DONATIONS NO LONGER REQUIRED FOR SUBMISSIONS

FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:  At the beginning of 2018, Songs of Eretz Poetry Review raised the honorarium it grants per poem or story from five dollars to fifty dollars--a professional rate.  It was expected that poets and writers interested in appearing in the Review would have no problem showing their support by donating a token $2.37 per submission to help defray the cost of reading their submissions, and, for the most part, the response to this policy has been positive.

However, I have been hearing from a small but significant number of poets/writers who object in principle to making a token donation of just $2.37 as a condition for submitting.  Most cite Yog's Law, which states that in the business of writing money should always flow toward the writer.  For my opinion on Yog's Law, please see my essay on the subject here http://www.songsoferetz.com/2015/01/yogs-law-should-it-apply-to-hobbyist-by.html.  Not surprisingly, I have found that many of these objectors don't care all that much about Songs of Eretz per se--they just want the money, and I can respect that.  While I do financially support most of the venues I look to for marketing my own work, I do not (and cannot possibly) do so for all of them.

So, rather than miss out on bringing the readership some potentially professional-level poems and stories, Songs of Eretz has decided to allow anyone who objects to making a token donation to submit his/her one best poem or story once a year without having to make a donation.  However, while those who do support us by donating will receive our "full service," which is to say personal editorial responses for every poem submitted accepted or not, those who decline to donate to the cause may assume we have passed on their work if they do not receive a response within fourteen calendar days.

Finally, I wish to thank all the poets and writers and readers who do care enough to make donations.  Producing Songs of Eretz is far from free, and it is thanks to your generosity that we are able to continue to bring a little more good poetic work into the world.

All the best,

Steve
Steven Wittenberg Gordon, MD
Editor-in-Chief