A Goodbye from the Managing Editor
6 Minutes Read Time
Managing Editor Lisa Ampleman: Although we’ve announced this elsewhere, a staff update: I’m leaving the role of managing editor at The Cincinnati Review and moving over to a full-time position at Acre Books, where I’ve served in a volunteer capacity as poetry series editor for the past eight years. The press’s founder, Nicola Mason, is transitioning into a role of consulting editor, so Sarah Haak (Acre’s managing editor) and I will be co-publishers and attempt to fill her shoes.
Approaching the change, I’ve been struggling to write my last piece for the CR site. When I started as managing editor in 2017, I said in a mag announcement, “To put it quite simply: this is my dream job.” And it has been, even in trying times. But putting it into words is challenging (cognitively and emotionally), so I thought I’d try a hermit-crab essay approach, using a guide to proofreading marks as my shell.
Proofreader’s Marks, Or Editing Down a Hard Topic
By my count, I’ve worked with twenty-six graduate student editors over the past 9.5 years, helping them learn the ropes of editing and cheering them on as they applied for jobs.
That means I’ve gotten to know them, enjoyed their company, and then had to say goodbye, in cycles, repeatedly.
Some would apologize when asking for recommendation letters, but I always emphasized that that’s why I’m here. It feels like the pinnacle of my career when someone gets a job they’re excited about.
I’ll still be working with graduate students at Acre, though fewer and in a slightly different capacity for the pace of acquisitions and editing.
In 2017, the magazine started publishing the miCRo series, a weekly piece of flash prose or short poetry, at the suggestion of one of the student editors, Gwen E. Kirby. Since then, the series has had pieces chosen for Best Microfiction, Best of the Net, Best New Poets, Best Small Fictions, the Pushcart Prize anthology, and the Wigleaf Top 50.
Early on, one of the emerging writers we published in miCRo was approached by an agent because of her piece with us. Since then, she’s published a story collection with Melville House—it was named a best book of the year by NPR and Library Journal, among other recognitions.
I’m also intensely proud that stories from our pages, the first published for that author, were chosen for Best Debut Short Stories for three years in a row: Patch Kirschenbaum’s “For Future Reference: Notes on the 7-10 Split” in 2022, Faire Holliday’s “Standing Still” in 2023, and Alex Boeden’s “Alfhild” in 2024.
Things changed dramatically for the magazine in the pandemic—as they did for most people. We went from working four or five days a week together in the office (depending on people’s schedules) to working at home. Today, we meet in the office once a week and work remotely the other days. The Microsoft Teams chat has kept us going, especially gifs and side conversations.
We also changed our approaches to editing, in a way that aligned with industry changes. We were still all copyediting in hard copy before making edits in Word. After a little effort, we figured out how to all have access to files and be able to enter our own suggested edits. Our copyediting sessions moved online instead of being in person and gathered around the paper copy, a change that editors preferred in the end. Same thing for our proofreading sessions, which can take four to six hours: Having me enter final corrections on a shared screen helped editors learn more. Silver linings to a tough time of life.
A selfish brag: During that tough era, I received a department award for teaching even though I’m not in the classroom. The award announcement said in part: “Working alongside students as they curate content, manage author relations, copyedit and process submissions, and write for the CR website, Ampleman also creates an equitable and safe environment for students new to the world of publishing, as many of her nominees suggested. … Over and over again students commented that what they learned under her tutelage was the most valuable experience they had at UC.” That means more than any raise or promotion I’ve received during my tenure at the mag.
In addition to our direct mentorship of graduate-student editors, I enjoyed visiting classes at the University of Cincinnati and across the country (through the Journal of the Month program), discussing copyediting, curation, and more.
I advocated for an additional staff position, and now we have the fabulous Bess Winter as web and social media editor, rounding out the permanent staff of three, including Matt O’Keefe, senior editor.
One effort on our site that I’m glad has persisted: The Writers’ Day Jobs series that features folks who aren’t teaching in higher ed. I love hearing how people’s writing lives do or do not intersect with what they do for a paycheck.
It’s been discouraging, though, to see other peer magazines shutter due to institutional changes, including The Gettysburg Review, Sycamore Review, and Tin House the mag. Support your lit mags, folks!
I am certain that the new managing editor, Lily Davenport, will do an excellent job. She’s one of the best copyeditors I’ve worked with, and she knows The Chicago Manual of Style like the back of her proverbial hand. She’s passionate about literary magazines and the field as a whole, and the mag will flourish with her alongside the other permanent staff. (Plus, she’s an excellent baker!)
The job search for the new managing editor showed that we have a deep field of talented editors out there, which means a lot for the future. At each stage, it was hard to figure out where to draw the line when we needed to narrow the number of people we were considering.
“. . . Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still.”
—T.S. Eliot, “Burnt Norton”
In the end, I’m not leaving the city, the university, or the field of editing. I’ll see you over at Acre Books!