Here it is! We’re thrilled to reveal the cover for Issue 3, which was created by the extremely talented and lovely Lisk Feng.
Firewords 3 will be available to purchase from Tuesday! Our shop will also be getting an overhaul and subscriptions will be back. Plus we’ll have some exciting gift bundles available - just in time for Christmas :)
At a recent book fair, we were talking to several writers about their experiences of submitting to literary journals. It was surprising to hear that they had all given up trying after receiving rejections.
We were aghast and quickly reassured them that they shouldn’t take rejections personally. We know (first hand!) that rejections are hard to take, which is why we try to give personal feedback to the submissions we receive, even though it makes our job infinitely harder (we’ll go into our reasons for giving feedback in a later blog).
Rejections are, by far, the worst part of the job for an editor (unless they happen to be some kind of sadist). All these talented writers have chosen your magazine from the hundreds available to submit to, to put themselves and their writing out there in the most vulnerable way. During the last call for submissions, Firewords received almost 500 pieces. There’s no conceivable way we can publish all the good writing, which means we have to reject over 95% of the submissions - a lot of which are of a publishable standard.
There are any number of reasons why a piece may not make the cut. A few of these are:
Notice, none of the above reasons have anything to do with the standard of your writing.
Just because one magazine, or one editor, or ten editors, don’t like a piece doesn’t mean you should give up. Just because one story doesn’t make it doesn’t mean you’ve failed as a writer. Keep writing. Keep improving your craft. And most of all, never stop putting yourself out there. No one will ever enjoy your writing if it stays on your computer.
Firewords Quarterly was originally designed as a physical printed publication. We think it’s best experienced in this way; after all, there’s nothing quite like the feel of high-quality, uncoated paper! However, we understand the postage costs can make the magazine more expensive, especially for our international friends, so we’ve created this handy PDF version which can be viewed on most electronic devices (iPads, tablets, computers, phones, toasters etc.) Download it from our store and have yourself a unique literary experience!
Here’s another sneak peek from Issue 2… The amazing ‘It Is All Little Marbles In Our Ears’ short story by Edinburgh-based Stephen Thom. The stunning illustrations are by nomadic, Vietnam-based Maggie Appleton! Grab a copy from our store and take a closer look.
Take a look at all these lovely faces! We had so many talented contributors in Issue 2 and they were all a joy to work with. Check out our people page for more details about them and their work.
Want to join them and contribute to a future issue? Keep your eyes peeled for our next call for submissions and get involved!
Like the long-awaited first rays of summer sun, the ‘Summer’ themed edition of Firewords Quarterly has arrived with a bang and, if we do say so ourselves, it’s a real literary and visual treat.
Grab a copy of Issue 2 from our online shop. As usual, it’s packed full of powerful short fiction, poetry and original artwork by creatives from around the world. Issue 3 is also on the horizon, so keep your eyes peeled!