Sapling issue # 814
The one in which we talk to emerging author Jen DeGregorio
Hi writers.
Shout-out to the experimental novelists among us: I enjoyed this article and reading list on experimental fiction by Tom Comitta—which is also a thoughtful indictment on comp titles and their ability to limit risk, especially within the Big Five—which ran on Electric Lit last week. Fortunately, small press publishers are often more willing to assume risk, which explains why the majority of the featured titles are published by familiar names within the Sapling community—that is, by small presses.
Now, here’s what’s happening in the small press world this week.
—Kit
Managing Editor / Sapling editor
Black Lawrence Press
Contest: William Faulkner Literary Competition
Genre(s): Novels, poetry, short stories, and one act plays
Award: $2,000 (novel category); $600 (other categories)
Entry Fee: $50 (novel category); $20 (other categories)
Deadline: July 15, 2025 (novel category); July 31, 2025 (other categories)
Guidelines: williamfaulknerliterarycompetition.com/competition-details
Journal: Sheila-Na-Gig online
Genre(s): poetry
Format: online
Website: sheilanagigblog.com
Guidelines: sheilanagigblog.com/submissions
Open July 1-31, 2025
Small Press: Galileo Press
Genre(s): Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Translation
Website: freegalileo.com
Guidelines: freegalileo.com/submissions
Open May 1 - September 1, 2025
Feature: Sapling’s Five Burning Questions for Emerging Writers: Jen DeGregorio
This week, Sapling spoke with Jen DeGregorio, author of the debut poetry collection What to Wear Out (Get Fresh Books, April 1, 2025).
SAPLING: Tell us about the process of getting your debut collection, What to Wear Out, out in the world. Did you enter contests? Open reading periods? What transpired between sending the manuscript out initially and its acceptance at Get Fresh Books?
Jen DeGregorio: Oh, what a long strange trip it has been to publish this book! The manuscript has been in a process of evolution and changing-of-costumes for more than a decade. It’s gone by different titles, has included many different poems—a few of the original still here in this final version, most gone—and weathered vacillating levels of authorial confidence and despair. For many years I submitted the manuscript to contests, and it was a semi-finalist in half a dozen or so during that time.
In 2022 I realized that I needed to find another way to publish my book beyond the contest route, so I began to send proposals out to different university and small presses. That strategy worked, if circuitously: I signed a contract in spring 2022 to publish my book with a university press. At the end of that year, I wound up pulling the book and cancelling the contract because of various problems with the press that I won’t get into. Right around the same time, I had also received an offer to publish the book from Get Fresh Books, my current publisher, but due to timing and other considerations, I had gone with the university press. Get Fresh was generous enough to welcome me back and to publish the book.
SAPLING: What was your experience with the editing of your manuscript after its acceptance? Did you have an opportunity to make revisions, either at your own suggestion or at the suggestion of your editor? How involved were you in the design aspects of the book’s production (cover image, interior design, and so on)?
J. D.: I did edit the book meaningfully after its acceptance. I cut a few poems, added a few newer poems, and made a long poetic sequence a framework for the manuscript, with some parts staggered throughout the collection rather than concentrated in a separate section as it had been when I submitted the book.
Get Fresh was very supportive in helping me achieve my vision for this book—including its design! For years, I’ve fantasized about a particular photograph by Alec Soth gracing the cover. I contacted Soth’s licensing agent, and Soth offered the use of the photograph for an almost unbelievably reasonable price; my press loved the idea of using the image. Not only that, but my husband, Matt Simonetti, dabbles in graphic design and mocked up a cover for me. Get Fresh showed me a few of their own designs but said I could go with the cover I liked best. While the press did create some lovely covers, I was partial to the one Matt had designed, so we went with that one. The press handled the rest of the book design. I felt very empowered in the production of this book.
SAPLING: Did you publish a number of poems in literary journals or other periodicals before the publication of the finished book? Did this seem like a necessary part of the process for this particular project?
J. D.: Nine of the poems in the book previously appeared in journals; several other poems from the collection are forthcoming this spring and summer (including in The American Poetry Review and Tupelo Quarterly). I have published many more poems in journals that do not appear in this book. Publishing in journals is important to me, and it’s a necessary part of my process as a poet in general. I want to feel like I’m participating in the larger poetic conversation happening out there; journal publication also gives me a sense of what work resonates with readers. Receiving the occasional acceptance has really fortified my strength and resolve to keep writing poems over the years. Imposter syndrome is real. But whenever an editor has made space for my work, I’ve felt a little more confident that my poems have something to offer and that I should keep writing.
SAPLING: In what ways have you been involved in the publicity and promotion of your book? In what ways has the publisher contributed to marketing and publicity efforts?
J. D.: The publisher has put out a press release and publicized the book on its social media channels; it has also organized a reading this summer at the New York City Poetry Festival. The press has been available for my inquiries about publicity and assists when it can. I’ve been trying my best to promote the book by reaching out to my literary contacts (as well as literary folks I don’t know) to try to get the word out. I was interviewed by the Sub Club newsletter recently, and that came from me reaching out to the newsletter. I will have an interview and an excerpt of the manuscript published in Tupelo Quarterly this spring, and that came from me reaching out to the journal’s editor. Through networking, I’ve lined up some events, such as readings and talks. I’ll be working on an article I successfully pitched to a magazine (I’m going to stay vague about that for now). And here I am being interviewed by Sapling because I had reached out and pitched myself as an interview subject! I’m doing my best to put myself out there. To anyone reading this interested in reviewing my book, organizing a reading, or collaborating in some other way, please reach out (jendegregorio [at] gmail.com)!
SAPLING: What surprised you about the process of having your book published? Is there anything you wish you’d known beforehand about putting a first book out into the world and/or publishing with a small press?
J. D.: I wish I had looked into publishing my book beyond the contest route earlier.
SAPLING: Bonus number six—You are now the associate director of creative writing at SUNY Binghamton, and prior to that, you were a senior editor at Poets & Writers. Did you find working in magazine publishing and/or academia helpful in any surprising or unsurprising ways when working toward your goal of writing and publishing your debut?
J. D.: My work in academia has been integral to writing and publishing my debut. I have an MFA and a PhD and, in addition to studying, I taught and worked in other ways at the institutions where I earned my degrees. My thesis and dissertation were each book-length collections of poetry. My debut book, What to Wear Out, is a bit of a mash-up of my thesis and dissertation. While there are only a couple poems in my debut from my thesis, they are important ones. I was developing my voice in my thesis, and that work was crucial. A big chunk of my debut comes from my dissertation (which also contains the seeds of what I hope will be my second book).
Working at Poets & Writers Magazine was an education unto itself about the publishing industry. More than contributing to my goal of writing and publishing, it gave me knowledge about the process. As an editor there, I was on the receiving end of pitches and promotions. So I now understand in a way I hadn’t before the shape of the playing field for writers. I know just how many books are being published during any given week of the year. As an editor, I struggled with where to place my attention: There were so many authors producing excellent work, and the magazine simply did not have the ability to give most of them coverage—and there was a big emphasis at Poets & Writers on spreading the love among independent presses as much as possible, much more so than at general-reader publications, which give very short shrift to small presses. So I’m both trying to put myself out there in the venues where I’d like to see my work highlighted and also super aware of how hard it is for small press authors to get attention. In any event, I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to be employed in jobs that are intimately connected to my life as a writer.
SAPLING: Jen, thank you so much for sharing your publishing journey with us here at Sapling!
Jen DeGregorio’s writing has appeared in The American Poetry Review, Literary Hub, Paterson Literary Review, Poets & Writers Magazine, Prairie Schooner, Rattle, Third Coast, Tupelo Quarterly, and many other publications. Her work has received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference; the Kettle Pond Writers’ Conference; Binghamton University (SUNY), where she received a PhD in English; and Hunter College (CUNY), where she received an MFA in creative writing. She currently works as the associate director of creative writing at Binghamton, where she also teaches undergraduate creative writing as a lecturer. A former senior editor of Poets & Writers, she began her writing career as a newspaper reporter and holds a BA in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park.
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