Student Publishers
What It Looks Like to Publish an Undergraduate Magazine
Two sophomores dipping their toes into undergraduate publishing at a university with under 3,000 students—what have they learned?
Yes, it’s overwhelming at first. Susquehanna University sophomore creative writing majors Lily Schneider and Sydnie Howard applied to work at RiverCraft, an undergraduate literary magazine, at the beginning of August 2023. Lily, who also has a double major in publishing and editing, sent in an application for the assistant managing editor, while Sydnie applied for the assistant poetry editor.
“As someone who first came to Susquehanna as neither a publishing nor creative writing major, working for an on-campus magazine was not on my radar,” said Lily. “After I began pursuing both majors, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to delve deeper into my newfound passion for the publishing field. I can’t imagine not applying!”
On each Google Form application, it was noted that these were legacy positions, meaning assistant editors assumed the roles of head editors the following academic year. Lily and Sydnie agreed to these conditions when they were offered their respective positions.
“I have held onto the hope of being published in RiverCraft and working on the magazine itself as soon as I was introduced to SU as a senior in high school,” said Sydnie. “Both of those things happened, and it’s kind of crazy. I am so ecstatic that I get to be a part of this university’s creative writing community.”
As a result, and with the utmost excitement and melodrama, Lily and Sydnie dedicated their most astute services to RiverCraft. They led reading boards, conducted staff meetings, evaluated and accepted submissions, and kept the magazine’s style up to standards with Susquehanna's ever-changing campus community.
After much deliberation by staff members, RiverCraft’s 2024 theme was chosen to be “focus,” inspired by the magazine's original name in 1964. As described by Ellie Pasquale, head managing editor, “the incredible works bound together in this special Focus Edition of RiverCraft are in quiet conversation with each other about reflection and discovery.”
From a group of 140 poetry submissions, nearly fifty fiction submissions, and over forty art and photography submissions, the Focus Edition of RiverCraft featured eight fiction, eleven poetry, and twenty-one visual art pieces. Sydnie assisted Ella Scalese, the senior head poetry editor, in recording important feedback during the poetry reading board sessions over Zoom. Members were asked to take notes on each submission and evaluate if and how the piece fit with the issue’s theme.
“It was so interesting hearing everybody’s different opinions on the pieces, and we were all thoroughly impressed with each unique way the authors of the pieces interpreted the idea of focus,” said Sydnie. “When Ella and I looked over the reading board notes, we took almost a full week to deliberate, narrow down, and finalize our sentiments on the pieces, taking into consideration our reading board.”
While editors and reading boards were navigating the storm of submissions, the assistant and head managing editors worked to develop RiverCraft’s first style guide and promote the magazine’s new branding across social media platforms.
“It was such an honor to help hone and define RiverCraft’s voice alongside the masthead and my managing editor, Ellie Pasquale, especially since the theme harkens back to the magazine’s roots many years ago when it was called Focus,” said Lily. “One of my favorite parts was formulating digital content that adhered to the branding and very ‘river-oriented’ edition, which all came together and turned out so wonderfully! I cannot wait to see where our mission, brand, and upcoming works take this creative vessel throughout the coming year.”
It’s stressful, it’s exciting, it’s fulfilling, and it’s hard work. However, Sydnie and Lily explain that playing a part in undergraduate publishing is vital to keeping literature accessible, alive, and a part of the larger conversation of publishing and editing. It’s also rewarding.
Lily Schneider (‘26) is now a junior creative writing and publishing & editing double major from York, PA. She loves anything poetry, especially Emily Dickinson, but will read any and every genre. She has curated blogs and recipes for lifestyle publications and loves to sip on chai while writing or doing the daily Wordle. She hopes to publish children’s books or become a freelance writer one day.
Sydnie A. Howard (‘26) is a now a junior creative writing major with minors in English and women & gender studies from Emmaus, PA. She is passionate about Margaret Atwood novels, slam poetry, and raving over her favorite films and two cats. She finds peace in writing poetry about childhood embedded with biblical references, fiction about how love manifests in death, and rereading the classics for inspiration.