THE STORY: In June 2008, the idea for a poetry and illustration magazine materialised as a result of picking through the literary shelves of the now deceased Borders. There was a feeling that the world of poetry was driving itself into an elitist and fusty no-through road, and we wanted to do something about it. Combining illustration with poetry in a neat and beautifully designed format, in April 2009 the first issue of Popshot launched, thumping its chest and quoting Adrian Mitchell’s ‘Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people’. With black pages, a sans serif typeface, and filled with vibrant illustration work, the magazine didn’t look like a poetry magazine and we were thrilled with it. Some favourable press swiftly followed with the magazine being picked up by Dazed & Confused, placed on The Observer’s Cool List and named as one of ‘the fresh breed of literary magazines’ by The Independent. Shortly afterwards, Prospect named Popshot as ‘the new face of British poetry’ after it became the first British poetry magazine to achieve major international distribution into 18 countries. With the launch of Issue 7, we started talking about the introduction of short stories and flash fiction into the magazine, as well as poetry. In October 2012, with the arrival of our eighth issue, Popshot relaunched as ‘The Illustrated Magazine of New Writing’ firmly positioning itself as a literary magazine that champions new writing across the globe. In the years since, that positioning has developed into a strong reputation for quality writing, with Dazed & Confused calling the magazine ‘a who isn’t yet who of contemporary literature’ and The List claiming that ‘Popshot looks for the best and finds it’.
- taken from Popshot’s Website http://www.popshotpopshot.com/about/
I’ve been a huge fan of Popshot Magazine since discovering it during my second year at university. I struggled to find a place for my practice to exist being interested in poetry and illustration, and the discover of Popshot Magazine was like finding a publication that was specifically made for people such as myself. I’ve said before but if I wasn’t to freelance and work for myself then my dream job would be to work for a publication such as Popshot. They publish short stories, flash fiction and poetry from the literary new blood alongside beautiful illustrations. I’ve thought about sending in a portfolio of my work a while now as well as maybe submitting some writing so I guess now is the time!
I’ve added a screenshot of the e-mail which I sent to Popshot Magazine. They say on their website that they take portfolio submissions so now that I am at a stage where I am confident with my work I didn’t mind sending this over. I was hoping to strike up more of a conversation about the running of their publication and to get some advice but I’m going to wait and see if I get a response to this e-mail. I was also hoping to have a website ready so that I could direct them to it so I’ll just have to make sure that it’s ready soon for when I get into contact with more people!
Now that writing submissions have opened up for their next issue I’m hoping to submit something with the hope of getting it published!
PUBLISHERS TO RESEARCH, OPEN UP CONVERSATIONS ABOUT MY WORK** (**This side of the project could also spill over into Professional Practice so doesn’t
Andrews Mcmeel Publishing need to be too in depth) Pavilion Books Publishing Listening Colours Surrealist Poetry Inspiritus Press Publishing (Possibly for Surrealist Poetry) Pretty Owl Poetry 39 West Press
** I feel a little conflicted at the moment because I want to work towards writing and illustrating my own stuff and having it published/ self-publish but it seems as though to get there I’ll have to sacrifice creative freedom to make a living?? I’m wondering about first steps that I could maybe take in the industry and at least be in the creative sphere whilst I develop my own writing/body of work. I’m considering going into publishing and I’ve recently been looking at internships so that is something to research further. It just seems a little intimidating that I’m not necessarily working towards a job role at the minute and so it’s not as clear as to what I should be doing/ need to be doing?