Here’s How to Submit to The POM

And other editorial tidbits you will need to be a part of the POMfam

NOTICE: On December 1, 2021 this publication and group will be archived. No new writers will be added from this point forward.

Christina M. Ward

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Hello POMfam! I encourage you to read this post in its entirety and follow The POM newsletter so you can be an integral part of our group.

Current New Writer Application Status: Open September through November 2021, closed for December 2021.

Easy Navigation Guide

Here’s what we are about:
NEW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES for The POM.

Request to be a writer by:
· Submission Guidelines
  ∘ Editorial suggestions:
  ∘ To get rid of all that double-spacing
  ∘ Helpful reminders & tips
· Meet (and thank) Our Hard-Working Editors!

Here’s what we are about:

• We are about unity through poetry. We come together with a shared interest, hobby, and love. Some of us are professional writers and some of us are just getting started. We welcome all writers and poets to write for us. We celebrate our diversity, our talents, and our hopes together for our poetry. We treat each other with respect. For the POMfam, poetry is the red string that connects us all to each other and to this world that we all share.
• We call ourselves POM and you will see tags on Medium profiles like this: 💙POM💙 because our members are proud to be a part of the POMfam.
• We are a hub for information, teaching tools, and poetry-related entertainment. You can check out the “poetry articles” tab and the “from the editors” tab for poetry-related and informational materials.
• We do POMprompts together
• We don’t have a lot of rules because our members naturally gravitate towards cooperation and fairness — this was a dream of mine for the group and the POMfam has risen to show that people can be their best if given the chance. We believe we should err on the side of creativity and support. Joining our Facebook Group is optional. Please read the group rules there as well.
• Optional: Many of our POMpoets put tags on their profile pages to show all of Medium they are a part of the POMfam. Simply put two colorful hearts with “POMpoet” in the middle like one of these:

💛POMpoet💛 💚POMpoet💚 💙POMpoet💙 💜POMpoet💜 ❤POMpoet❤ 🤍POMpoet🤍 💕POMpoet💕 💗POMpoet💗

As of July 2021, these are the NEW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES for The POM.

Request to be a writer by:

Following these steps.

1. Leave a comment on this article asking to be made a writer for The POM. Occasionally, new writer requests are put on hold. If new writer acceptance is put on hold, there will be a notice at the top of this article. Please do NOT make requests during times of hold. The editors will not go back and revisit these requests made during these break times.
2. READ this article in its entirety to make sure you understand the submissions process.
3. Work with the editors when you make submissions. You must have private messaging turned on so our editors can work with you on your submission. Failure to follow submission guidelines or being rude with the editors isn’t tolerated. This could mean revocation of your status as a writer with our publication.

Submission Guidelines

1. Only ONE submission per person per day. Yes, you may move previously published work here but please do not do it all at once. One per day is fair for the other writers and for the editors who must process your submissions. Note that the editors may ask you to adjust some formatting or point out improvements to be made to your piece.
2. If you move work here that is already published currently with another publication, you must check the other publication’s guidelines for removal from their pub before submitting it here.
3. The editors reserve the right to reject any work that is not polished enough for publication. Most of the time when this happens it is due to excessive grammatical errors, spelling errors, and improper formatting.
4. Read this article please: What to do Before You Hit Submit on Your Medium Story. It tells all sorts of tips on quality and format — if the editors are kicking your work back to you or making comments on your formatting (etc.) you likely need some of these tips! We want everyone to grow and learn here.
5. Check out the articles in this tab from our editors. We work hard to grow here together and we will press you to improve the presentation and content of your work. Please understand our editorial comments are for the betterment of your work and the collective body of our work here at The POM. Helpful tips on formatting poetry for Medium posts.
6. Be patient with the editors. Do not send emails, Facebook messages, Twitter messages (etc.) asking about the status of your pending poem or about your pending status here as a writer. Submissions are generally quick but allow up to a week for your poem to be published. Please check on your submission for any private messages from the editors.
7. POETRY is a required tag.
8. Pictures must have proper credit. Example: Image by Abhay Bharadwaj from Pixabay (This is from a pic I used earlier today.) Or “Photo courtesy of author” or “Photo used with permission by:_______)
9. Title and subtitle must be in proper formatting. (Big T/Little t) or bolded first line for short-form posts. For titles, using title casing is best. For subtitles, it is best to capitalize the first letter and leave off the trailing punctuation unless it is an actual sentence or question. (Like this: “A poem” or “A free verse poem about butterflies” or “This is a poem about my father.”)
10. Poetry is often about difficult topics or can be vulgar, sexual, contain harsh language, etc. We reserve the right to reject materials if we feel them to be lacking in creative purpose and merely serve as shock value. While we encourage you to pursue creativity as far as you can chase it, we are not a publication for using poetry as a way to harm people (hate, -isms, etc.) or to devalue the art of poetry. For example: Sexual poetry and sensual topics are totally fine — graphic pornography stuff is not. Addressing racism in your poetry is fine — exhibiting and glorifying it is not.
11. Again and again, → Presentation is important. Messy and hastily crafted drafts that do not appear to be finished will be rejected. (If you’re having trouble with this go back to the article What to do Before You Hit Submit on Your Medium Story, check out the articles below, and/or learn as you work with the editors. Ask for clarification if you need it.)

To make sure your submissions are in the best shape, please consider the following helpful articles:

Editorial suggestions:

To get rid of all that double-spacing:

Helpful reminders & tips:

Meet (and thank) Our Hard-Working Editors!

It is not a requirement of our publication, but it would be nice if you would follow the editors and pay attention to newsletters and other forms of communication. This ensures we all stay on the same page and can work well together. (Plus, the editors work really hard to make sure this publication and the Facebook group are running smoothly. These are lots of volunteer hours, as you can imagine.)

Meet Christina M. Ward: Editor in Chief, founder of The POM, Marketing & Education Director for The POM

Meet Samantha Lazar: Associate Editor of The POM, Submissions Editor

Meet Julia Marsiglio: Submissions Editor for The POM

Meet MDSHall: Submissions Editor for The POM

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