Q: What do you do?
A: Our goal is to put together a collection of student artwork and writing, and produce a high-quality literary magazine once per semester. At our meetings, we project each submitted work onto a screen for all members to see, read it aloud, discuss the piece, and vote on whether or not we want it in the magazine. From there, executive board members will contact the author or artist in regards to their works. Accepted pieces will be edited if need be, and then compiled into the magazine for printing.
Q: When and where do you meet?
A: We meet every Wednesday at 2:00 PM in Bliss Hall, Room 235 for about one hour.
Q: Do I have to be a student in the English, Creative Writing, or Art department to join the staff or submit pieces?
A: Of course not! As long as art or literature is something you enjoy creating or reviewing, you should be able to fit right in with The Lion’s Eye staff. Members of the executive board and general staff have also come from outside of those departments. Works by students in a variety of disciplines have had their works published in one of our magazines.
Q: How can I become a member?
A: If you want to get involved, feel free to just show up at a meeting one week. All are welcome! If you’d like to stay up to date on what’s new with the club, it would be a good idea to get on our mailing list. Just mention it in a meeting or send us an e-mail at tcnjlionseye@gmail.com asking to be added to the list. Also, be sure to check out and like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and for more info.
Q: How can I become an officer?
A: Officer elections will be held at the end of each spring semester, and will be effective and the beginning of the following academic year. If any position becomes available due to a current officer choosing to step down, an election for that position will be held shortly thereafter, and members will be alerted both at a meeting and through an e-mail that the position is open. To run for a position, members will be asked to write a short case arguing why they should be elected and e-mail it to tcnjlionseye@gmail.com before noon on the day of the election. Elections will be held at a regularly scheduled meeting and will be decided by secret popular ballot.
Q: How do I submit work?
A: Submit all work as an e-mail attachment to tcnjlionseye@gmail.com. Your submissions will be reviewed at an upcoming meeting. Please read our Submissions page for guidelines, policies, and more information
Q: Is the review process anonymous?
A: Yes. The only person who knows which works are submitted by whom during the review process is the Executive Editor, as they must prepare the review and voting spreadsheet and make sure the submitter’s name is removed from the piece before it is reviewed at weekly meetings. Because of this, they may choose to abstain from the voting process, but are free to give their commentary on pieces. Should an Executive Editor choose to vote, they are to vote as if the piece was shown to them anonymously.
Q: How does the submission and review process work?
A: When pieces are submitted to us, we add them to our Google Drive. The Executive Editor will make sure any information in the document that would breach anonymity is removed. Then they will enter all necessary information into the review and voting spreadsheet including the title(s) of the piece(s), the name and e-mail of the submitter (which will be blacked out during the review process to protect anonymity), and the type of piece it is (poetry, art, etc). At each weekly meeting, general staff/members and and executive board members will come together and review a number of pieces in the order in which they were submitted, which will projected onto the screen equipped in our meeting place. If it is a written piece, someone will read the piece aloud. After, the staff will give their comments on the piece. The staff then votes on the piece.
Each person votes on the piece giving it a score of either “Yes” (I want it in the issue), “Maybe Yes” (it might work in the issue), “Maybe No” (it might not work in the issue), “No” (I don’t want it in the issue), or an abstention which are all recorded into the review and voting spreadsheet. Each option except for abstentions are weighted. After the vote is tallied, an equation plugged into the spreadsheet will calculate the average score. Pieces with a score of 3.0 or higher are automatically admitted into the issue. Pieces with a score between 2.8-2.9 are on the border of acceptance, and will be used only if more pieces are needed. Pieces with a score between 2.4-2.79 are on the border of rejection. Pieces with a score of of 2.3 or lower are not admitted into the issue. All of those whose works were reviewed and voted on at the meeting will be notified within the week about the status of their work. If there is time before the deadline, any piece with a score of 2.9 or lower can be resubmitted and re-reviewed upon editing.
Q: What is the deadline for submissions?
A: Deadlines will be decided each semester, at the beginning of that semester or at the end of the previous semester by the executive board. All publicity on and offline will contain that information. Once a deadline is determined, it will be posted to our Home page, Submissions page, Facebook, and twitter.
Q: Why should I not submit last-minute?
A: Short answer: Everyone else does, meaning your works might not even be reviewed for the semester. Long answer: The Lion’s Eye accepts submissions on a rolling basis up until the deadline. We review each piece as the come to us in our allotted our meeting time. Once a piece is reviewed and voted on, the author or artist will receive an e-mail with the status of their piece. Any piece that is not voted into publication before the deadline may be resubmitted once the author or artist makes any necessary edits. Any piece that is voted into publication may need edits, and we need time to get in contact with the author or artist, give them time to edit, and then get it ready to print. The more time everyone has to get things done, the easier it is for all of us. Submitting a piece sooner than later also leaves it with less of a chance of being deferred until the next semester.
Q: How many times may I submit work?
A: Anyone may submit work as many times as they wish. We suggest only sending 3 pieces at a time, in order to give yourself time to make edits when we get back to you on the status of each piece.
Q: If I’m a staff member, can I still submit work?
A: Yes! Anyone who wishes to submit is encouraged to. However, if you are a regularly attending member and would feel uncomfortable being in the room during reviews, let any executive board member know so that they can let you know at which meeting your work will be reviewed.
Q: Do I have to be published using my name? Can I use a pen name or be printed as Anonymous?
A: No, you don’t have to use your name because we can print any of your pieces with your pen name or as Anonymous. All that we ask is that we have your real name so that we know who we’re addressing when we need to get in touch with you. If you submit multiple pieces, please let us know which pieces are to be printed with which name or lack thereof.
Q: My friend is too shy or too nervous to submit their works. Can I submit for them on their behalf?
A: No, mostly because we really wouldn’t know if you were truly given permission to do so by them. Submitting a work that is not your own is a violation of TCNJ’s Academic Integrity Policy. Your friend is also welcome to use a pen name or request their works be published as Anonymous should their works be accepted.
Q: I can’t make it to meetings this semester, but I’d still like to submit work. Is that okay?
A: Certainly. We welcome as many submissions as we can get, and we have many contributing artists who are not regularly attending members. If you would prefer simply to submit but not to attend meetings, or if you cannot attend meetings because of your schedule, that is perfectly fine. Please feel free to be involved with The Lion’s Eye in whatever way works best for you.
Q: How often do you produce a magazine?
A: We publish one issue of our literary magazine every semester, so two per year. Each semester’s issue is released at the end of the semester and is heralded by a release party with food.
Q: How are you different from Ink?
A: While ink and The Lion’s Eye are closely related, they are two separate organizations. ink focuses on creative writing and uses their meetings to play writing games, read works aloud, have general writing time, hold workshops, and run other literary events (such as open mic coffeehouses, the Student Reading Series, etc). The Lion’s Eye’s sole focus is our magazine. ink and The Lion’s Eye do have crossover membership. Members of the executive boards have crossed over in the past and present.
Q: I don’t understand why my work was not accepted. I’m interested in understanding and hearing your thoughts on how to improve this piece/a future piece geared towards this magazine. What do I do?
A: Please e-mail us at tcnjlionseye@gmail.com. We will get back to you as soon as possible with the comments given at the meeting. If you would like to edit and resubmit your piece, you are free to do so as long as it is before the deadline. ink also is always looking for pieces to workshop during their meetings, and would be more than thrilled to help you. You are also more than welcome to submit your works to other literary magazines, but please see the Other Policies section of our Submissions page for more information.
Q: I haven’t been receiving any e-mails from you. What’s happening?
A: It could be a few things. 1) Our e-mails are being sent to your spam folder. Please check there to see if our e-mails have been sent there, and make sure to change your settings so that future e-mails from us aren’t sent there. 2) If it’s in regards to a submission, then we probably have not reviewed it yet. Depending on the volume of the submissions per semester, it could be a few weeks before we review it. 3) We have an incorrect version of your e-mail and can’t contact you to change it, and so the e-mails are bouncing back to us. Please feel free to e-mail us with any questions if the third scenario might be the case.
