On Literary Journals

I've now submitted my second story in the challenge to 20 literary journals. There are thousands of possibilities, it seems. And all have the most unlikely of names. It's almost as if the founding editors used a random word generator to choose their journal's name. I've combined a few. How about Hark the Jersey Devil. Or Guernica Declared Halfway Down the Stairs? As I browsed through the listings, I couldn't help but think that this process is the equivalent of the academic "publish or perish" approach to getting tenure. Writers submit and hope an editor at one of the thousands of journals out there will put their work in print or online so they can add it to their writing resume so that someday someone will buy the collection or their novel. I wouldn't be surprised if soon lit journals will charge writers a substantial fee for publication. Quite a few already charge for contests (at least there is the possibility of a prize) and for regular submissions. Editors argue that otherwise they would be overwhelmed with submissions and the $3-$5 charge isn't much more than writers would pay to snail mail the same story in the old days. But still -

Anyway, my post-war story, Hjemmelandet, has been submitted to the following lit journals (none of which charged a fee though at least one offered expedited rejection if I paid for the privilege):

• Wag’s Review
• Foundling Review
• Litro Mag
• Change Seven
• Circa Mag
• East Jasmine Review
• Green Briar Review
• Halfway Down the Stairs
• Hobart
• Hypertrophic Literary
• Jersey Devil
• Cecil’s
• Louisville Review
• The Masters Review
• Cigale Literary Magazine
• Seven Circle Press
• Gone Lawn
• Guernica Magazine
• Hark
• Isthmus