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Editor Interview: Buffalo Almanack

This interview is provided for archival purposes. The listing is not currently active.

Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.

A: Muscular, confident prose

Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?

A: The usual candidates. I am perpetually amazed by the bold, inexplicably upper-cased choices of DIAGRAM and PANK and the lovely oddities that are A cappella Zoo and Swamp Biscuits and Tea. I consider anything published by Bartleby Snopes, decomP and monkeybicycle a can't-miss. I'd probably say my two favorites are wigleaf and Unstuck, the latter of which might be the most impressive operation going today.

Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?

A: Katie: I enjoy stark, rural American writers such as Daniel Woodrell, Donald Ray Pollock, and Amy Greene. I am also interested in writers who consider the postcolonial migration of peoples--primarily Junot Diaz, Zadie Smith, and Hanif Kureishi.
Max: I'm a weirdo. I love Michael Chabon when he's writing about alternate histories and Jewish superheroes. I love Neil Gaiman because he IS a Jewish superhero. Also Kelly Link, Karen Russell, Haruki Murakami and anybody else who sometimes finds magical realism more real than realistic realism. But I'm pretty open-minded. I mostly like things that are good.

Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?

A: The inclusion of photography sets us apart. Photography has an inherent narrative quality. Placing photographs alongside text reasserts this trait. While the photographs do not literally refer to the accompanying stories, they complement them and assert the potential for a blending of narrative forms.

Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?

A: Produce honest and thoughtful work. That's it.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: Something we haven't seen before. But also something so great we may never see anything like it again.

Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?

A: They're usually pretty good! If there's one thing we ask you to avoid...please don't submit via email. We would love it if 100% of our submissions came in through Submittable. Email remains, however, an excellent way to shoot us any questions that may be on your mind.

Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?

A: Considering a work with the author too closely in mind can limit our understanding of the piece. In order to appreciate a story fully, we prefer to know nothing about the author.

Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?

A: Great stories never hide. A truly excellent work of writing won't play coy, waiting until the third or fourth page to reveal itself. Its presence is announced at word one, and it only gets better from there. I try to read to the end of most stories, if only because I feel I owe it to the hard-working writer, but in truth, if a story isn't going to be a fit for us, I usually know by the end of the first page.

Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?

A: If I feel like I've found a keeper, I try to sleep on it for a night, look it over once more with fresh eyes. I'll often pass it along to Katie, our Photo Editor, to collect her thoughts, though her and I make our respective final decisions independent of one another. We try to clear our way through the slush pile once every couple days if possible, so stories on the fence tend to fall off rather quickly. If the best conclusion I can reach on a piece is a "maybe," it typically turns into a "no."

Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?

A: I've got a day job, so naturally I spend most of my time at my desk reading through the slush pile and looking busy. It's all very mysterious and captivating.

Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?

A: It's not a question of modernity or traditionalism, but a matter of openness. We embrace electronic submission tools because they make our process more accessible for writers and photographers who might not otherwise have the resources to pursue publication. Similarly, distributing content through online channels allows for a broader readership base - a credit both to ourselves and our contributors.