Why Assemblage Had To Remove Its Submission Requirements
How To Get Better, Not Bigger
Once upon a time, it made sense to have well thought out submission requirements that writers would read before making a decision on whether or not to apply to be a writer to a publication on Medium. Then the tide shifted and a deluge of “writers” descended on these screens like ants to an errant apple. And here we are.
As of today, October 2, 2020, Assemblage is removing its submission requirements from all of its publications. No, that does not mean it is now open for anyone to apply. Exactly the opposite. Submissions are closed indefinitely. Because this is what it has come to.
Widespread plagiarism, disastrous creative “coaching”, and the overwhelming entitlement of the Internet writer have all led to this. When you spend half of your publishing time each day reviewing submissions from “writers” who didn’t read the guidelines, tout their favorite Medium writer as themselves, or say they are applying to grow their audience first, you get a little tired.
Not to mention that the more you uphold journalistic and creative standards as a bastion for your publication, the more sour “writers” bemoan the fact that you are restrictive and elitist. The amount of email flagellation that goes on because of the word no is beyond comprehension.
Even writers who make it to the party often fall under the spell of creative egoism and fail to see the forest for the trees. If The New York Times can say that they won’t publish work by a freelancer who also publishes for The New York Post than why can’t Assemblage say that it won’t add writers who choose to write for Illumination, Illumination-Curated, The Innovation, Never Fear, or An Idea? (and Be Unique — added October 30, 2020, and now Paper Poetry — added November 15, 2020)
The new-fangled, self-indoctrinated “writer” believes that a publication owned by one person, run by one person, with all the work done by one person should kowtow to every Tom, Dick, and Sally that wants to write everywhere and anywhere, no matter how high the pyramid, but also still wants to write here. Sorry.
I thought by exposing the most disingenuous Medium strategies that it would curtail the ragtag submissions and spam sham follow-for-follow flavor hounds hellbent on hedonism, but I was wrong. Again. It’s a runaway train of glad-handing and fakeness and ego massage that will never leave internet writing. This is what it has become.
But fortunately, at Assemblage, we don’t have to be or want to be what it has become. We’ve always fought against it since back in the days of Redoubtable and Uncalendared. And now we will continue to fight to make sure we are always getting better, not bigger.
In order to get better, we are closing down submissions to all of our publications. From now on, there are only two ways to write for one of our publications:
- A direct invite from Jonathan Greene via email, private note on Medium, or Twitter message from Assemblage.
- A recommendation from a current writer for one of our publications and then subsequent approval by Jonathan Greene.
That’s it. There is no form anymore. No email rejection letters. Nothing. And it’s because the system allowed the drones to metastasize and grow into a blob army of shameless spam, pathetic plagiarism, and hyped-up hypocrisy.
In addition, we used to have a 30-day clean period required for a writer to be added if they had written for Illumination, Illumination-Curated, The Innovation, Never Fear, or An Idea in the past (and Be Unique — added October 30, 2020, and now Paper Poetry — added November 15, 2020). That has now been eliminated as well and no new writer will be added if they have published anything in those publications and wishes to leave those pieces there. If the writer chooses to remove all submissions from those publications, they may be considered at a future date.
Why? Because their audiences and following are fake. Any publication that encourages clap groups and scroll sects and writing letters with all links behind the paywall also encourages favor liking so writers can “help each other out.” We don’t want the remnants of this staining our pages.
We only want readers and writers who read and clap and comment because they are moved, not because they hope someone will do the same in return. We want to earn our readers by our words, not by like-stalking stories to get a follow.
This has been a long time coming. We’ve found many wonderful writers via form submissions, but because of all the noise and strategy, the upkeep is not efficient any longer. If you really belong in one of our publications, we will find you. One of us will find you.
For the people who are thinking right now, “who are you to impose such rigorous standards for a publication on the Internet?”, you are exactly who we don’t want to corrupt our safe space. We treat these publications as if they are of the highest literary standards. Because they are. We are a real publication.
These writers at Assemblage, A Work of Fiction, Loose Words, and Recollection are real writers. And they will blow your mind. But only if you are truly here to give someone that opportunity. If you are only here to self-promote and win Top Writer badges, you will never feel satisfied.
Every morning when I wake up and begin my publishing time for the day for these publications, I am taken back and invigorated with the quality work I read. It’s a testament to our writers and our close-knit community that the bar is continually raised.
We would be nothing without the words of our writers. And this is how to get better, not bigger.
