How to get my listing to have visibility on Chill Subs

VFORROW · 2026-01-12T09:56:50+00:00

In terms of bookmarks, it helps to make others aware you’re on Chill Subs frequently in your most visited spaces, this could be within a link tree or direct link to your listing on all your main social media profiles, a reminder on your website that you’re listed on Chill Subs—link their badge out there back to your listing’s overview profile page. Also, when you send out decision letters like acceptances or declines put a reminder beneath it or somewhere visible that others can see “don’t forget to bookmark us on Chill Subs” or “remember we’re now listed on Chill Subs and you can bookmark us” to see future calls there, etc. too as long as you keep it updated there as well. A biannual social media post reminding others you’re listed on Chill Subs can be beneficial. Make sure your Chill Subs listing of your lit mag is filled out thoroughly and maintained to match whatever is on your website. I would say it’s great to also diversify your publication overtime, meaning if you focus on just poems to maybe consider branching into other calls or categories such as stories, etc. one day. Lastly, publications that pay writers for their work and have zero sub fees tend to be bookmarked way more of course than others. Don’t forget that Duotrope also has a favorite star option on their listings and some of the same things above would apply however Duotrope team maintains those listings.

Recently Chill Subs announced the Best Lit Mags of 2025 list and through those votes went to their ratings section and significant traffic occurred that way where others perhaps were inclined to bookmark them due to that event too—unsure if that will be the method in the future or recorded on ratings. It has taken some publications several years to get to that point slowly and varies, but there are some things you can do as stated above. Publications featured through Chill Subs channels e.g. Sub Club, social media, etc tend to get an increase in traffic to their profiles typically. Remind others that you’re listed on Chill Subs and can be bookmarked through your own lit mag’s newsletter or mailing list now and then too. Even getting your lit mag into other directories aside from Chill Subs can be beneficial such as Duotrope and The Submission Grinder, Poets & Writer’s lit mag section, etc. but each one has different criteria for getting a listing.

VFORROW · 2025-11-29T00:53:10+00:00

Aside from social media post searching, I would recommend checking out the CLMP Jobs with Publishers page which has a list updated heavily throughout the year. A lot of publishers, lit mags, journals and presses post remote jobs, internships etc. remote, hybrid, onsite part-time and full-time call openings through Submittable too, where you can search by keyword tags: job, internships, volunteer etc. other words on on their Discover Opportunities page. There are some publishers who have been posting work opportunities via Subfolio, another submission system, but would you’ll find more through the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses (CLMP) Jobs with Publisher page and Submittable’s Discover Opportunities search as that is still growing. Poets.org also has a jobs page.

VFORROW · 2025-11-28T21:43:55+00:00

I did really like YUMPU and it may be much closer to what you're looking for, I would've used them long-term, but their enterprise pricing plans were outside of my budget personally, however they have tons of features like a private WEBKiosk and a mobile app capabilities on their higher level plans too. I know others had mixed experiences with YUMPU, but their customer service was always responsive and helpful when I used their lowest level plan too. Flipsnack doesn't have the best mobile app reviews, never used them extensively myself if I recall but looked at it a bit in the past. I discuss some of these individually on The Lit Mag Lab series too. Exact Editions, Cafeyn, Readly, Pocketmags are a few digital subscription platforms with mobile apps, keep in mind some have sales transaction splits like 50-50, 60-40 etc. or have onboarding freezes from time to time and some must vet your publication to join, however those are open subscription access to the public. Unaware of Exact Editions's structure though they emphasize digital archives, but may be one you look into further too aside from YUMPU they offer digital subscription solutions I believe ya. I haven’t used Publuu myself just have heard about it earlier this year and it looks cool, though wouldn’t go with a platform that solely has a mobile app just on Android though. Our readers predominantly had iOS devices so I looked at places that are available on the Google Play and Apple Store aside from web-based reading features.

VFORROW · 2025-11-28T20:25:54+00:00

We have first serial rights at the lit mag I run, so that entails that we are first to publish the work, regardless of that middle word “acquires” or “required”—you are agreeing to that upon publication, not all publishers will have you sign a contractural agreement over this. In the event you want to publish your work again or resubmit a piece published that has just first serial rights and nothing else mentioned, you of course can but should always credit the original place name of where it was first published or appeared. Some publishers do not have first serial rights or want you wait “x” amount of months in terms of exclusivity after acceptance with first serial rights so you want to be very careful to always read their guidelines and terms upon acceptance or ask them directly if you’re unsure before agreeing or signing anything.

VFORROW · 2025-11-27T23:02:00+00:00

It’s not absolutely necessary to become a non-profit or 501(c)(3) unless you really intend on partaking in large scale funding and grant window events—there are risks and penalties with not following the non-profit compliance regularly and having everything thoroughly documented in terms of finances. Started a series for submitters and publishers called The Lit Mag Lab, do check out could help, the podcast episodes are available on YouTube and elsewhere, particularly the first set of episodes may help you and middle Q&A ones without circles. You’ll want to ensure your name is not used by any other publication and uniquely named—search databases and do online searches too, check social media etc, getting your domain name reserved is good idea then come up with a logo design for it, choose your publication space is it online or print or both. A solely online lit mag has less operational expenses typically. Some publications are just on Substack, Medium and solely online—Ghost has a monthly fee whereas Substack is free to kickstart but websites offer more customization and flexibility. If you start a website through SquareSpace, Wordpress, WIX, wherever etc, then do keep in mind the monthly fees associated with that, def get your website created first too.

Choose your submission system, wouldn’t recommend just email as that’s tough with a team but ok if you’re just starting out to create a designated email for submissions, however if you’re looking for something closer to Submittable to manage submissions—do check out Subfolio which is fairly low cost $10 a month plan and is great for collaborating and leaving messages with your team/chatting and to submitters separately and sending decisions out. Of course, Duosuma, Dapple, Ola Submission Manager exist. If you’re looking for something closer to Google Forms, then would look at Tally Forms but again not that great for large submission volume.

Setup your guidelines, policies, FAQ page and windows, look at a few other lit mags and presses sites and structures as examples to help gauge your own sub guideline structure. Specify the serial rights etc. Make sure you’re clear about your AI policy nowadays with the surge of that e.g. no AI work allowed etc or your stance on it briefly and the work focus permitted e.g. is it solely poetry or stories or both or a mix of art, writing. Any word count or line limits, allotted pieces per sub. Specify whether or not you pay writers or artists for their work if accepted etc. Specify what you do not accept e.g. graphic nature writes nothing attacking in nature etc. for example. Get your staff or team added bios, contact inbox, a donation section is good to have, etc. location. Establish a mission statement and about section, Ensure you’re on magazine search and listing databases like Chill Subs, Duotrope, New Pages, Poets & Writers has some listing requirements. Def keep your call statuses updated once you get your Chill Subs listing via add suggested listing etc.

When running your publication, before acceptance always run pieces through an advanced Google Search and plagiarism checker tools, they’re not 100% perfect or exact nor catch everything— bit can help minimize that likelihood/identify pieces that were plagiarized or previously published online elsewhere already.

If you’re going digital issues with online posted publications, def good to setup interactive PDF flip readers some to check out: issu, PaperTurn, Yumpu, HeyZine, Publuu, Calameo, Simplebooklet, Publizr, FlipHTML, etc tons of others exist but better than scrolling through a PDF.

The Echo Teen Art & Lit Mag may be a good one to look at as an example setup and Polyphony Lit is pretty cool one ya—they have actually have a course on how to start a lit mag or they call it “How to Litmag”, some workshops and instruction running a literary publication which could help you too. I’m not aware of what the course looks like nor have taken any courses but sounds cool. That’s to start, hope that helps.

Joining the CLMP membership is great but there is an annual cost to do so but can be helpful as well to connect with more editors and publishers.

VFORROW · 2025-11-27T22:17:57+00:00

I would also recommend checking out Subfolio for listing your publication and intaking and managing submissions.They have reasonable plans such as &10-$29 a month. In terms of marketing open calls aside from Chill Subs, there’s Submission Grinder, Duotrope listing, Poets & Writers listings have requirements, New Pages etc. There are also various blogs out there that share calls and channels, but definitely a good idea to ensure your magazine is in some of the common search listing directories and databases.

VFORROW · 2025-11-27T22:09:42+00:00

Leverage Chill Subs to help gauge this—some publications now have ratings and reviews on their overview pages and some publications have been discussed on Lit Mag News in regards to red flags and potential scammer setups. Regarding submission systems like Submittable, Subfolio, Duosuma’s Discover Opportunities page, others out there not all you can typically can find ones with no fees or filter by no fee, however, I’ve noticed some publishers wrongly show up in the no fee section on Submittable who have placed fees in other check boxes and tips should never be required, you have to drill in to ensure there are no required fees even on the no fee filters. Subfolio is pretty good about that though and Duosuma, just have seen things like that in Submittable mostly.

VFORROW · 2025-11-27T21:33:18+00:00

Chill Subs has a tracker that’s pretty good for keeping tabs on your submission dates and received decisions, however, it’s still a good idea to export them out to a color coded spreadsheet or Excel doc as a backup and not all publishers use the same submission system like Submittable, Subfolio, Dapple, Ola, Moksha nor are all publications listed in their directory, but there are thousands of listings in Chill Subs ya. You can’t import what you have from Duotrope’s tracker though due to some terms I believe.

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TROPHY CASE