Poetry | Publication | Newsletter
Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Poems Submission Guidelines
A massive thank you to those of you who have contributed so far. Before you read any further, please read THIS IMPORTANT UPDATE and THIS ONE!
Not Written for Us Yet?
If you’ve signed up as an author but not submitted anything yet, what’s stopping you? I’m looking forward to seeing your work. No one judges anyone else here, and I’m proud to say that we’ve built a really supportive community of poets.
Want to Write for Us?
If you want to become a contributor to BBP, it’s easy.
- Let me or Jason Provencio know by commenting on one of our posts or dropping a private note. We’ll get an email notification.
- We’ll add you as a contributor.
- Create content, click the dots on the top right, and select “Add to publication”, and you will see “The Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Poems” as an option.
I can’t always respond to stuff straight away. We have authors across the globe — Australia, India, Europe, U.S. — but Jason and I live in different time zones, so he tends to pick up stuff that I miss.
House Rules — Submission Guidelines
The publication is around two months old now, so I thought it was time to update the guidelines. If you have not read the update (link in the first line of this article), please do so now.
Respect the editors
I shouldn’t have to include this bit; however, a recent experience taught me that anything can happen in this miraculous world we live in. The publication is edited by me and Jason. We want the publication to thrive and earn respect, and that starts by looking after you, our authors, and ensuring your word makes you look good.
We don’t care whether you’ve just started out in poetry or are a seasoned professional. Everybody’s welcome, but understand this: any editing suggestions we make are done from a good place — not to put you down or make you feel bad. Everyone needs an editor. It’s hard to edit one’s own work. I’m a professional ghostwriter and editor, but when I submit stuff to publishers, I expect them to suggest changes. That’s life.
Where prose is concerned, we make the changes that we believe are necessary. These are not optional. We are doing it for your good as well as the good of the publication.
Inclusivity
Everyone is welcome to submit poetry to Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Poems. Whether you’re an absolute beginner or a professional poet, you’re equally welcome.
Our community is supportive and inclusive. I consider myself left-leaning, progressive, and “woke”, and that is the ethos of the publication — anti-racist, pro-LGBTQ+, supportive of gender equality, etc.
You can submit anything you want provided it’s (a) a poem or relates to poetry, (b) is not hateful, discriminatory, hurtful or prejudiced towards others, and ( c) doesn’t break any laws.
Which English?
OK, so don’t get too hung up on getting this right. Just be aware that I won’t be editing stuff to bring in consistency.
Use whatever flavour of English you want — English, American, AAVE (aka Ebonics) or other — for your poetry. I won’t be standardising it, but I will check it for typos and grammatical errors. I only get stuck in and make the change when I am close to certain there is an error, or else I prod authors to make the change — either way, I will usually leave a private note.
If you are choosing to write a poem in the vernacular, that’s fine — just make it clear that’s what you’re doing. If I suggest that something you’ve written is not grammatically correct, feel free to let me know you are not using standard English, and I will dig deeper, but I will not get into arguments with authors.
For clarity, I expect prose to conform to British or American English, which are widely understood.
We also welcome poems and songs in other languages but ask that a full translation be provided in English (take a peek at our international section.
Nationality
I ask contributors to post their nationality at the bottom of the article for two reasons: firstly, this takes the pressure off me to standardise English to either American or British, and secondly, more importantly, I want to celebrate diversity. We have authors from all over the world.
Feel free to say “African American” or “Chinese American”. If you belong to an indigenous group, feel free to state it with pride. We have an author who identifies as Indian American and another writer who states they are a Canadian Métis (and every time I write that, I have to look it up on Google to copy and paste it because I don’t know how to get that accent with my PC keyboard!).
Formatting
Please capitalise the main heading in the usual way. This tool makes it easy to get it right. I generally follow the Oxford Style Guide, but the tool doesn’t provide that opinion, so use Chicago Style, which is very close. Generally, there’s no need to end subheadings with a full stop. Exclamation marks and question marks are fine. Likewise, if a heading comprises more than one sentence, then you can finish with a stop.
Use plain text for poems, not italics.
Use shift when pressing enter at the end of each line, except at the end of a stanza when you want a space.
Use the large T heading format for main topics and the small T format for subheadings that relate to the main topics. Please treat titles of poems as main headings and use the large T format.
For quotations, highlight the text, and select the quote tool as usual; however, click the tool twice, so the text looks like this:
‘Specimen A’
Image Rights
There are plenty of images online that are fine to use for commercial use, but there are almost always conditions attached. Be very careful. Make sure you follow any instructions given by creators on how they want to be accredited. Be warned that sometimes the person you are giving credit to might be masquerading as the creator.
For peace of mind, consider only using images where necessary or creating your own. Most creators are fine, but there are people out there who just want to see you trip up, so they can sue you (or me!).
Always include a hyperlink to the creator’s page in the image description.
Accreditation Does NOT Equate to Permission
An author recently tried to submit someone else’s poem. They had not acknowledged that it wasn’t theirs, AND they had marked the story with their own copyright statement. Even including the correct copyright underneath the poem does not equate to having permission to use it, so I could not publish the piece. If you want to write about other people’s poetry, you need to ensure you have permission or it is classed as ‘public domain’.
NOTE — WE NO LONGER ACCEPT AI-GENERATED ARTWORK OR POETRY (EVEN PARTIALLY).
Support Each Other
As far as I am aware, Medium only counts an article view as a read if the visitor scrolls all the way to the bottom of the page — keeps scrolling until the page won’t scroll anymore. This has implications for those of us who are in the Medium Partnership Program.
Support each other. Scroll right down to the bottom of the page when you reach each others’ poems and articles. Feel free to ask readers to scroll to the bottom of your submissions and invite them to subscribe to your blogs. It’s fine by me.
Please remember to scroll to the bottom of this one. UPDATE 21 August 2023 — I believe the Medium algorithm has changed, and it is now considering engagement. Clap FIFTY times and add a comment. If you are going to highlight text, explain why with a public comment.
Coming Soon!
The Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Short Story and Poetry Competition is coming very soon. Watch this space. UPDATE — the first competition was a success. Others will follow!
That’s all, folks!
Well, I think I’ve covered everything for now. Thanks again for being a part of this project.
