Chautauqua: UNCW Behind the Scenes

Chautauqua is a literary anthology that offers abundant opportunities for aspiring writers. The magazine features poetry, fiction, flash, and non-fiction separated into four sections, art, leisure, spirit, and life lessons. The Chautauqua team is made up of graduate students, undergraduate students, writers, and professors. This is unorthodox to most literary magazines and because of this we as seniors at UNCW get the opportunity of a lifetime to work with the magazine firsthand and notch some much needed publishing experience under our belt right before graduation.

Chautauqua receives about a thousand submissions every year. The process of getting accepted into the anthology is a grueling and competitive event where only 6 to 8 percent of submissions get accepted. Often, there are pieces that are good enough to be in the magazine but are left out or deferred until the next issue because other similar pieces have already been accepted and sometimes pieces don't suit the theme. At other times, we are working to balance the genres. The reasons are varied. It is a challenging part of our work and one that generates a lot of discussion around the editorial table.

The process of choosing which pieces will be accepted can take months. Once a writer uploads his, her, or their submission, the editors read the piece and vote whether the piece is Chautauqua material. Then we read at least part of the work aloud during an editorial session before we talk about how the piece is working. Sometimes we are unanimous in our vote. At other times, a team member might advocate for a submission, helping all of us to see it with fresh perspective. After deciding what pieces will make the cut, we email the authors and inform them of their acceptance. In some cases, authors will be accepted agreed upon revisions or edits. In these cases, the editorial team works with the writer to make those suggested changes. Once work is accepted our work is not over. Each accepted work is read carefully. Editors factcheck and have ongoing discussions with their small group. We proofread and copyedit--checking the Chicago Manual of Style as we go. Then we turn our work over to our designer. The designer builds the issue. Proof pages are sent to the writers. A final round of copyediting is done. Then the issue is ready, and we all celebrate the launch of a new issue.