible for the final selection of submitted poems. The editor submits the results to the layout group for production. 

The editor will send out the acceptances. 

Assistant Editor :

The assistant editor will update a master list with the names and contact information associated with each submission, as a separate Word Document. They will compile poems submitted weekly into a Word document with the poems without the poets' names attached and distribute it to readers.  This will be done weekly on Sunday, and the document will be sent as an email to the readers who have until the following Saturday to review and score, make notes, etc. AE and E check the bios for blatant mistakes and get the file in alphabetical order for the printer. The editor and AE will confer on the weekly score sheets and confirm the scores by consensus of readers and editors. 

Readers:                The readers will receive a weekly Word document with all poems submitted during the previous week on Sunday during the submission timeframe. Using the suggested score sheet, readers will select (completely subjective) the poems and score 1, 2, or 3 in order of their preference. They will add any questions or concerns in the space provided on the score sheet (spelling, meaning, etc.) and send the completed sheets to the AE by the following Sunday.

The readers will review the submitted work and provide opinions and scores from 1 to 3, with 1 

being the favorite, then 2, then 3. By doing this, we’ll have a good idea of the consensus in the choices the readers prefer. 

Attached  1s a scoresheet below (TY Karyn Lie-Nielsen), put together for Volume 3, as the suggested way to score all subsequent volumes)

 

OVERVIEW:                         By compiling and scoring submissions weekly, we hope to avoid a large task at the end of the submission period. Roughly 60% of submissions will come in 3 or 4 a week and is easily manageable.  The last, roughly 40% of submissions will come in at the last minute and require a little more effort and all due diligence but again, manageable.

Final selections:                 Will be completed in the 1st week of March. The group will convene via zoom to confirm final selections. The editor and asst. editor will send the poems selected with the poets’ names and bio’s to the layout group with the target publication date to be April 1st in time to celebrate National Poetry Month.

READERS COPY SCORING. 1/13/26 (Example) NOTE not all poets will submit 3 poems.

POET #1 SCORING:

Old Man at the Vet's Office __1__

Rural Girl __2__

POET #2 SCORING:

Again __2__

Slippery Slide __1__

Elegy __3__

POET #3 SCORING:

Fragile __1__

In Early April __2__

random __3__

POET #4 SCORING:

I Love Mountains __2__                      NOTES ON POET #4: I LOVE MOUNTAINS--the title in all caps

All the Roads Taken __2__                   is obnoxious and unnecessary.

NOTES ON POET #4: "All The Roads Taken", 3rd stanza

beginning "Idaho, fingerlings.." spelling of Yukon Gold

is incorrect on the copy, as a proper noun, should

be capitalized: Yukon Gold, not youkan gold.

POET #5 SCORIING:

The History of IniTals __3__

Prospects __3__                                   NOTES ON POET #5: Titles in all caps is obnoxious and

Taking A Break __2__                        unnecessary.